Wednesday 28 February 2018

MWC: Nokia 3

Nokia is back, and with it comes new
Android phones that we expect could fl y
o   the shelves when they’re launched
later this year. HMD Global, a Finnish start-up,
is using the Nokia brand to bring the three new
phones to the market, as well as a reboot of the
famous and much-loved Nokia 3310. Here, we
take a closer look at the Nokia 3, the cheapest
in the new smartphone range.
Price
The Nokia 3 is the cheapest phone available in
the new Nokia Android range, with a price of €139
which we expect will work out at around £120.
MWC: Nokia 3 Drastic ds emulator apk
AA36 PAGES.indd 23 09/03/2017 10:45
24 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36
That means we can place the Nokia 3 fi rmly in the
budget smartphone category, so we’re looking
forward to putting it through its paces when we get
it back to the labs to fi nd out whether it can take
the top spot in our budget smartphone chart. That’s
cheaper than the two most recent Moto G phones,
the Moto G4 and G5, which used to dominate
the budget smartphone charts (see page 124).
It’s set to become available to buy at some
point in the second quarter of the year, which we
think could mean some time in April, but we’ll be
sure to update you when we fi nd out more.
Design
The Nokia 3 has a 5in smoothly sculpted Gorilla
Glass screen housed in a neat and compact
polycarbonate body with a rounded aluminium
frame that we think looks brilliantly premium
considering its price tag.
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ISSUE 36 • ANDROID ADVISOR 25
We also actually prefer the 5in HD screen size
to some of the bigger o erings in the fl agship
high-end category. It means you can fi t the
phone comfortably in the palm of your hand
and most people will fi nd they can use it onehanded
without running into any problems when
it comes to reaching the edges of the screen.
The Nokia 3 is available in Tempered Blue,
Silver, Matte Black or Copper, and is 8.48mm
thick. There is a slight camera bump, but we love
how symmetrical the camera, fl ash and Nokia
logo are on the rear of the device, continuing
the deceivingly premium look and feel even in
those smaller details.
Hardware
The 5in screen has a resolution of 1280x720 pixels
like the Nokia 5. We found it to be bright and
reasonably crisp, and wouldn’t expect more from a
phone with a great price tag like this one.
Inside the Nokia 3 is the MediaTek MTK 6737
quad-core 1.3GHz processor paired with 2GB
RAM, which is defi nitely a budget chipset so we
wouldn’t expect anything particularly speedy from
this handset. It’s going to run most apps without too
much trouble so we expect this won’t be an issue
for most anyone planning to use it for social media
and casual games, but don’t expect to be able to
play any power-hungry games or apps without
running into some lag.
There’s 16GB built-in memory with support for up
to 128GB more thanks to the microSD card slot.
Both of the Nokia 3’s cameras are 8Mp, which
isn’t fantastic and was defi nitely noticeable
AA36 PAGES.indd 25 09/03/2017 10:45
26 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36
compared with the Nokia 5 and Nokia 6’s
o erings (13Mp and 16Mp respectively). It’s good
enough for the odd photo, but you won’t want
to use this as your main camera on a holiday or
for taking photos you intend to print and frame.
The rear camera o ers an LED fl ash, though,
and both have autofocus.
The non-removable battery is 2650mAh, which
should manage a day without charging but we’ll
need to wait until we get it back to our labs to
fi nd out just how many hours you’ll get out of it.
Software
The Nokia 3 runs a delightfully simple ‘Pure’
Android 7.0 Nougat complete with Google Assistant
and without any fancy trimmings to overcomplicate
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ISSUE 36 • ANDROID ADVISOR 27
things. There’s no bloatware and no overlay to
worry about, and you’ll get software updates
regularly. Fans of stock Android will certainly love
the Nokia 3’s approach to software.
