Nokia 7.1 vs the competition

October 05, 2018

Nokia 7.1 vs the competition

HMD Global’s Nokia 7.1 has just arrived to tempt us with another compelling affordable smartphone option. It’s been a pretty great year for more affordable markets, so the Nokia 7.1 has some real competition. Does it stand out?

Performance and camera optics are the name of the game here, so let’s stack this new phone up against some of this year’s finest affordable smartphones — the Pocophone F1, Honor Play, Moto Z3 Play, and the Asus Zenfone 5Z.

Kings of performance

Historically, performance has required compromise for lower-cost handsets, but 2018 is proving this needn’t be the case any longer. The Pocophone F1 is the most affordable smartphone ever to pack in a flagship-tier Snapdragon 845 processor, which powers the $1000 big players. The Honor Play also boasts the flagship-tier Kirin 970 from Huawei’s premium smartphone range, which offers very similar performance.

Top to bottom, left to right: Nokia 7.1 – Pocophone F1 – Moto Z3 Play – Honor Play – Asus Zenfone 5Z

The Nokia 7.1’s Snapdragon 636 doesn’t reach quite that level, but it’s not far behind with a big.LITTLE CPU cluster with powerful Cortex-A73 cores to handle more demanding workloads. The older small octa-core CPU inside the Zenfone 5Z is definitely the slowest of the bunch.

	Nokia 7.1	Pocophone F1	Honor Play	Moto Z3 Play	Asus Zenfone 5Z
Display	5.84-inch 2280 x 1080 resolution (FHD+) 19:9 aspect ratio	6.18-inch IPS LCD 1080 x 2246 resolution (Full HD+) 18:9 aspect ratio	6.3-inch IPS LCD 2340 x 1080 resolution (FHD+) 19.5:9 aspect ratio	6-inch AMOLED 2,160 x 1,080 resolution (FHD+) 18:9 screen ratio	6.2-inch IPS LCD 2,246 x 1080 resolution (FHD+) 19:9 aspect ratio
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 (4x 1.8GHz A73 + 4x 1.6GHz A53)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 (4x 2.8GHz A75 + 4x 1.7GHz A55)	HiSilicon Kirin 970 (4 x 2.4GHz A73 + 4 x 1.8GHz A53)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 (4x 1.8GHz A73 + 4x 1.6GHz A53)	Qualcommm Snapdragon 630 (4x 2.2GHz A53 + 4x 1.8GHz A53)
GPU	Adreno 509	Adreno 630	Mali-G72 MP12	Adreno 509	Adreno 508
RAM	3GB or 4GB LPPDDR4x	6GB or 8GB LPDDR4X	4GB/6GB LPDDR4X	4GB or 6GB	6GB or 8GB
Memory	32GB or 64GB	64GB/128GB/256GB	64GB	64GB or 128GB	64GB/128GB/256GB
MicroSD	Yes, up to 400GB	Yes	Yes, up to 256GB	Yes, up to 2TB	Yes, up to 2TB
Size	149.7 x 71.18 x 7.99mm 160g	155.5 x 75.3 x 8.8mm 180g	157.91 × 74.27 × 7.84mm 176g	156.5 x 70.5 x 6.75mm 156g	153 x 75.7 x 7.9mm 155g

There’s a more noticeable performance difference in gaming applications. The flagship-class Adreno 630 and Mali-G72 Mp12 in the Pocophone F1 and Honor Play are notably faster than the Adreno 509 inside the Nokia 7.1. That said, you’ll still be able to enjoy the latest games, just with lower graphics settings and a clunkier frame rate.

The Nokia 7.1 is also slightly behind some of its more powerful competitors

The Nokia 7.1 is also slightly behind some of its more powerful competitors in the RAM department. Three or 4GB certainly won’t slow you down when flicking through apps, but hiccups may arise when swapping in and out of more demanding scenarios like games. The 6 and 8GB configurations offered by the Zenfone 5Z and Pocophone F1 are more typically what we’d associate with cutting-edge smartphones. Ideally, a 4GB minimum would see the Nokia 7.1 sit more comfortably against its competitors.

Nokia is similarly behind in storage capacity. A 32GB offering is small these days, and most consumers will probably want the 64GB option. Nokia’s maximum capacity is the minimum configuration offered by these rivals, while the Pocophone F1 and Zenfone 5Z supply up to 256GB should you need it. All these models include a microSD card allowing for further expansion.

