In a low-key affair, HMD Global — the Finnish company that snagged exclusive rights to Nokia's branding — has launched its first Android smartphone. Dubbed the Nokia 6, the phone will be exclusively offered on China's JD.com for ¥1,699 ($245).
The phone itself is crafted out of aluminium, with HMD Global describing the process thusly:
It takes 55 minutes to machine a single Nokia 6 from a solid block of 6000 series aluminium. It then receives two separate anodising processes, taking over ten hours to complete, with each phone being polished no less than five times. The end result is an aluminium unibody with the highest level of visual and structural quality.
In terms of hardware, the Nokia 6 offers a 5.5-inch Full HD display with 2.5D curved glass, Snapdragon 430 SoC, 4GB of RAM, 64GB storage, microSD slot, dual-SIM connectivity, 16MP camera at the back with PDAF, Dolby Atmos sound with stereo speakers, Bluetooth 4.1, LTE, 3000mAh battery, and a fingerprint sensor. The phone runs Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.
With 552 million smartphone users, China is a "strategically important market" for HMD Global, which is why it is launching its first handset in the country. The brand is set to launch six phones under the Nokia name this year, so we should hear more about its plans at Mobile World Congress. If the Nokia 6 is any indication, it's going to be an exciting year for the brand.
