After a long wait, HMD Global has finally smiled on Kenyans with the relaunch of Nokia smartphones and features phones into the Kenyan market. Admittedly, this has been a nostalgic year, with Blackberry trying to rise from the dead, Motorola also crawling back to us (Kenya) and now big daddy, Nokia.
HMD Global just launched the Nokia 3, Nokia 5, Nokia 6 and the 3310 (2017) into the Kenyan space. The smartphones all run on pure Android, something that Nokia is very proud of and considering how software has messed the company up in the past, this is understandable.
Nokia has also surprised everyone by launching the smartphones at price points that we can comfortably term as “affordable” ensuring that they compete effectively with the likes of Infinix and Tecno that have undebatably dominated the midrange/low-end smartphone market.
Nokia 3
The Nokia 3 is at the bottom of the pyramid and comes with a polycarbonate body, aluminium frame, a MediaTek processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB internal storage and a 5-inch display. The camera optics are set at 8MP for both the front and the back. Retail price is set at Ksh.15,000.
Nokia 5
The Nokia 5 is considered a mid-range device that comes with a 5-inch display covered in Gorilla glass, Snapdragon 430 processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, 13MP camera and an 8MP selfie shooter. The 5 is priced at Ksh.20,000 and is fully aluminium and also features a front-facing fingerprint reader something that the smaller sibling, the Nokia 3, does not have.
Nokia 6
Well, the Nokia 6 has very little differentiating it from the Nokia 5 in terms of aesthetics. However, the 6 has a bigger full HD display set at 5.5-inches covered in Gorilla glass, double the RAM at 4GB and 32GB or 64GB internal storage (unfortunately the 64gig version is not available in Kenya) and the same Snapdragon 430 processor and a front-facing fingerprint reader. Cameras are 16MP and 8MP combination and the icing on the cake is, the device supports Dolby Atmos, designed to give audio a more 3D sound effect. The Nokia 6 retails at Ksh.25,000.
Nokia 3310
The company also announced the legend Nokia 3310 that was reborn at MWC 2017 will be available locally at Ksh.5300.
The new 3310 features a modern colourful design, a 2.4-inch TFT coloured display, 2G network connectivity and boasts of long battery life.
Gerald Mulwale, Technical Account Manager at HMD Global SSA, said that all the devices will be available exclusively at Safaricom shops for the first two weeks before they are available in other shops and online on Jumia. However, at the moment Nokia 6 is not available in the country yet, but it’s on its way.
With such prices, there’s only one question to ask, will you be buying any of the Nokia devices?