Verdict
We’re strangely excited about the Nokia 3
considering the fact that it’s budget and there’s
nothing particularly innovative about it. It’s just
a really good all-rounder with such a great price
tag that it’s hard not to recommend to anyone not
wanting to spend loads to get the best smartphone
tech available. We think this is going to a hugely
popular new handset and we wouldn’t be surprised
if it knocks the Moto G out of the top spot in our
budget smartphone chart. Ashleigh Macro
Specifi cations
• 7.5in (1280x720, 294ppi) touchscreen
• Android 7.1 Nougat
• 1.3GHz MediaTek MTK 6737 quad-core CPU
• Mali-T720MP2 GPU
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB storage
• MicroSD up to 256GB
• 8Mp main camera, LED fl ash
• 8Mp front camera
• Bluetooth 4G LTE
• GPS
• NFC
• Micro-USB
• FM radio
• 2650mAh non-removable battery
• 143.4x71.4x8.48mm

MWC: Nokia 5

You’d be forgiven for wondering who HMD Global is, but at MWC 2017 the company made a huge splash by launching four new phones with the Nokia brand: the wonderfully nostalgic 3310 (page 28) as well as three midrange Android phones with excellent price tags. The three mid-range phones are the fi rst Android Nokia phones ever, and we spent some time with them on the show fl oor to fi nd out whether they’re worth buying. Price So far, all we know about the Nokia 5’s release date is that it’s expected to launch in Q2, which MWC: Nokia 5 AA36 PAGES.indd 19 09/03/2017 10:45 20 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36 could mean there are a few months to wait yet. And when it does arrive, the Nokia 5 will be priced at €189, which should work out at around £160. That’s a brilliant price for a mid-range smartphone and sits it fi rmly alongside the new Moto G5, which is priced at £169. Design The Nokia 5 has a 5.2in IPS HD display within a neat, compact body (149.7x72.5x8.05mm) that’s smooth, sleek and comfortable to hold thanks to rounded edges. It’s made from a single block of 6000 series aluminium for a premium fi nish, and uses Gorilla Glass to add durability to the display. The Nokia 5 will be available in Matte Black, Silver, Tempered Blue or Copper. We particularly like the blue option, but think that all four colours look gorgeous. Consider us impressed. Hardware We’ve already mentioned the 5.2in display, which looks gorgeous with tiny bezels and seems to blend right into the chassis. Its downfall though is that its display’s resolution isn’t as high as we’d have liked at 1280x720 HD. It was still vivid and bright, but when compared with the likes of the Moto G5’s Full HD o ering on a phone with the same price tag it’s a bit of a shame that the Nokia 5 misses out. Inside the phone is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, which is the same one you’ll fi nd inside the Nokia 6 as well as the Moto G5. That’s paired with Adreno 505 graphics and 2GB RAM. We’ll have to hold o on our fi nal verdict about the AA36 PAGES.indd 20 09/03/2017 10:45 ISSUE 36 • ANDROID ADVISOR 21 Nokia 5’s performance until we’ve put it through its paces in our benchmark tests, but we expect it to cope with launching apps and switching between apps perfectly well, while struggling a bit with more heavy-duty multitasking or gaming. There’s 16GB internal memory with support for up to 128GB extra via microSD. When it comes to cameras, the Nokia 5 has a 13Mp camera on the rear with a dual tone fl ash, while the front-facing camera o ers 8Mp for selfi es. There’s a non-removable 3000mAh battery that charges via Micro-USB and you’ll also fi nd Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, LTE 4G, among its connectivity specifi cations. Software All three of the new Nokia Android phones ship with Android Nougat 7.1.1 and HMD Global has AA36 PAGES.indd 21 09/03/2017 10:45 22 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36 chosen to go for simplicity with what it calls ‘Pure’. Essentially, you’ll get stock Android without any fancy bells or whistles, which will appeal to fans of vanilla Android like us. Google Assistant is included, and HMD Global has promised regular updates to the software, too. Verdict We’re impressed by the Nokia 5, particularly when considering the price tag. It’s good-looking with decent specs and we love addition of Android without over complicating it with any sort of overlay. We expect that it could become a really popular choice for anyone in the market for a mid-range phone, and a strong contender for the Moto G5. Ashleigh Macro Specifi cations • 5.2in (1280x720, 282ppi) IPS touchscreen • Android 7.1.1 Nougat • 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 CPU • Adreno GPU • 2GB RAM • 16GB storage • MicroSD up to 256GB • 13Mp main camera, dual-LED fl ash • 8Mp front camera • Bluetooth 4.1 4G LTE • GPS • NFC • Fingerprint scanner • FM radio • 3000mAh non-removable battery • 149.7x72.5x8.05mm

