Nokia 7 Plus Review – A Phone You Can Rely On?

When HMD took to the stage during this year’s Mobile World Congress, we expected to see the company launch a true flagship phone that would compete with the iPhones and Galaxies of the world, in other words we expected to see a Nokia 9 get unveiled but instead we got an update to last year’s flagship, Nokia 8, bearing the same name with a little bit of nostalgia on the badge, thanks to the Sirocco branding.

The truth is, Nokia 8 Sirocco did not excite people as much as we expected an HMD flagship device to but one device that stole the show was the mid-range Nokia 7 Plus. The device won the heart of many for obvious reasons, it was clad in a stylish aluminium unibody design, featuring the modern 18:9 aspect ratio display and packed quite a sizeable battery.

So, I have spent the better part of a little over a month playing around with the Nokia 7 Plus and here’s what you need to know about the device:

Just in case you’re not in a position to watch the video, here’s a rundown of the review, as brief as possible.

The Best Part about the Nokia 7 Plus? Software. It runs on Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box but if you want you can update it to Android P Beta since the Nokia 7 Plus is one of the few devices certified by Google to run the test version of the upcoming version of Android. Nokia 7 Plus’ software is pretty much what you get on the Pixel devices, right down to the home button animation. In short, you want this device just for the software.

Other Strong Features?

The build quality of this device is spot on. The body is curved out of a single block of 6000 Series aluminium and it is coated with a Ceramic-feel coating that hides the antenna lines leaving the phone looking neat on the back.

Battery Life is also superb. All the internals are powered by a 3800mAh battery that is capable of fast charging delivered via with USB-C. The phone is said to last 2 days on battery but I got around one and a half days of close-to-heavy usage and I am not complaining.

What Else?

Camera – You will have to watch the video for samples, sorry!

• The famous Pro mode is here for anyone who wishes to push this camera to the limits
• Better than average images, what I like to call, Instagram-ready photos
• Live Bokeh mode thanks to the 12MP dual cameras on the back
• 16MP front selfie shooter that does a good job
• Nokia Spatial Sound for 360-degree audio and Bothie mode is here too

Performance – 4GB RAM working alongside a Snapdragon 660 processor means that you will not experience any lag thanks to the optimized software.

The Display is a 6″ 1080P panel that will satisfy any entertainment hungry user.

For Kenyans, the device does support Band 28 (700mHz) for Faiba 4G. As of the time o this review, data worked fine with strong signal reception but there was no VoLTE certification yet so calls and anything that requires VoLTE did not work.

The device retails at around Kes.42,000 but you can get it for as low as Kes.37,000 if you know where to look. Should you buy it? Watch the full review to find out.