Overall, the Nokia 7.1 offers comparable performance to other phones around this price point, but it’s clearly cut a few corners in the memory department. Hopefully, the cameras and added extras make up the difference.

Cameras and extras

Nokia has deepened its partnership with Zeiss for this phone, yet the camera specifications appear very similar to other mid-tier smartphones. A reasonable resolution primary camera, paired up with a low-resolution depth sensor is par for the course these days.

Nokia isn’t just using the secondary camera for depth sensing and software bokeh, though that’s an option. The secondary camera is a monochrome sensor, used to improve light sensitivity and detail, like in Huawei’s cameras. Powerful software combined with Zeiss lenses could make this a winning combination, but we’ll wait for some hands-on pictures.

The only other really interesting shooting option at this price point is the Asus Zenfone 5Z. The rear camera configuration offers a wide angle secondary sensor with a 120-degree field of view.

	Nokia 7.1	Pocophone F1	Honor Play	Moto Z3 Play	Asus Zenfone 5Z
Camera	Rear: 12MP 2PD/AF/F1.8/1.28um Secondary: 5MP BW/FF/F2.4/1.12um Front: 8MP FF/F2.0/FOV 84° ZEISS Optics	Rear: Main: 12MP f/1.9, 1.4um pixels Secondary: 5MP Front: 20MP f/2.0, 1.8 micron	Rear: Primary: 16MP with LED flash, f/2.2 aperture, PDAF Secondary: 2MP secondary camera with f/2.4 aperture and EIS Front: 16MP, f/2.0 aperture	Rear: Main: 12MP with 1.4 micron pixels, f/1.7 aperture Secondary: 5MP Front: 8MP sensor with 1.12-micron pixels, f/2.0 aperture	Rear: 12MP sensor with f/1.8 aperture Secondary: 120° wide-angle camera with 6p lens Front: 8 MP AF sensor, f/2.0 aperture with 84° field of view
IP Rating	No	No	No	No	No
Audio	3.5mm headphone jack	3.5mm headphone jack	3.5mm headphone jack	USB Type-C	3.5mm headphone jack
Connectivity	WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Bluetooth 5.0 NFC	WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Bluetooth 5.0 FM Radio	WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n Bluetooth 4.2	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Bluetooth 5.0 NFC FM Radio	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Bluetooth 5.0 NFC FM Radio
Charging	18W Fast Charge USB Type-C	Quick Charge 3.0 USB Type-C	SuperCharge USB Type-C	15W Fast Charge USB Type-C	18W Fast Charge USB Type-C
Battery	3,060mAh	4,000mAh	3,750mAh	3,000mAh	3,300mAh
Software	Android 8.1 Oreo	Android 8.1 MIUI 9.6	Android 8.1 Oreo EMUI 8.2	Android 8.1 Oreo	Android 8.1 Oreo ZenUI 5.0

Mid-range smartphones have, for the most part, kept the 3.5mm headphone jack for music lovers. The notable exception in today’s comparison is the Moto Z3 Play. A single bottom firing speaker is also a common setup here, as is the inclusion of an FM Radio, in all but the Nokia 7.1 and Honor Play.

There’s no IP rating for water and dust resistance on any of these models. On the plus side, the Nokia 7.1, Moto Z3 Play, and Asus Zenfone 5Z all feature NFC for mobile payments.

Nokia has deepened its partnership with Zeiss for this phone, yet the camera specifications appear very similar to other mid-tier smartphones.

Fast charging speeds are also in place across all of these models. Although, I can’t imagine anyone will run the large batteries in the Pocophone F1 and Honor Play down in a single day. The Nokia 7.1 and Moto Z3 Play batteries are on the smaller side, though 3,000mAh should be enough for a single day of heavy use, given the power-efficient nature of their processors.

The Motorola Moto Z3.

Does the Nokia 7.1 do enough?

Stock Android fans now have another choice on the market in the Nokia 7.1. Its hardware doesn’t appear exceptional, but that’s partly because this year has already seen so many affordable high-performance smartphones hit the market. The Nokia 7.1 looks like a solid performer, it’s just not topping the table. Of course, that’s only a small part of the smartphone experience.

Stock Android fans now have another choice on the market in the Nokia 7.1.

The Nokia 7.1’s appeal hinges on its design and camera experience. It could well excel in those areas, but these elements are a little harder to contextualize without a full review, so stay tuned.

Do you think the Nokia 7.1 will do enough to stand out in the $350 price bracket?

More Nokia 7.1 coverage

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