Nokia 5.1, 3.1 and 2.1 hands-on review

29 May 2018
It's been less than two years since HMD Global was founded. Yet the Finland-based company already has an almost fairytale-like success story unfolding around it. Even though the company still refers to itself as a "start-up", it mace out of a funding round earlier this month, with a $100 million in fresh investments and an impressive valuation of a cool billion dollars.

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NokiaNext, 06 Jun 2018Security is never a gimmick, and most Android OEM's are not... moreYou are right security is never a gimmick. I didn't say it is.
Android security UPDATES are a gimmick.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • 32W
    • 22 Jun 2018

    Nokia 3 user, most reliable phone I've had, little bit of lag here and there but I have loaded it pretty heavy. Might pick up a 5.1 or 3.1 if they come to O2 definitely recommend Nokia

      • N
      • NokiaNext
      • pdb
      • 06 Jun 2018

      Gapps are bloatware, 04 Jun 2018Android version updates are still important thought not nec... moreSecurity is never a gimmick, and most Android OEM's are nothing but liars. my own experiences in past few years: Lenovo P2 received one OS update & one security update, Motorolas had same problems, Samsung promised OS update in "few months time" took them almost a year + two security updates, my current phone is Sony XA1 Plus and it received Oreo two months ago but despite that latest security update is from almost 5 months old... only thing they update is the bloatware what cannot be uninstalled.

      Nokia 6x seems interesting but for my use 5.1 could be enough as well.

        stock, 04 Jun 2018being a developer of apps and games i prefer stock androidEach with his preferences pal. Kudos for honesty. ^^

          joy, 30 May 2018love Nokia but not these lineup with crappy specs and ridic... moreYou are not a nokia fan and you never were. If you were, you would know that Nokia NEVER cared about specs of any kind be it processor, RAM or Megapixels. In fact, most Symbian phones never even had a GPU and when N8 was introduced with an extra powerful Broadcom GPU, it had a garbage CPU and low RAM. Other examples: Nokia E5 had measly 256 MB RAM yet it was a multi tasking champion, Nokia 808 had a 41 MP sensor but had a 5 MP picture as default.
          But none of that matters. Nokia has always been about quality and software optimization.
          Specs are over-rated, build quality is important, so is support.
          Forget support, its more or less impossible to get your hands on one of those Chinese spec champions in many parts of the world even now, While Nokia phones are readily available on any major retailer in most countries, including small developing ones and not just big markets like India and China.

            AnonD-122899, 31 May 2018Well, I do agree that Nokia does a better jobs with updates... moreAndroid version updates are still important thought not necessary. But these monthly updates are just a gimmick, and users who 'require' them are just feeding their OCD

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              • hi
              • Kg{
              • 04 Jun 2018

              i am typing on my nokia 8 sirroco

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                • stock
                • Kg{
                • 04 Jun 2018

                Kiyasuriin, 30 May 2018My uses for the device: Galaxy S9: Daily Driver IPhone X:... morebeing a developer of apps and games i prefer stock android

                  And what about good useful convenient QWERTY keyboard, like in Nokia E72 which i'm using till this day ??

                    • J
                    • JES
                    • niy
                    • 03 Jun 2018

                    joy, 30 May 2018love Nokia but not these lineup with crappy specs and ridic... moreThey have survived just fine with this strategy, in fact HMD sold over 70 million Nokia-branded phones last year.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • sxr
                      • 02 Jun 2018

                      Still waiting for that rumored Qwerty phone Hmd... make it real! Hopefully w/ Android or even android Go pls?

                        marc, 01 Jun 2018what excites me is the fact that the 3.1 is the same size a... moreI was thinking exactly the same Marc.

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                          • AnonD-457355
                          • L16
                          • 01 Jun 2018

                          Meh, three models, all plus phones. I wish somebody other than Sony would release a normal sized handset with decent specs.

                          Seriously, if they re-released the damn Lumia 920 with Android instead of WP it would instantly be one of the best phones on the market (specs are still better than most flagships today lol).

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                            • Lightning McQueen
                            • KSE
                            • 01 Jun 2018

                            Why would Nokia put stereo speaker on Nokia 2.1 and not Nokia 5.1??? It doesn't make sense and it's, you are giving nice features on budget phones and not giving to the higher end devices like the Nokia 8 sirocco or the Nokia 7+. On the opposite way, It's more like to the Acer predator and nitro laptop. Acer predator 300 has GTX 1060, great build quality, great audio quality and cool boost whereas the Acer nitro 5 is a direct copy of the predator 300 in terms of design, but with downgrade spec.

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                              • AnonD-122899
                              • QXP
                              • 01 Jun 2018

                              Anonymous, 31 May 2018And that is what sad in today's smartphone trend. People bu... moreI'm fine with that actually. As long as the device is working perfectly. Every big Android updates introduce bigger bugs to the table. I will rather stay on the more stable versions than having a buggy latest version.

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                                • marc
                                • vaS
                                • 01 Jun 2018

                                what excites me is the fact that the 3.1 is the same size as the s8. and I've been looking for a phone the same size or smaller size but can hold up numerous apps as a secondary workhorse phone. I would like to use this so I can just use my s8 for my personal sht

                                  Looks like they still haven't learned much from the garbage performance of the 2. I was thinking about getting it after I had an LG phone that bootlooped, but damn that performance was too terrible even at 100 bucks.

                                    • K
                                    • King's
                                    • tDQ
                                    • 31 May 2018

                                    What's that,,,,fixed focus camera,,,??

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • 7Xb
                                      • 31 May 2018

                                      AnonD-122899, 31 May 2018Well, I do agree that Nokia does a better jobs with updates... moreAnd that is what sad in today's smartphone trend. People buy devices that will be obsolete from just after the first year of use. Samsung simply doesn't care as long as they take the money out of people's pocket. Only Nokia truly cares about its costumers.

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                                        • Adam
                                        • AWW
                                        • 31 May 2018

                                        all the nokia smartphones always treat people like a stupid , please try to compare others before launching and find out where the market trend , it really makes people feel disappointed .