Nokia 8 Sirocco

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Sumen

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The Nokia 8 Sirocco technically is HMD's flagship at the MWC 2018. The name makes it sound like a more premium version of the Nokia 8 but in reality it's closer to a new phone.

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The Sirocco shares the Snapdragon 835 chipset and 6GB of RAM of the Nokia 8 but that's where the similarities end. It has a bigger 5.5-inch screen, which is p-OLED instead of LCD, there's Qi Wireless Charging (there's none on the Nokia 8), IP67 water-proofing (IP54 on the Nokia 8) and an all-new dual camera which has a regular and a 2x telephoto camera, instead of the 13MP color and 13MP black and white snappers on the Nokia 8.

The new camera on the Nokia 8 Sirocco is the same as the one on the Nokia 7 Plus. It's made up of a 12MP regular camera with large 1.4um pixels and a bright f/1.75 lens and a 2x telephoto 12MP camera with 1.0um pixels and an f/2.6 aperture. The front facing camera is a new 5MP shooter with the same 1.4um pixels and a wide 84-degree field of view.

The camera hardware is backed up by Nokia's Pro Camera app.

What's more impressive about the Nokia 8 Sirocco is its build. Nokia went with sculpted Gorilla Glass 5 for the front and back and a special stainless steel frame nestled in-between. Nokia says that stainless steel is 2.5 times stronger than Series 6000 aluminum.

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The glass on the Nokia 8 Sirocco has curved sides both on the front and back panel. This makes it feel thinner than it is. When holding the Nokia 8 Sirocco you feel like you're holding some precise tool instead of a phone.

A downside to the thinner frame is that it's sharp and can feel a bit uncomfortable after a long period of time. But hey, it's about quality, and the Nokia 8 Sirocco oozes it.

The display on the Nokia 8 Sirocco hasn't grown taller than the Nokia 8's but has grown a bit bigger - 5.5-inch over 5.3-inch. And the difference is noticeable. Another noticeable change is the use of AMOLED over LCD.

This isn't Samsung's Super AMOLED brand but rather LG's p-OLED branch. It's not quite the best around but it is good. The only thing we can fault the p-OLED panel on is color shift at an angle.

We were hoping to see the Nokia 9 at the Mobile World Congress but we are still glad to have seen the Nokia 8 Sirocco. Perhaps it's the base for the Nokia 9 - wouldn't that be nice, a dual-curved 18:9 screen with a stainless steel frame in-between.

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Anyway, back to the Nokia 8 Sirocco, it will become available in April for the price of €749.

Source:https://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_7_plus_nokia_8_sirocco_nokia_1_nokia_8110-review-1727p3.php
 
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We go hands-on with Nokia 8 Sirocco, but what about SA price?

HMD’s new range of Nokia smartphones, unveiled at MWC 2018, are all coming to South Africa, including the rather spiffy Nokia 8 Sirocco.

But what kind of price can we expect for the new flagship when it eventually hits local shores? HMD Global’s Justin Maier refused to give an exact price.

Will it be under R15 000 though? “Yes,” the representative simply answered. What does Maier make of our assumption that it’ll be more expensive than the Nokia 8?

“Yes, it’ll be slightly more expensive than the current 8,” the HMD executive explained, adding that it was dependent on the exchange rate. For the record, the Nokia 8 launched at around R9900, give or take a few rand.

As for network availability, Maier says he’s “confident” that we’ll see the range of devices launch across all networks.

Hands-on

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It must be said that the Nokia 8 Sirocco is probably the best looking device in HMD’s stable right now. It’s not a tall display, sure, but the dual-curved screen (echoing Samsung) with its super-thin edges makes for an interesting and visually unique overall package. The rear does seem like a bit of a fingerprint magnet though, but not quite as badly as Sony’s XZ2 variants.

The firm is also making use of a (presumably LG-made) pOLED screen that offers some great blacks. And when combined with the black device colour, it makes for a lovely pairing. We do notice some blue tints when tilting the device, but it’s no dealbreaker really.

As for software, you’re obviously looking at a clean version of Android Oreo out of the box, although it’s a bit concerning that 20GB out of 128GB was reserved for the operating system. Hopefully that can be chalked up to early software, diagnostics and all that.

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In the camera department, we also see two new additions in the form of a 12MP f/2.6 telephoto camera and the Pro Camera app. The former is self-explanatory really, switching from monochrome (I prefer monochrome, to be honest), while the latter is a long-awaited feature. And yes, the Pro Camera options (as seen in the main image) are just as you remember if you owned a Lumia device. So that means swiping out from the camera shutter icon will deliver curved dials for tuning ISO, focus, shutter speed etc.

Those expecting a ton of camera features otherwise (compared to the Nokia 8) will probably be disappointed. The bokeh effect is still here, but it’s largely similar to the last flagship, so don’t expect Huawei-style refocusing after the fact. Otherwise, we’ve got the likes of beautify and panorama as extra options. If my memory serves me correctly, there’s also an auto-HDR option. Now, about implementing Rich HDR/Rich Capture…

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Not the clearest shot, but you can still see those tapered edges.

Spec junkies might want to wait for the firm’s next flagship before committing to a purchase, offering last year’s powerful (but now old) Snapdragon 835 chip and 6GB of RAM. It’ll churn through tasks in no time flat and the user experience feels extremely smooth right now, but if you absolutely must have the latest and greatest…

Other specs include IP67 water/dust resistance, wireless charging and a 3260mAh battery. There’s no headphone jack on this device either, so prepare to use an adapter or Bluetooth.

At this point, I feel like the Nokia 8 Sirocco is the Lumia 925 of the HMD generation. That is, it’s fundamentally the same phone as the previous model (Lumia 920 or Nokia 8) but with a much slicker design and features that should’ve been included in the first place (a bigger battery, IP67). Not necessarily a bad thing, mind you.

Source:https://gearburn.com/2018/03/hands-on-nokia-8-sirocco-what-about-sa-price/
 
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Saw the latest cellucity brochure and it's Up for pre-order, will post a link a little bit later.
 
Just called vodashop and it is on back order from the supplier with no ETA.
As usual, if it's not Samsung, no one cares.
 
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