MWC: Nokia 6

Nokia is back, and with it comes four new phones that look set to disrupt the market. At MWC 2017, the brand, which is now part of Finnish company HMD global, unveiled three new Nokia Android smartphones and a reboot of its classic Nokia 3310 (page 28) complete with the iconic Snake game and its familiar ringtone. The Nokia 6 isn’t completely brand new to MWC 2017. It was launched exclusively in China in January, and according to Nokia it sold out in 23 seconds with more than one million preregistrations. Thanks to that huge success, Nokia has decided to bring the Android smartphone to the rest of the world in the second quarter of MWC: Nokia 6 AA36 PAGES.indd 13 09/03/2017 10:45 14 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36 the year, positioned at the top of its new range alongside the Nokia 5 and Nokia 3. Whether it will be successful in the UK and other markets is yet to be seen, but we anticipate that the much-loved brand name will attract many. Price There’s no o cial launch date for the Nokia 6 in the UK or elsewhere aside from that vague Q2 prediction, but we do know that the Nokia 6 will start at €229 for the model with 32GB internal storage, with a price tag of €299 for the Nokia Arte Special Edition which is available in Piano Black. That’s likely to work out at around £200 and £250 respectively, Drastic ds emulator apk so very reasonable prices considering that the Nokia 6 is currently the most premium in the brand’s range. It’s possible we’ll see a fl agship at a higher price point from the company later in the year though. Design The Nokia 6 sports a 5.5in Full HD Gorilla Glass screen housed within a body that’s made with a single block of 6000 series aluminium for a seamless unibody design that comes in Matte Black, Silver, Tempered Blue or Copper (which we’d argue is more of a pink). It’s also available in a shiny Piano Black if you’re willing to cough up the extra cash for the Arte Black Limited Edition, which also has extra storage space (we’ll talk more about that later). The Arte seems to take some design inspiration from Apple’s Jet Black iPhone 7, and like Apple’s o ering picks up fi ngerprints within seconds so if that’s the sort of AA36 PAGES.indd 14 09/03/2017 10:45 ISSUE 36 • ANDROID ADVISOR 15 thing that you’re bothered by we’d recommend opting for another option. The Nokia 6 is more squared than its smaller siblings, the Nokia 5 and 3, which we did fi nd made it slightly less comfortable to hold although slightly easier to grip. It measures 154x75.8x7.85mm, which we found to be perfectly slim enough. Overall, though, we’d say that this looks much like a fl agship phone but with a low mid-range price tag that’s bound to appeal to many. Hardware During our brief time with the phone we found the screen to be vivid and bright, but certainly not as impressive as some of its fl agship rivals. Of course, that’s to be expected from a phone at this price point, but we’re still keeping our fi ngers crossed from a high-end smartphone from Nokia later this year. AA36 PAGES.indd 15 09/03/2017 10:45 16 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36 Inside the Nokia 6 is a Snapdragon 430 processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. If you’re after more storage and a RAM boost, you might want to opt for the Arte Black Limited Edition despite that fi ngerprint attracting back, because that’ll get you 64GB internal storage and 4GB RAM. Both models do, however, come with a microSD card slot that will allow you to add up to 128GB more memory. We’re looking forward to putting the Nokia 6 through its paces when we get it back to the Android Advisor labs soon, but during our testing it performed perfectly speedily enough when launching and changing apps, including the camera, Gmail and Chrome. That said, the model we tried had