Recently, Xiaomi opened its first Mi Store in the Oceania region, right here in New Zealand.
There was a lot of publicity around the Mi Home electric scooter - which does look pretty amazing - and as a result they sold out almost straight away.
But the other big impact of Mi opening its bright orange doors at Sylvia Park is now we have access to a whole new range of phones...
The Redmi Note 5 is full of surprises, even for a phone junkie like me.
At first it's hard to know what to expect from the Note 5, especially since I haven't reviewed a Xiaomi-manufactured device before. Also available in a powder blue, the black version I have takes minimalist design almost to an extreme. From the matte-finish metal back cover to the reinforced shock-absorbing corners of the device, this phone is really black. Even the transparent case included in the box is tinted black. The Redmi Note 5 is almost the complete opposite of some of the gaudy, multicoloured devices we've seen on show throughout the year.
It's a solid piece of kit, quite weighty in the hand. Unusually, the seams, joins and edges are all slightly raised - almost as if to create a tactile experience that suggests industrial usability rather than something that'll slip out of your hand onto the floor.
The large, 5.99inch display seems even bigger than it is, due to sizable bezels top and bottom. The top bezel holds a speaker, the selfie camera and a selfie-light - the bottom one doesn't hold anything so I guess it's just for aesthetic balance.
The bottom edge of the Note 5 is the main physical clue about which part of the phone market it slots into; just the single downward-firing speaker, a real live, physical earphone jack (soon to be extinct I think) and most telling of all, a microUSB port - very old-fashioned at this end of 2018.
So it might not scream style and elegance, but once you fire the Note 5 up, functionality rules supreme. The Snapdragon 636 octacore processor, combined with a respectable 4GB of RAM really keeps this phone flying along with very few pauses, jumps or stutters.
As this was my first experience with the MIUI 9 operating system, I decided to jump in head first, get rid of the buttons off the display and learn the Redmi range of gestures. I actually found this to be very intuitive on the whole, my only real frustration coming when scrolling through photos; the go-back gesture is a swipe from the side of the screen - easily confused with a swipe to the next picture. It's a muscle memory thing, I guess.
Not every phone handles split screen functionality well, if it offers it at all. The Redmi Note 5 makes it easy. It's stable and the screen is certainly big enough to handle it. In fact, the screen is great for all kinds of content - browsing, video whatever.
The cameras were the other big surprise for me. A 15MP + 5MP dual camera on the back combined with a 13MP selfie-cam. No, theses won't win any photography awards up against the big brand flagships, but the low light performance was actually not too shabby - especially from the front-facing camera due to its own built-in selfie light. There are a good selection of beauty settings too, quite customisable compared to many other phones I've tried. I'm still not actually beautiful at the end of it, but a bit closer than usual.
Battery life is the hero feature of this phone. There aren't too many others around with a massive 4000mAh battery like this. Yes the charging cable is old-fashioned, but you'll get a couple of days use out of this phone easy.
At just $398.99, the Redmi Note 5 is priced at the lower end of the mid-range market, but it has the features and performance of a handset at the upper end of that same market. I think that makes it a very good buy.
Click here for more information and pricing on the Redmi Note 5.
If 2018 taught us anything about the New Zealand smart phone market, it was there's always room for one more.
After a relatively low-key kick-off last year, OPPO seems to be going from strength to strength, even if most kiwis have still never heard of them.
Now there's another premium OPPO phone available, at a less than premium price...
When you review a lot of phones, you get picky. Most of them are pretty good these days but there are some that really stand out. I often ask myself the question, "Would I be happy to keep using this phone post-review, as my every-day handset?"
The OPPO R17 Pro is definitely one of those phones.
This year OPPO has released quite a few models in various price brackets and clearly the Chinese based manufacturer has shrugged off its tendency to produce Android devices that look like iPhones in favour of a more unique design ethic.
Nowhere was this more evident than with September's unprecedented Find X - the phone that boldly removed the cameras from both the front and rear panels and put them inside the phone, physically popping up when required.
Combined with other innovations like SuperVOOC Flash charging, OPPO is really starting to stand out from the crowd. Still, how many people would really be prepared to fork out almost $1500 for the Find X from OPPO, a brand with very little reputation in this country?
Well, there's a reason OPPO hovers around fourth or fifth in world phone sales; they do a lot right.
The R17 Pro is available in Emerald Green and a very eye-catching Radiant Mist - which isn't pink or purple or blue but a flowing combination of all those hues and more. Both models feature a glass encased back panel with a slightly matte finish that improves grip and helps prevent too many fingerprints.
