Nokia 3: A budget Android smartphone India has been waiting for
HMD Global's reboot of Nokia was at the centre of things at the Mobile World Congress earlier in 2017. The Finnish company's announcement of the reboot of the 3310 — the indestructible phone from the early 2000s that came with a pre-installed version of Snake — ended up seizing the limelight. But the most important announcement from Nokia's booth at the event remained the news of it finally making the jump to the Android platform with Nokia 3,5 and 6.
For most consumers in India, the announcement by HMD Global — the conglomerate which bought the rights to sell Nokia-branded phones — to launch the Nokia 3 was arguably the biggest.
The most budget-friendly smartphone of the lot, the Nokia 3 was announced at an event on June 13 in India at a price of Rs 9,499. The pricing pit it against devices from manufacturers such as the Xioami, Oppo, Lenovo, and Motorola in a subset of the smartphone market flush with great options.
What does Nokia 3 bring to the table?
The first Nokia smartphone to hit the markets in India after the shutdown of the Lumia series was suddenly riddled with the weight of great expectations. But, thankfully, this budget-friendly option from Nokia was equipped with the resources to fight the battle that lay ahead.
The phone comes with a premium exterior, targeting consumers who want a phone that is light on the pocket, but heavy on looks.
Its design features a metallic frame sandwiched between a polycarbonate body with a 5-inch HD display. The package is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek 6737 SoC paired with 2GB of RAM. There is 16GB storage on board that can be expanded to 128GB using a microSD card. The phone packs 8MP cameras at the front and the back and gets its juice from a 2650 mAh battery.
Nokia 3's 'offline exclusive' gamble
With impressive specs backed by a trusted name, Nokia said that the device – along with the Nokia 5 – would be an "offline" exclusive. The move signalled the company's confidence of fighting the battle against the new players on its own terms.
As was evident at the launch event, the company looked to be banking on its vast network of more than 400 exclusive distributors covering 80,000 brick and mortar stores to reclaim its lost position of being a true giant of the market. But barely two weeks in, the phone has surprisingly found itself listed on Croma's website.
Although there is no official word from Nokia on this development, the listing does hint at a possible change of strategy early on. However, if it does indeed end up being the case, and the phone finds its way into other e-commerce portals, it will be a good move on Nokia's part as it will help it reach its customer base in a much better way.
The competition that lies ahead
For years Nokia has remained a brand that has captivated the imagination of millions of budget users in the country. But its spell was broken after it failed to join the Android revolution. The failure of the Lumia series plunged the brand's appeal to an all-time low.
With its glory days behind, the HMD-powered Nokia is now looking to use the nostalgic appeal of the brand to help the Android experiment become a winner.
Nostalgia aside, the new phone has a lot more going for it. For starters, Nokia has got its pricing right – the Nokia 3, along with its elder siblings, is spread in the affordable Rs 9,499-Rs 14,999 range. The smartphone also comes with decent specs. Owing to Nokia's promise of making reliable phones, the Nokia 3 will surely give budget offerings by not only new entrants but also established brands like Samsung, LG and Sony a run for their money.
An amalgamation of looks, above-average specs and reliability, this is a phone that budget buyers have waited for for years, and we can't be happier that it's finally here.