“With its 18:9 display, Snapdragon 660 processor and dual rear cameras, the 7 Plus is a loaded mid-ranger”
Within a span of a year, HMD Global-owned Nokia has gone from an affordable and mid-range player to covering the entire spectrum. The same stance continued at this year’s MWC as well, as it launched a range of smartphones (along with the refreshed version of the iconic banana phone, the Nokia 8110), starting with its most affordable offering, the Nokia 1 and going all the way up to the Nokia 8 Sirocco. At the same event, the brand also announced a powerful mid-tier offering in the form of the Nokia 7 plus. The device has been oft-rumoured, and is a solid upgrade over the Nokia 7, which was released in China in October.
The biggest (and most welcome) change in the Nokia 7 plus is the bezel-less form factor, all thanks to the use of a tall 18:9 display. The screen measures 6-inches diagonally and sports a resolution of 1,080 x 2,160 pixels. The IPS LCD panel is vibrant and sharp and is protected by a layer of third-gen Gorilla Glass.
Design-wise, the 7 Plus doesn’t deviate much from the brand’s design ethos. It features an aluminium unibody construction, which is not only quite solid but looks premium too. Making the device classier is the copper trim running along the edges of black and white hues along with accents around the camera module and fingerprint reader at the back. Personally, I liked the white colour variant, even though it might be prone to getting dirty easily. The matte finish at the rear offers a good grip, and the device also feels quite lightweight, adding to the ergonomic comfort.
The positioning of ports and buttons on the Nokia 7 plus is conventional. Thanks to IP54 certification, the device is splash-proof as well.
Inside its Series 600 aluminium body ticks the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 SoC, a custom Kryo octa-core chipset with two quad-core clusters running at 2.2GHz and 1.8GHz. Paired with a 4GB, the device offered a smooth performance during our brief usage. The combination should also be able to handle heavy apps and games with ease. In terms of the storage, the Nokia 7 plus ships with 64GB of memory onboard, which can be extended up to 256GB via a microSD card.
Unlike the single rear camera on the Nokia 7, the 7 plus sport Carl Zeiss-certified dual 12-megapixel cameras at the rear. The dual pixel technology ensures fast autofocusing and dual cameras offer up to 2x optical zoom and bokeh capabilities, just like the Nokia 8 (review). At the front, the device sports a 16MP f/2.0 shooter for selfies.
Interestingly, Nokia and Google are cementing their partnership further as the 7 plus is an Android One handset running v8.1 Oreo. This means that the device features a vanilla skin, and will also get promised updates to the newer builds of Android for the next two years. The device is a powerhouse in terms of the battery life, as it’s fuelled by a beefy 3,800mAh cell.
The smartphone will go on sale starting April with a price tag of $399 (roughly Rs 32,000). Expected to launch in the subcontinent around the same time, the Nokia 7 plus is surely a mid-ranger worth watching out for with its 18:9 display, Snapdragon 660 processor and dual rear cameras.