Like the Find X before it, the R17 Pro has nicely rounded edges but is uniquely concave top and bottom, which is where you'll find the dual sim tray.
There's no earphone socket, which seems to be standard for most new high-end phones these days, as is the USB Type-C charging port. Using the included SuperVOOC Flash charger, OPPO claims you can reach 40% in just ten minutes. I tested this myself and that claim isn't quite accurate - it's better. I actually achieved 43% charge in ten minutes. Somehow the charger safely generates a massive 50watts to boost the R17 Pro in no time. This is why they've yet to change to wireless; I've been told until OPPO can make wireless charging somewhere near as fast as SuperVOOC, we'll just have to wait.
Apparently OPPO is using some new dual-cell battery technology which keeps everything safer and more efficient than ever before - certainly battery life was excellent (without being completely off the charts). As I've found with many phones these days, that's due in part to some very persistent battery optimisation shutting down apps working in the background. This usually wasn't too hard to solve from the settings menu though.
The other, almost unique physical feature of the R17 Pro is the sheer amount of screen real estate due in part to the tiny, "water drop" notch - just big enough for the selfie lens - and partly due to the in-screen fingerprint sensor. I'm sure we'll see a lot more of these in-screen sensors on next year's phones, but there aren't many around at the moment. The one on the R17 Pro worked fairly consistently - not quite as fast as a more traditional, physical sensor - but almost. It seemed a bit unreliable if my thumb was sweaty or greasy. Mind you, who wants to be poked with a sweaty, greasy thumb?
The fingerprint tech is almost redundant though, because the 3D facial recognition is so efficient. Not only will it take you instantly to your home screen, as soon as the phone comes out of your pocket - but it will do it an any lighting conditions - even pitch black, using the illumination from the R17 Pro's own screen to recognise you in the dark.
In fact, darkness really poses few problems at all for the R17 Pro - especially when it comes to photography. The tri-lens rear camera configuration has produced some of the best low light shots I've ever taken with a phone - and not just when I select Night Mode, which combines several images from each lens, then filters out any over exposure and noise. Even in auto mode, the R17 Pro's impressive AI skills kick in, combined with OPPO's OIS Optical Stabiliser Technology and produce consistently great nighttime pics.
In fact, most of the photos I've taken with this phone are pretty stellar and as usual for an OPPO device, the selfies are particularly standout.
They've tried to future-proof the R17 Pro by building in as much 3D tech as they could muster - it's fun to play around with creating 3D portraits. These render nice and quickly too - good processor speed on this phone; another mark of a high-end product.
With a 6.4inch display, this is quite a large phone, but its so slim, it remains easy to hold in one hand - especially if you use the cover included in the box, which in my case was tinted green to match the phone itself - nice touch. The screen is fashioned from the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 6 - so it should withstand a few knocks. I've found it very watchable and sensitive to touches and gestures. Color OS is certainly not my favourite operating system, but I do like some of the new features in version 5.2 like the Smart Bar you can swipe over from the side of the screen to access your favourite apps and settings.
There's no doubt about it, there's not much missing from the R17 Pro. There's no IP (water resistance rating) which seems a bit strange these days, but other than no wireless charging, I can't find much to complain about - and I can't really complain about that when you have a phone that charges in a blink of an eye and takes some of the best after-dark shots I've ever seen.
Priced under $1000, you must at least consider the R17 Pro next time you're upgrading your phone. You might not have heard of OPPO yet, but it won't be long now...
Click here for more information and pricing on the OPPO R17 Pro.
Good old trusty old brand new Nokia.
Still New Zealand's sole supplier of androidone devices.
Still dependable as ever... up to a point...
Nokia's newest is the 7.1 - which is a bit confusing because from what I can tell this device is not really a direct evolution from the Nokia 7 plus, but rather a step forward from the Nokia 6.1. Why can't they just give these phones names instead of numbers? It'd be far less confusing.
As you can see from the image above, Nokia has stuck to the unique copper highlights around the edges of the device, but unlike previous models the back is now covered in glass to show off the new "steel" colour. It's actually quite striking and will certainly stand out among other more boringly coloured phones. I really like the way this phone looks. One drawback is the glass is obviously a bit more slippery - and perhaps won't take the knocks quite as well as those previous phones either. In saying that, I have accidentally dropped it out of my pocket onto a hard wood floor with no noticeable damage done, so maybe I'm wrong. The glass does give a more premium feel - even though at $599 the Nokia 7.1 is slap bang in the middle of the now crowded mid-range market.