nothing much stored on it, and we were unable to try playing a game or any heavy-duty multi-tasking and we think the 430 chipset may struggle to keep up. It’s the same chip you’ll fi nd in the new Moto G5 too, and you can pick that up for £169 rather than the Nokia 6’s higher price tag. You’ll fi nd a 16Mp camera on the rear, and an 8Mp camera on the front, which is a solid o ering for a phone with this price tag. There’s a dual-tone fl ash on the rear too, and Nokia has included HDR. The Nokia 6 also boasts a fi ngerprint sensor for extra security, which sits neatly beneath the home button. On either side of that sensor are back and multi-tasking keys most Android users will be familiar with. There’s Dolby Atmos sound with a smart audio amplifi er and dual speakers, too, making watching videos on the small screen slightly more enjoyable. AA36 PAGES.indd 16 09/03/2017 10:45 ISSUE 36 • ANDROID ADVISOR 17 The non-removable battery is 3000mAh but of course we’ll need to wait until we’ve spent more time with the Nokia 6 to determine how long that’ll last in everyday use. It charges via Micro-USB rather than the USB-C that we’re getting used to seeing in new smartphones at the moment. Software The Nokia 6 will ship with Android 7.1.1 Nougat, and Nokia prides itself on being simple and human so has decided to forgo any fancy overlay for a stock Android that it calls ‘Pure’. This will be a huge draw for fans of Google’s vanilla Android, and we found it a joy to use without being overcomplicated in any way. It’s intuitive and does away with anything unnecessary to make space for the essentials to be at the forefront. Nokia also promises regular updates to the software. AA36 PAGES.indd 17 09/03/2017 10:45 18 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36 Verdict The Nokia 6 is a di cult one to o er a verdict on because we feel quite torn about it. If this were a smartphone launched by any of the other big players in the smartphone industry right now we’d probably say that it’s a decent smartphone with a really good price tag but nothing particularly outstanding in the current market. But because this is Nokia we’re excited about it. We think it’s going to catch the attention of those who loved the fi rm’s phones years back thanks to their simplicity and reliability, and with such a great price tag we expect it’ll quickly become a popular choice for smartphone buyers. We’re looking forward to spending more time with the Nokia 6 and its siblings, and we’re intrigued to fi nd out what the future holds for the company. Ashleigh Macro Specifi cations • 5.5in 1920x1080, 403ppi) touchscreen • Android 7.1.1 Nougat • 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 CPU • Adreno 505 GPU • 3GB RAM • 32GB storage • 16Mp main camera, dual-LED fl ash, 1080p video at 30fps • 8Mp front camera • Bluetooth 4G LTE • GPS • NFC • 3000mAh non-removable battery • 75.8x154x8.4mm • 165g

MWC: LG G6

As Mobile World Congress (MWC) got underway in Barcelona, Spain, there were thousands of companies vying for your attention. One that tries to do so every year is LG, and this year it has gone big – literally – with its latest high-end handset, the LG G6. LG has lagged behind the popularity of fellow South Korean rival Samsung in recent years, and with no Galaxy S8 in Barcelona, LG is desperate to make sure the G6 takes all the headlines, thought it faces sti competition from Sony and even Nokia this year. The design has been overhauled again following the leather-clad G4 and the modular G5
debatably more uniform metal and glass a air. LG’s Friends didn’t last long, did they? But the G6 looks stunning and performs just as well as the best smartphones on the market after our initial tests. Price MobileFun has revealed the UK price of the LG G6: £699. You can pre-order the LG G6 from its site now. The release date is unconfi rmed, though we expect it to be in April or May, and we expect it to be available on all four major UK networks. Design So LG has gone big, but it’s the screen, not the handset itself, that’s grown. The G6 has an 18:9 screen, expanding the display from the traditional confi nes of 16:9. This leaves it with a 5.7in Quad HD display. It looks seriously good. Alongside that wonderful display is a design that conforms, unlike the modular G5 and the leather-clad G4. The G6 takes a leaf out of the iPhone 