HMD Global unveiled the Nokia 8 a few months ago and more recently the Nokia 7, but the Finnish manufacturer is once again turning its attention to the entry-level segment with the Nokia 2. The Nokia 2 is positioned below the Nokia 3, and is the most affordable Android-based handset rolled out by HMD yet.
The phone will be available in global markets starting mid-November for an average selling price of €99.
Before we get started with the device, a quick look at HMD Global's journey: after licensing the Nokia brand eleven months ago, HMD released eleven phones globally (including five feature phones), and the brand is active in over 80 countries.
Coming to the Indian market, HMD is assembling devices locally thanks to its partnership with Foxconn. By the end of the year, HMD is looking to get its phones into 100,000 stores. That's an ambitious goal, but one that should be achievable given Nokia's brand cachet in the country.
HMD Global's focus has been predominantly in the budget segment, a category the manufacturer feels is underserved. That's the premise of the Nokia 2 — a phone with Nokia's unique design language backed by a huge battery that promises two-battery life.
The Nokia 2 is the first Android phone to be powered by the Snapdragon 212 platform. The chipset is built on the 28nm node, and offers four 1.3GHz Cortex A7 cores. Qualcomm says that there are two billion feature phone in the world, with the Snapdragon 212 aimed at those looking to make the switch to a smartphone for the first time.
The Nokia 2 doesn't look particularly strong when it comes to the specs, offering just 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. That said, HMD Global has shown that it is great at optimizing its budget devices, so we'll reserve judgement until we use the Nokia 2 for an extended duration of time.
Other details include a massive 4100mAh battery, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, and dual SIM connectivity along with LTE and VoLTE.
While the Nokia 2 doesn't have a lot going for it in terms of raw hardware, the design is a cut above what you'd normally find in this segment. The phone is milled out of 6000 series aluminum, just like its costlier siblings. HMD says that the 5-inch 720p panel is the best in this category.
On the software front, the Nokia 2 is running Android 7.1.2 Nougat, and HMD says Oreo will be rolling out to the device "shortly."
What do you guys think of the Nokia 2?