Like its immediate predecessors, the 7.1 features the androidone O.S., which definitely casts a magic spell over average hardware and makes it perform like the latest and greatest... for the most part.
When you look at the numbers alone, it'd be easy to pass by the 7.1 - just 3GB of RAM seems pretty low these days, especially combined with a mere 32GB of internal storage. Normally I'd shy away from any handset with less than 64GB of space, but at least you can expand up to 400GB with a microSD. Something to bear in mind because I found I was left with less than 8GB to play with once I'd installed all my favourite apps and taken just a few pics.
3GB of RAM seems risky too - but that's where androidone steps in and takes over a lot of the heavy lifting. Apps still launch fairly quickly and smoothly - video plays with no issues and the screen, while comparatively small at 5.84", is extremely clear and I watched the entire sixth season of House of Cards on a recent plane trip with no trouble at all.
Multi-tasking starts to take its toll on the underpowered processor though and I certainly struggled to keep some apps running in the background. This seems to be a common theme with many midrange devices and I find it a bit confusing because some uber-popular apps like Instagram and Messenger keep on keeping on no matter what - never missing a notification. Meanwhile, other apps just go to sleep, no matter how many times I tell the phone not to optimise them. I guess the onus is on the app developers themselves to keep their programs up to date with the latest devices - but it remains a frustration for me, anyway.
What I found even more frustrating was the camera on the 7.1. It's great - or rather, they're great - both the front and dual-lens rear-facing configurations. I actually took some very good, clear photos, in a range of lighting conditions. Only problem is, every time I use the camera, it just about crashes the phone. The camera app is painfully slow to launch, swapping between front and rear views even worse and swapping between the photos you've taken and the live view even worse. It's so confusing to be able to take great pictures, but only once the phone has thought long and hard about it.
It's a bit like making Beauden Barrett play for a high school first XV again - sure he'd be capable of some amazing rugby, but only if the rest of the team can actually give him the ball.
As much as I like the stripped-back, efficient performance of androidone, it obviously has its limits and on the Nokia 7.1., that limit is the camera app. Maybe this is something that can be sorted out with a software update down the track. That's the real advantage of androidone of course, plenty of regular updates, guaranteed.
Pleasingly, there are quite a few hardware compromises that haven't been made to fit the 7.1 into this price range. There's a fast and reliable fingerprint sensor below the camera on the back. It has a pretty good battery life and charges quickly enough. Best of all, the charging cable is USB Type-C - just like all the fancy phones. There's a notch - which seems to be almost standard by now - but it's not overbearing and it's worth it for the extra screen space at the top, especially given there's quite a lot of blank real estate at the bottom - more than enough for a Nokia logo anyway.
Perhaps the most welcome feature of all is NFC. This means, unlike many of its competitors in this price bracket, the 7.1 can tap and pay - or connect to speakers and the like with one touch. Very convenient.
At $599, I'd suggest this device is priced at the top of its market value - not because it doesn't have plenty of premium features but just because there's not always the processing power available to run them.
Click here for more information and pricing on the Nokia 7.1
Mate time is an exciting time.
For the last two years at least, Huawei has managed to surprise and delight with the Spring launch of its "power user" device, the Mate. Most of that surprise is usually centred around the impressive speed gains offered by Huawei's latest Kirin processor technology, coupled with breakthroughs in camera configuration.
This year, there's more than ever to talk about...
Let's start with the expected; it's called the Mate 20 Pro. Yes, it has the latest, most powerful Kirin processor and yes that means it's very fast.
Yes, like the Huawei P20 Pro from earlier in the year, it sports a Leica triple-lens configuration. The way this looks on the Mate 20 Pro is less predictable - arranged into a square in the same position as previous Mates instead of a single line of lenses in one corner. Of course, the real surprise about this is how few of Huawei's competitors have come out with a three-lens camera this year, even though many hinted at it along the way.
In New Zealand, the Mate 20 Pro is available in black and a unique Emerald Green, coupled with a slightly corrugated surface which not only reflects the light in an unusual way, but also keeps the glass back more fingerprint-free and less slippery.