4’s book with a solid aluminium frame and Gorilla Glass on the front and back. It comes in white, platinum and black, with only the latter being a true fi ngerprint magnet. The refi ned design is simpler and more elegant, with the dual rear cameras and fi ngerprint sensor that acts as the power/lock button sitting fl ush with the body. The bottom edge houses the USB-C port (fully waterproof), single speaker and mic. The right edge is smooth and clear save for the SIM tray, while the left edge has the two volume keys. The top edge has that very welcome 3.5mm headphone jack. AA36 PAGES.indd 5 09/03/2017 10:45 6 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36 Even though the metal and glass frame isn’t entirely original, the rounded design is made all the more striking thanks to the rounded corners of the actual display as well. It’s a clever detail that doesn’t negatively a ect use while accentuating the handset’s thin bezels and unusually tall screen. It works really well. LG said that its goal with the G6, after extensive customer research, was to make a phone with a huge screen but that you could still comfortable use with one hand. The problem here is that this is basically impossible, even for those with large hands. Where the company has succeeded though is by making the G6 perfectly pocket friendly while packing in a screen that it’s easy to scroll through and hold with a single paw. This might sound easy to achieve, but it can be rare to fi nd on phablets like the LG G6. The iPhone 7 Plus, for example, is a through and through two-handed device, and the LG succeeds in fi tting a larger screen than that phone into a smaller overall body. Hardware Processor One point of contention among the tech community is LG’s decision to go with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821 processor rather than its latest 835 that we expect to see in the Galaxy S8. The 821 is in its third generation, and LG told us in an interview that it therefore has more expertise in how to optimise the user experience (UX) and implied the 835 wouldn’t have brought any more noticeable advantages. AA36 PAGES.indd 6 09/03/2017 10:45 ISSUE 36 • ANDROID ADVISOR 7 We hope that the as yet unannounced price will refl ect this. LG needs to undercut its rivals somewhere, something HTC failed to do with its overpriced HTC U Ultra, another phone with the 821 processor. We aren’t too worried about performance, though. Display The display is a 5.7in Quad HD display with a resolution of 2880x1440 – it’s stunning. Aside from the 564ppi, the extra height of the 18:9 aspect means the whole experience of using the G6 is improved from the G5. If that sounds a bit too vague, it’s because you really need to get your hands on it to see what we mean. This impression is also intrinsically linked with the changes to the software, which we’ll come on to. The screen also retains the always-on functionality from the G5, with a slightly altered setup lower down on the screen with a new default AA36 PAGES.indd 7 09/03/2017 10:45 8 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36 font. It still displays the time, date and apps that you have notifi cations for. One thing that we need to investigate further when we receive a fi nal review unit is how the 18:9 aspect ratio behaves outside of the LG UI. During our hands on time, we played a couple of preloaded games that displayed in 16:9 (as is the standard) with a black bar on the far right edge as we held the G6 landscape. This could be an annoyance to users if LG doesn’t manage to sort out standards. LG told us that it ISSUE 36 • ANDROID ADVISOR 9 has optical image stabilisation. LG claims it has found an algorithm that lets you zoom between the two cameras smoothly without a software jerk. On a pre-production unit this actually didn’t work, but fi ngers crossed it will in the retail version. These cameras can record up to 60fps at full HD quality, and in ultra HD at 30fps. HDR support is only for still images, not video, but this is quite usual for smartphones – even the high-end ones. Storage and RAM All variants of the LG G6 will have 4GB RAM as standard. Regionally, some of the features di er. The European version of the LG G6 will have 32GB storage but a microSD slot for expansion up to 2TB. The same applies to the US version. The Korean variant will have 64GB