HMD Skyline review

05 August 2024


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Vitaliano G., 07 Aug 2024Well, the same guys behind nokia phones must be the same gu... moreWhat is actually possible for HMD as a small player in the market with no parent company/chaebol or quasi-state funding?

It is easy to demand xyz specs but HMD do not have economies of scale or direct involvement in the development and manufacture of components to buy in sufficient volumes to lower the bill of materials.

Their strategy makes some sense in Europe given those limitations - they are anticipating legislative changes with their repairable designs, they place a focus on sustainability, and they can position themselves as more secure/compliant for enterprise customers given their data centres in Finland and some manufacturing/assembly in Hungary as with the XR21. They cannot compete on specs-to-price ratio so they are trying a different value proposition.

Their success is more prominent in the budget segment, for example they market leader in Kenya and have local assembly there and a partnership with microfinancing start-up M-KOPA.

I think they will struggle to succeed without brand recognition, but if they can find a niche like Fairphone while also being profitable and scalable then it is more successful than trying to outcompete the likes of Oppo.

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    • Carol
    • mJ}
    • 08 Aug 2024

    Vitaliano G., 07 Aug 2024Well, the same guys behind nokia phones must be the same gu... moreBack in those days when Nokia invested billions in r&d for nano tech, microphones, cameras, wireless charging and oh so many other innovations that now almost all were stolen/licensed or copied and used from all sorts of brands, everything was about features, OS optimisation, call quality, covarage, hardware quality and so on. The battle was not about Dollar per GHz. Those days were innovation at it's peak, yet you think of them beeing stubborn and only concentrating on cameras? The "nothing but more RAM and GHz" craze came once with those who wanted money, fast and had no idea about creating devices. Also most of them were never able to innovate. The iphone and the army of scrapware from china, because of them their is nothing interesting since years now besides fairphone. I guess that when there is nothing one can do to stand out, just put some more RAM. If you think that what smartphone market has become, is good, well then don't bother with hmd, they will never enter in the "i got 1 gb more ram and the newest snapdragon 8" b.s. And i am actually glad about it, soon some more innovation might finaly popup. SoCs this days are more then enough for a smartphone, but a smartphone released every 3 months with the latest and greatest SoC is not enough to justify the prices and not call it for what it is, e-waste.

      Well, the same guys behind nokia phones must be the same guiding HMD.
      They seem not to be able to understand certain basic principles, and it seems they are fighting against the users on wining an argument.

      Since Android appeared, they never offered a single phone with the fastest CPU or the largest memory. They only wanted the best camera. And it ended under Microsoft's watch.

      Then under HMD-Nokia they keep using slow cpus (against the competition), and betting on things that, sincerely, look good only on paper. Repairability? Well, it will attract about 1 user per million. Is the same flop as their 'Finn quality' slogan used a few years ago for the Nokia 8.3, and lastly falling short on the CPU expectations. How many did they sell of those?

      For HMD people:
      Guys, you need a lightning-fast phone with a superb camera setup, with IP68 protection, at a good price, and of course, a real contender for each price-range you want to be present on. In fact, you need to change your mindset completely to be a contender. Nobody sees you as an important player in the market right now.

      Otherwise, all the reviews will keep telling the same history and your smartphone sales numbers will continue to be mediocre or worse.

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        • Carol
        • mJ}
        • 07 Aug 2024

        LoneOwl, 07 Aug 2024Very nice phone with -terrible pricing -mediocre displa... moreBesides not that long of a support, even tough not bad in comparison to others, nothing you just said makes sense, but hey is good that you can troll.

          Ottonis, 06 Aug 2024Very nice phone, especially for all the folks who love ver... moreVery nice phone with

          -terrible pricing
          -mediocre display(and brightness)
          -weak pearformance
          -weak software support
          -below average battery life
          -no charger in the box
          -below average fast charging

          Yeah very nice phone indeed....NOT!

            Carol-, 07 Aug 2024It means, that you can plug in wired headphones with usb c ... moreBut presumably there is some kind of onboard DAC and audio accessory mode support for them to advertise analogue audio output?

              DroidBoye, 07 Aug 2024Why are you even using the Chinese priced version of price ... moreThis hmd phone would probably cost twice less in China and most Asian countries.

                markiz, 06 Aug 2024What morons. If the back is glass, that means you still hav... moreYou can actually buy covers directly from them. Are the better choice anyway.

