About a month after its official unveiling, HMD Global’s new affordable Android smartphone, Nokia 2, is now available in India. The Nokia 2 (first impression) India price is Rs. 6999/- and it will be available for purchase at all major offline retail stores from Friday, November 24 onwards across the country.
The only question that prevails now is whether or not Nokia 2 is worth buying. Let’s try to solve that query by jotting down what works and what doesn’t work for the all-new HMD Global’s Nokia 2:
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Reasons to Buy Nokia 2
Long lasting battery
Nokia 2 is one of Nokia’s kind to come with massive battery support. The phone houses a monstrous 4100mAh battery and has a power-efficient chipset and light software sipping it. Nokia claims 2 full days of battery backup under ideal test conditions and we are inclined to believe that you can at least get comfortable one-day mileage, even on a heavy usage day.
Looks gorgeous
HMD Global hasn’t compromised on the design and build to accommodate a lower price tag. You will see the level of craftsmanship as you’d expect on more expensive options from HMD Global.
The Nokia 2 looks appealing and feels premium with a solid polycarbonate back and metal frame body. The availability of phone in multiple hues – Pewter/Black, Pewter/White and Copper/Black, is an added bonus.
Good quality display
Nokia 2 features a 5-inch LTPS LCD display with 720p resolution, which on paper is the best you get in this budget. However, even in practice, we found Nokia 2 display quality very convincing. And this isn’t something we can say about most budget phones out there.
The display is sharp and vivid, has good viewing angles and is bright enough to be viewed on any lighting conditions. HMD Global has further added Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection for better durability.
Dedicated MicroSD card slot
With Nokia 2, you won’t have to compromise on the dual SIM privilege (unlike the Redmi phones that it will primarily compete with). The dual-sim phone has a dedicated slot for microSD card that can be used for adding up to 128GB of secondary microSD card storage.
So, if you are someone who just needs to use two SIM cards (which is most of us post the Jio infusion), the Nokia 2 has you covered.
Android Oreo Update
Nokia smartphones always offer a pure, secure and up-to-date Android experience, with no preinstalls apps or skins. And, Just like other 2017 Nokia devices, Nokia 2 too runs stock-Android Nougat out of the box. HMD Global has already confirmed that the Nokia 2 will get Android Oreo update in the later stage.
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Reasons Not to Buy Nokia 2
All is not well though. In spite of all the positives that we have mentioned, there are a few trade-offs involved.
Mediocre Performance
Under the hood, the Nokia 2 is powered by entry grade 1.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 212 processor backed by 1GB RAM. This feels below par even for an entry-grade phone in 2017. We did notice some stuttering and UI lag on the phone when we tried doing multiple things at once, even in our hands-on time with the phone. And that makes us cynical on how durable the performance will be in the long run.
Nominal Storage
If you are purchasing Nokia 2, you will definitely require a microSD card. The reason – even the most basic of users would need more than 8GB of internal storage considering the sheer number of basic things for which we rely on our phones these days. Especially since a few Gigs will be consumed by the OS from the get-go.
No Fingerprint Sensor
Nokia 2 will be missing out on a Fingerprint sensor, which means that you still have to resort to the old-fashioned way to unlock your phone. This should be a tad inconvenient but shouldn’t be a deal breaker in our opinion.
Reasons to Buy and to Not Buy Nokia 2
The Nokia 2 gets so many things right including design, display, and battery back up. Many of which are things we are still not used to seeing on affordable devices. It even has the capability to deliver workable pictures in good-lighting condition with its 8MP and 5MP sensors. But, in spite of all these positives, its weak processor, limited memory and paltry internal storage make it unfit for anyone but the most basic of users.