storage, but also the microSD support. LG said these di erences were down to regional marketing decisions. Hopefully it won’t make too much di erence given the storage is expandable. Connectivity and extras Where those regional decisions become a bit more frustrating is in the extras. The US G6 will have wireless charging, which adds extra convenience, minimal extra weight and no design changes. However, the Korean and European versions miss out on this handy addition. The G6 will have Hi-Fi Quad DAC, a component that allows for high quality audio playback. LG told us it doesn’t cost much more to add this, but the US and Europe miss out on it. It referred back to regional decisions on included components, but AA36 PAGES.indd 9 09/03/2017 10:45 10 ANDROID ADVISOR
• ISSUE 36 for us it’s frustrating that the European version will miss out on two desirable features. There will also be a dual-SIM version, but don’t expect this to come to the UK or Europe. These three missing features aren’t vital to the G6’s success in the UK, but we’d certainly welcome them and it’s frustrating to see a major phone split its features like this dependent on market. Extra features are universally appreciated. The G6 does have one trick up its sleeve for all regions though. LG claims it’s the fi rst smartphone to support both Dolby Vision and HDR 10. In basic terms, it’s the fi rst smartphone to theoretically support superior audio-visual standards normally associated with high-end televisions. We say theoretically because while it supports both, streaming services such as Netfl ix don’t actually yet o er playback of this combined quality on mobile devices. Remember when everything was ‘HD ready’, before HD actually existed? It’s like that. Watch this space. Software The G6’s software has been quite substantially overhauled from the G5’s in order to play nice with the taller 18:9 screen. LG’s own apps such as messaging, weather and calendar have been redesigned to better manage white space and information displayed since there’s more room to play with. When presented side by side with the G5’s screens, the di erence is noticeably positive. As you can see, apps have more space to work with, so LG has worked very hard to bring the user a AA36 PAGES.indd 10 09/03/2017 10:45 ISSUE 36 • ANDROID ADVISOR 11 more aesthetically pleasing experience, working on attractive, modernised graphics in the main apps. The camera software too has been redone, with some excellent use of the extra screen space – we love that when taking photos landscape, you get a camera roll of the last few photos taken, rather than the smartphone norm of one tiny thumbnail of the one most recent photo. With our hands-on of the pre-production model we liked the use of the two square idea (app presentation split into squares) in the camera functions LG calls guide shot (for comparison snaps), grid shot (2x2 grid shots) and match shot (for collages). They are a tad gimmicky and the software was buggy, so we will fully test it on the fi nal review unit. We also welcome LG’s decision to choose whether or not to display apps iOS style on the home screen or store them in an app tray. We don’t mind it on iOS, but given the choice on Android, we’ll pick the app tray every time. AA36 PAGES.indd 11 09/03/2017 10:45 12 ANDROID ADVISOR
• ISSUE 36 Verdict The LG G6 is no doubt a striking smartphone. Metal and glass shimmer while the huge 18:9 screen is impressively brought to life with the improved software and its rounded corner design. It is a more refi ned smartphone than both the G4 and G5, and should appeal to a broader audience – even if its features aren’t the same globally. If the price is right, the G6 will prove a canny high-end Android purchase next to whatever Samsung has up its sleeve.
Henry Burrell Specifi cations
• 5.7in (2880x1440, 565ppi) 18:9 Quad HD display
• Android 7.0 Nougat
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 CPU
• Adreno 530 GPU
• 4GB RAM
• 32/64GB storage (region dependent)
• 13Mp dual-rear cameras
• 5Mp front camera
• 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 5.0
• 4G LTE
• Nano-SIM (Dual-SIM in some regions)
• GPS
• NFC
• Hi-Fi Quad DAC (Korea only)
• 3300mAh non-removable battery
• Wireless charging (US only)
• Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0
• IP68 water resistant
• 148.9x71.9x7.9mm
• 163g