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • tZj
                  • 07 Aug 2024

                  Pietro, 06 Aug 2024Wonderful phone sof ar, all 3 of our HMD skyline doing so g... moreIs this a HMD marketing post? Getting desperate much

                    Anonymous, 06 Aug 2024Galaxy S10 series was first Samsung devices to cross the 65... moreYeah, sadly, people are here just for bashing. They can't think for themselves past two words, which is toxic.
                    Anyway, i remember back in the days, like 20 years ago (oh god, am i old), when i was using the site to check the latest and greatest. Back then it was all about features, and how good this and that device was using them/completing the tasks, how stable was a phone call, how clear, the covarage, how stable was the OS, camera new features, were they good, were they gimmick? Yeah, in those days camera was advancing, not like today, AI generated garbage. I remember when Nokia released the 808, wow i mean those microphones could record a concert without the extreme noise any device recorded back then, i mean even camcorders were useless when filming in concerts. Now cameras come with 200 MPx that can't deliever without the AI... Anyways, good times, good times were those. Now the only innovation in a phone is the SoC that actually other Companies make, how pathetic is that?

                    Anyways, getting back to the "elephant in the room", the site also is not what it was, now they are more or less, influencers. Of course it did not start just now, but was arround for years now. More subtle, but around. I remember owning the microsoft lumia 950xl, i mean it was a great device with great camera and performamce, but the review hier, was just to much of a praise, they went above the boundries of reality. After that i realised what it is actually happening and why my trust should go away. This days it shows even more, one has to be blind to not notice it. Let's put it this way, i do not know who paid for this review, but definetly not hmd...

                      justasmile, 07 Aug 2024Doesn't matter, if its overpriced. It is, in this case.It is actually not. It is quite well rounded and has good features no other, besides fairphone, has. Also they did not cut corners to much as most do, to make it sound more performant on paper. The SoC is really not bad at all and the only drawback is the software support, but i am almost sure it will be possible to unlock the bootloader, i could not get my hands on one till now to test my theory, but if x30 can, probably this one would also be able too. If i'm right, the software problem, or better said, the "only" 2 years software support might not be that much of an issue.

                        It means, that you can plug in wired headphones with usb c connection or with a dongle, prety much like most of the devices.

                          Anonymous, 07 Aug 2024Where is the 3.5mm jack specifically located??? I might pic... moreThere is no 3.5mm headphone jack on this device. The official specs page says 'analog audio output' from the USB-C port, I was hoping gsmarena would test exactly what this means.

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                            • Carol-
                            • mJ}
                            • 07 Aug 2024

                            DroidBoye, 07 Aug 2024Your point is not even relevant, you're simply just ge... moreThe point is,you are just talking not to shut up. No matter what SoC they would have installed you would probably still find someting to bash, complain, so get something call life, might help you with the issue.

                              Reminiscent of the N9 they say, flat top and bottom, curvy sides, sharp corners, ok all checks. Then I saw the screw that releases the removable back plate, check! Hahaha! In the N9/1020, I think the screw releases the screen.

                                Carol-, 06 Aug 2024Actually, this one is one of the very few devices that brin... moreDoesn't matter, if its overpriced. It is, in this case.

                                  You can also use Google things with Chinese version phones... Just need to download and install them manually. IMO the main issue is Chinese version OS.

                                    Mr. Anonymous, 06 Aug 2024The prices in Asia and Europe are not comparable for Chines... moreWhy are you even using the Chinese priced version of price comparison. The Nubia Z60 Ultra that I used as sample is sold as "Global" version here in Asia that I can always buy online and based the price during checkout from 3rd-party online platform, the China only version has much lower price without Google Play store and services and I purposely left-it-out because China-only versions is hard to source from.

                                    And your point the Europe pricing is higher makes this phone even more DOA even in Europe. lol.

                                      Anonymous, 06 Aug 2024Funny, here people bash some SoCs with A78 but demand 865 w... moreYour point is not even relevant, you're simply just generalizing. Delivering cortex-a78 for this price is just out-of-touch in current tech in terms of SoC, that's the point.

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                                        • Anonymous
                                        • thb
                                        • 07 Aug 2024

                                        Where is the 3.5mm jack specifically located??? I might pick one up once the price reduce by 100+.

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