The Nokia 8 ‘bothie’ phone is finally here, which marks the culmination of the series of rumors and speculations that we have had of the handset so far. That said, no amount of leaked details have revealed the ‘bothie’ aspect of the handset, which clearly has taken the entire tech town by surprise.
To make things simpler, bothie is the term that HMD Global chose to highlight the Nokia 8’s ability to simultaneously record using both its front and rear cams. That makes for an interesting scenario as this allows you to capture both the surroundings as well as your reaction to it.
Bothie can also be seen as an extension, or maybe even the evolution of selfies. That latter being already a craze, HMD is betting on bothie to set itself apart from the smartphone me-too crowd. With bothie, the display is split into two with each portion carrying the feed from the front and the rear cam. A smart software feature it is that stitches the shots taken by the front and rear camera to make for a seamless video and the outcome is mighty cool, it must be said. What’s more, you also have the option to stream the bothie videos directly to Facebook or YouTube.
Coming to the camera specs, its 13-megapixel sensors all round. The rear, of course, boasts of dual camera lenses stacked in a linear profile along the center. One is a color sensor with OIS with the other being mono, complemented by dual tone flash as well. Then there is the Zeiss Optics logo to be seen as well, which again harks back to the golden days on Nokia.
There aren’t many surprises with the rest of the specs though, with a Snapdragon 835 chip making up the core, and is duly assisted by a 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage. The front is dominated by a 5.3-inch 2k display which again should suffice for most occasions.
Further, it is a stock Android version that the Nokia 8 runs and is devoid of any bloatware. That is quite unlike other flagship phones such as the S8 or the G6 that run heavily customized versions of Android. HMD said the benefits of a stock version are obvious, which includes quick updates to the next version with the Android O already on its way.
Another unique aspect of the new Nokia 8 is its metal unibody construction made of 6000 series aluminum. That makes for a strong sturdy case and is again reminiscent of the solid build quality that Nokia has always been known for. Choice of colors is limited to four – blue and copper both of which sports a super glossy finish and tempered blue and steel that have a matte finish.
On the whole, the Nokia 8 is a stylish looking Android phone but is so 2015 in its looks. It still has a physical capacitive button upfront and sizeable bezels all rounds, stuff that most other flagship has since long debunked.
Pricing, fortunately, has also been quite pocket-friendly, with at Euro 599 is well below what other flagship commands. That again is hardly surprising given the phone plane Jane looks.
Under the circumstances, it’s only the Nokia branding, affordable pricing along with interesting features like the bothie that the Nokia 8 in its favor. And it remains to be seen is these prove enough to let it survive in the huge competitive flagship phone segment.
