Nokia 6.1 Plus review: Premium looks at an affordable price
Finnish smartphone maker Nokia has had a mixed 2018. Since the turn of the year, the smartphone maker has announced a number of smartphones that have impressed with performance and design, but have been let down by their price.
The Nokia 6, 6.1 and 7 Plus impressed with the hardware they packed, but felt a little underwhelming in terms of being value for money when compared to competitors in their respective price segments.
However, with the launch of the Nokia 6.1 Plus in Delhi on August 21, the smartphone maker may finally have a phone on its hand that impresses not only in performance and design, but also comes out as a winner as a value for money offering.
Priced at Rs 15,999, the device will see itself pitted against some blockbuster devices such as Xiaomi’s Note 5 Pro, Mi A2, and Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 – all devices which offer tremendous value for money in their own right.
We spent some good amount of time with the device, and here’s what we think about it.
Design
In terms of design the Nokia 6.1 Plus is nothing like the Nokia devices from before. In many ways, it is an attempt by the Finish smartphone maker to leave behind its traditional design scheme which saw it machining phones out of metal slabs.
Instead, here we see Nokia using glass as the primary material of choice to make the Nokia 6.1. The device is made from over 90 per cent glass, with the front sporting Full HD+ panel that is covered by 2.5D curved glass that merges into the phone’s aluminium frame.
The display also sports a notch, which may be misconstrued by many as Nokia blindly following the smartphone industry’s favourite fad of 2019. But a deeper look at the design would show that the notch is in keeping with Nokia’s attempt to moving to a new design scheme that does away with the tank-like built for a much sleeker design.
Moving to the back, the Nokia 6.1 Plus sports a back panel made out of glass that again looks like nothing that other budget Nokia phone’s have sported in the past. In fact, it’s more in line with the Nokia 8 Sirocco which came with a similar front and back glass design.
To date, the device remains one of the better looking smartphones in the market and as such, the Nokia 6.1 Plus’ use of a similar design scheme makes it extremely pleasing to look at and use.
Though nowhere as hefty as the 8 Sirocco, at first glance, the 6.1 Plus’ glass back is sure to remind you of the more expensive phone. Even the vertically placed dual camera setup, the round fingerprint scanner and the silver accents around them look to be inspired from the 8 Sirocco.
The device is available in three colours – Gloss Black, Gloss White and Gloss Midnight Blue. Our review unit was Gloss Black one, and during our time with it we found it to be an absolute fingerprint magnet – something that may also be true for the other two colour variants.
The phone’s aluminium frame houses silver accented power and volume buttons on the right. The hybrid SIM card tray is on the left, while the USB-Type-C charging port as well as the mono speaker are at the bottom. The device also comes with the 3.5mm headphone jack that is placed at the top of the device.
Display
Though the display is in line with what you’d expect at the price point, it cannot be denied that it’s a little hit and miss.
The device sports a 5.8-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD panel with an aspect ratio of 19:9. Text as well as images and videos appear crisp because of the high pixel density of the panel – 432 ppi. Colour reproduction, and viewing angles too are pretty good. However, the panel does feel a little dull when used under direct sunlight. This combined with the mirror-like reflective nature of the panel makes matters worse when using the phone outdoors.
Specifications and performance
Under the hood, the Nokia 6.1 Plus is a welcome change to other Nokia phones that we’ve seen this year.
As compared to its cousins – Nokia 6.1 and 7 Plus – that underwhelmed in terms of hardware at their respective price points, the 6.1 Plus impresses with its Snapdragon 636 SoC that Nokia has paired with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM. There is also ample amount of storage too as the device comes with 64GB of ROM which can be expanded to up to 400 GB using a MicroSD card.
Pair this core hardware with stock Android Oreo – Nokia has promised that the device will soon be upgraded to Pie – and you have a powerful device capable of handling pretty much everything you throw at it.
While reviewing the device, I put it to the sword by putting it under the load of multiple games and applications, and mostly it came out as the winner.
Scrolling through pages was buttery smooth and we didn’t encounter any app crashes. However, when I tried playing graphically demanding PUBG, the performance dipped a bit. But that’s expected as the SoC 509 GPU is not meant for handling too graphic intensive games out there.
Camera
Despite being is an improvement on the other Nokia offerings from the year, the Nokia 6.1 Plus goes back to following the same script when it comes to the cameras.
The device comes with a dual camera setup at the back with a 16-Megapixel primary and 5-Megapixel secondary lens. Though the camera module clicked decent shots when fed with adequate light, it did disappoint a little under low light conditions.
Such photos turned out to be a grainy and washed out. Even the ones clicked in well lit scenarios proved to be a little over saturated at times which to be honest was a little disappointing as it reminded me of the Nokia 7 Plus and the 6.1 which were also let down by their cameras.
In terms of features, the camera comes with Live Bokeh and a Pro Mode. On the device, the latter lets users manually tweak the ISO, White Balance, shutter speed and exposure to their liking. There’s also the Bothie mode that captures both front and rear images at the same time.
Battery
The device gets its juice from an above-par, 3,060mAh battery pack that backed by the energy efficient 636 SoC and improvements brought in by the Android Oreo helps the phone last easily a day when subjected to moderate-to-heavy usage. Though its not in the same league as the Nokia 7 Plus, which easily gets through two days of use without needing to be recharged, the 6.1 Plus is still impressive.
The phone also brings with it fast charging tech. However, Nokia has chosen to not bundle a fast charger along with the phone.
Verdict
At Rs 15,999, the 6.1 Plus is quite aggressively priced for a Nokia phone. It is a definite upgrade on the 6.1, but does it do enough to beat the Mi A2, the Redmi Note 5 Pro and the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1?
Yes and no.
In terms of design and looks, it’s the best smartphone in the segment. Its all glass design supplemented silky looks are superior to anything else that currently exists at the price point.
Though not as powerful as the Mi A2, it does come with similar firepower that Asus and Xiaomi’s other offering brings with it. However, when it comes to the camera, both Xiaomi phones end up doing better than the Nokia 6.1 Plus. But despite this, overall it comes out as a good value for money phone and is highly recommended if design, looks and performance is what matters for you in a phone.
For cameras, it’s the Mi A2, but for everything else, the Nokia 6.1 Plus should do the trick.