The modern era Nokia has been doing a fantastic job updating its devices to the latest version of Android available. The newest entrant to rock Pie is the Nokia 5.1 Plus, which has been in Kenyan store shelves for some time now. The device is a sibling to the 5.1, but its Plus moniker introduces a notch on the display, and its screen and battery are the same sizes as those of the7.1 and 6.1 Plus. On the whole, it is a midrange phone with a MediaTek P60 silicon and a modest 720 screen – all for less than KES 24,000.
The 5.1 Plus marks HMD’s 7th device running Android 9 Pie, which should be hitting Kenyan units as of this writing. Pie introduces a bevy of cool features and cosmetic overhauls that we highlighted in the Nokia 7 Plus Android Pie review. The update is also as clean as they come owing to the fact that Nokia’s Android One devices ship with unskinned software that goes a long way in ensuring that HMD pushes updates in a timely manner.
We have also come to note that the feature set of all Nokia devices is the same as there are no hidden menus or additional features that differentiate them other than hardware specs such as camera, screen resolution, battery size, and chipset, to mention a few. The user experience in say the Nokia 6.1 Plus is replicated on the 7 Plus, and so forth.
Also, Nokia has not been consistent with its naming scheme, which continues to confuse us because we are yet to grasp what who the Pluses and more releases such as the 8.1 and 7.1 serve (confusingly, the 8.1 succeeds the 7 Plus, and not the 7.1).
The manufacturer should be releasing a flagship-grade Nokia 9 before the month ends, which should succeed the Nokia 8 from 2017. Details about the announcement are scanty, but we hope the device will launch with headline-making features such as a Penta-camera on the rear.
