Nokia is Back!

Nokia is back!

If the above statement doesn’t scare and or excite you enough, then you probably missed the days of Nokia. One of Nokia’s most popular handset in Ghana back in the early years of the 21st Century was the Nokia 3310.

Quick History

The Nokia 3310 defied all physics known to man, to the extent it was ridiculed as a viable replacement for bullets! Imagine a phone drop from a 4-storey building, only to disintegrate into smaller parts.

Don’t worry! Come downstairs, pick up the pieces, re-arrange the parts back to normal, and receive or make the next phone call after powering it on.

Nokia 3310 wasn’t the only phone that pushed Nokia’s brand through the roof. Over the years (more than a decade ago), Nokia has been tightly related to handsets built to withstand the harshest of conditions. Although the handsets (such as the 3310) didn’t come with the ‘smart’ features we know in our smartphones today, it was one of the early handsets to ship with the ‘Snake’ game. It even had a wallpaper!

Unfortunately, all the glory came over after some internal ‘combustion’ among the company. The documentary series, “The Rise and Fall of Nokia”, by ColdFusion delves deeper into the history of Nokia and how its name almost went under the doormat.

Nokia is Back, today

Nokia is back in business, in terms of the brand being slapped again on phones. Fortunately, the new smartphones the brand is shipping comes with Android. Wheeew!

Indeed, Nokia saw and responded to the signs of ‘smartphoneness’ late, and what added insults to injury was when it went along with the already failing Microsoft-Windows approach!

Fortunately, things are beginning to resolve to sanity. Nokia is resuming the phones, this time, smartphones, business with a fresh look by shipping their handsets, running the world’s most popular smartphone OS – Android.

The question remains: ‘Will Nokia be able to successfully make a comeback?’

The smartphone market today is saturated. Nokia was known for some of the world’s most durable phones.

Today, ‘durability’ isn’t much of a focus. Smartphones crack even when blown in the air with winds. Screens break when the smartphone today falls even on water.

The focus has drastically shifted from durability to functionalities. Camera, Sound and Screen quality take center stage these days, in general.

‘What would it take for Nokia to make a solid come back? Will Nokia’s comeback be a lasting one and not just a nine-day-wonder?’

Nokia 6 did sell out in just about a minute when it went on sale in China. The Nokia 6 was a low to mid range device and only launched in China.

China is some 1 billion plus in population. Even 1% of the population, should they purchase your product, is huge!

Fortunately for Nokia, the Nokia 6 even received some 1 million plus pre-orders. That was a clear sign the phone tickled many.

Going out of sale quickly on the day of launch cemented the fact that, should Nokia hit all the right checkboxes solid and firm, it will be easy to penetrate the European and even the North America market.

Asia is a huge fertile market, and hopefully, Nokia will make an entry that’ll make certain their return.

What Specs?

Wondering what kinda specs the Nokia 6 shipped causing such rush?

Well, not much, according to ’17 standards. Duh!

The Nokia 6 isn’t the best in the realm of specs. The phone is powered by a Snapdragon 430 chipset with an octa-core CPU. You’ll be watching videos and or tweeting looking at a 5.5” 1080p screen that has a curved 2.5D Gorilla Glass sheet on top.

The device comes with a 4GB/64GB memory configuration and 16MP/8MP camera combo.

The battery department features a 3,000mAh, runs Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box, and carries a price tag of around $245.

Indeed, Nokia is, this time around, embracing Android at full flank speed!

Going Global

Should Nokia return to Africa, Ghana specifically in the event they go global, as some reports indicate, the playground will really be excited!

Currently, Infinix Android phones have been winning the souls of many in the West African region. Heck, my interim mobile phone was an Android One Infinix Hot 2, which worked surprisingly pretty well.

But should Nokia return, what are the chances they won’t return to the seat that belonged to them?

Bad managing and other constraints put Nokia through difficult times, both marketing-wise and production-wise, which got the brand under the ‘devilish’ wings of Microsoft for a while. However, with the right comeback as we see today, the chances of rising to the top again is high! And I wish Nokia all the best!

Nokia for the Future

An upcoming low-mid range Nokia phone is in the pipeline, codenamed Heart. With specs, again not the best, Nokia hopes to entice a different section of their markets and satisfy the needs of different consumers.

The price point on this upcoming handset is attractive, peg somewhere between 150 to 200 dollars.

You’ll be looking at pictures and videos through a 5.2-inch 720p touchscreen, a 12 or 13 MP main camera, an 8 MP selfie shooter, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of built-in storage, running Android 7.0 Nougat.

Who knows, it might come out with 7.1.1 Android instead, which is now in the system for months.

There’s more!

It is no doubt Nokia will keep on releasing more phones this year, including the rumored P1.

The Nokia P1 price is expected to start around $800 for the 128GB model and somewhere $950 for the 256GB variant. Although these prices seem pegged high than usual, for 2017, the price points are probably in line with upcoming phones from major brands such as Samsung and Sony.

Out of the box will be an Android Nougat experience. Expect a 5.3-inch display, covered with Gorilla Glass 5 (the latest), with either full-HD or QHD screen resolution.

The internals of the device will be handled via Snapdragon 835 SoC coupled with 6GB of RAM.

A 22.6-megapixel rear camera might be tucked behind the device for crispier footages and photography. In terms of water and dust resistance, Nokia P1 is expected to be IP57-certified.

The phone has been tipped to feature a 3500mAh battery with support for quick charging. There is a fingerprint scanner on the right of the device as well, as per the report.

Should the above specs come to fruition, Nokia will likely become one of the sought-after devices for 2017, and for good reasons. The brand name already is a success. The only piece of the puzzle left is great devices, great quality build, great screen quality, and great support.

Already, we’re seeing good signs out of that, and Nokia is mostly likely going to be in a free-fall of success if they keep ticking the right checkboxes.

I personally will be keeping an eye on Nokia through this year of 2017, and will keep you updated. Who knows, my next smartphone might be a Nokia. After all, I’ll be going back to my roots!

So far all I can say is, Nokia is Back, for good!