Nokia 8.3 5G with Snapdragon 765G leads HMD's 2020 lineup

HMD Global has today taken the wraps off new Android devices that were originally to be unveiled at the cancelled Mobile World Congress show last month. Leading the pack is the company's 5G standard-bearer, the Nokia 8.3 5G. Powered by Qualcomm's high-mid-tier Snapdragon 765G platform, the €599 phone offers a balanced feature set, global 5G support in a single model, and future-proofing for standalone 5G networks.

The phone's chassis follows Nokia's established design language, with an attractive reflective glass rear in "polar night" blue and circular camera module. That rear camera hump houses a quad-camera setup that's impressive for the price. The star attraction is a 64-megapixel main shooter with Zeiss optics, and that's backed up by an 12-megapixel ultrawide camera with large 1.4-micron pixels, capable of being pixel-binned down to 2.8-micron equivalent size in 3MP video mode.

Nokia 8.3 5G specifications

Nokia's new Action Cam software features bring intelligent image stabilization and noise cancellation to video shot on the new phone. Meanwhile the Nokia 8.3's new ultrawide camera enables panoramic recordings with a 21:9 aspect ratio. Professional color grading effects are also promised, bringing cinematic style to video shot on the new phone.

On the software side, the Nokia 8.3 5G runs Android One -- a familiar, clean, Google-centric software experience based upon Android 10. As always, the manufacturer promises two years of Android platform upgrades and three years of security updates, meaning you're good up to Android 12, with security patches well into 2023.

One major new feature being rolled out on this and other Nokia handsets is HMD Connect, a global roaming service built into the phone, not unlike similar services from OnePlus and Huawei. (Though more common on Chinese phones than Western models.) HMD has partnered with local carriers to allow global data roaming on its phones in 180 countries. HMD Connect users can get 1GB of data to use in any of these territories for €9.95.

The Nokia 8.3 5G will go on sale globally this summer, priced €599 in the eurozone.

Next up is the Nokia 5.3, a refreshed budget Android offering that'll sell for just €189. It's powered by a Snapdragon 665 processor, and packs a 6.55-inch dual-gate display with a water-droplet notch. This is more of a traditional entry-level Android handset, with either 3, 4 or 6GB of RAM depending on where you buy, as well as both single and dual-SIM offerings. Naturally, the software setup is Android 10-based Android One, with updates to "Android 11 and beyond" promised.

The main differentiator in a phone this cheap is the quad camera system, which packs an f/1.8, 13-megapixel main shooter, a 5-megapixel ultrawide, 2-megapixel dedicated macro and 2MP depth cameras. Around the front, that tiny notch houses an 8-megapixel f/2 setup for selfie duty. Given the relatively lean specs, you should be looking at pretty decent battery life from the built-in 4,000mAh cell.

And for emerging markets, HMDis also unveiling the Nokia 1.3, based on Google's trimmed-down Android Go platform. This cheap and cheerful budget device will sell for just €95 when it launches in April, and run a Snapdragon 215 processor.

Google is also launching its new Camera Go app to improve the quality of photography on super-budget Android Go handsets like the Nokia 1.3. The phone promises a Google-designed camera experience, meaning it's likely using a cut-down version of the Google camera magic seen on Pixel phones.

This latest lineup of Nokia handsets hits the key price points from mid-high-end to super-budget. But if you're looking for a successor to the Nokia 9 PureView, that's rumored to be coming later in 2020 with Qualcomm's top-end Snapdragon 865 in tow.