Then, as we start to use the Mate 20 Pro, the surprises really start to flow. It's one of the first handsets in this market to feature an in-screen fingerprint sensor. Not only does this mean an improvement to the aesthetics, but it's also in a much more practical position, towards the middle of the screen which makes a lot more sense for one-handed operation than a sensor in the home button like other phones. It takes a little bit of muscle-memory training to get used to this new unlocking method - and I simply don't believe Huawei's claims the in-screen sensor is as fast as the previous external ones. It worked very well - but not as lighting quick or as consistently as the old way.
This is all kind of irrelevant though because the Mate 20 Pro's 3D face unlock is so incredible, I hardly have to use the fingerprint sensor at all. In almost any light and from almost any angle - even in sunglasses, the device unlocks straight to the home screen in an instant. It's brilliant.
This is all part of the industry-leading tech Huawei has packed in under the hood. Without getting too nerdy, the processor is divided into eight cores of three different sizes. This means not only can different parts of the Mate 20 Pro's brain work on different tasks at the same time - if it's only a little task, like displaying an email, it'll only use a little core. That means less heat and less power too.
Not that there isn't plenty of power to burn. At 4,200mAh, The Mate 20 Pro is pretty much all battery. In fact, I've never seen battery life like it. Not only can an average user crank out two full days usage out of this thing, it charges extremely quickly as well. I've found even when I'm not using the 40watt SuperCharger included in the box, the Mate 20 Pro seems to charge amazingly quickly for such a big battery. And the best news of all; wireless. Yes, at long last Huawei has joined the wireless charging club - what's more, they've turned it on it's head. You can reverse charge other wireless charging devices from the Mate 20 Pro itself. You have to activate the reverse charging in the settings menu, then the the back of the phone works just like any other wireless charger. I put another phone back to back in my pocket and it went from 75% to 100% in about an hour. Bear in mind, this is one thing that will chew through your battery more than anything else. Handy trick though.
Unfortunately, Huawei seems so obsessed with preserving battery life, the Mate 20 Pro is super-aggressive when it comes to shutting down apps running in the background. This is something I've always struggled with on Huawei devices and the Mate 20 Pro is still no exception. Don't worry - basic, essential apps like email and messaging are still super reliable. It's just certain lesser-known apps that get forgotten about after a while - things like smart watch interfaces, podcast players and security camera notifications. They'd all work well for a while then I'd have to restart the app itself to get the notifications running again. Just a little niggle that's definitely worth the pay-off of near-infinite battery life.
Another club Huawei has finally joined is the IP68 club. That's right, this phone is now toilet-proof too. Just one more little bonus to give you that extra piece of mind now that beachside photo opportunities are coming up fast.
In terms of photo features, it'd be hard to ask for much more. The P20 Pro was already about the best camera phone out there, so it's not like they've made this one worse. Not only has the A.I. functionality been stepped up several more notches, but there are some new gimmicks to try as well. There's now a library of live lighting effects you can apply to your portraits as you shoot them, from either forward or rear-facing cameras. My favourite is the venetian blind shadow that makes me look like a cool private eye in every location. Thanks to the the Mate 20 Pro's high-powered 3D functionality, you can even scan in your kid's favourite toy and turn it into a virtual pet. Crazy.
As you would expect from a Huawei flagship, zooming, low-light and even macro options are quite simply first-rate.
To be honest, I'm struggling to come up with something another phone does that this one doesn't. From wireless charging to unbelievable battery life to the in-screen fingerprint sensor, it really does have every feature going and here's the clincher; in the cut-throat battle for market share, Huawei has priced the Mate 20 Pro lower in New Zealand than just about anywhere in the world. At under $1500 (including bundled accessories from most retailers) it's such a good buy, it's almost an international tourist attraction.
Click here for more information and pricing on the Huawei Mate 20 Pro.
The peak phone debate rages on.
How good can these devices get anyway? They make them faster. Bigger. Smaller. But these days they're all pretty much the same.
Which certainly makes you question why anyone in their right mind would pay $2800 for one?
Well wouldn't you just know it... there's another new phone in town.
But this time, it's actually different...
I've been reading about the OPPO Find X for a while now - it's been available in other countries but I wasn't sure if it was coming to New Zealand. I really wanted it to, because I simply couldn't believe what I was reading about it and I had a desperate urge to find out if it was all true.
Although OPPO hasn't been selling phones in this country for very long, it's actually a successful and established brand in many markets around the world. Until now, the only OPPO handsets we've seen here have been more entry-level and mid-range devices. Nevertheless, I've been consistently impressed by their bang for back, especially in terms of camera performance. I'd never taken a selfie I liked till I took one with an OPPO phone.
The Find X is OPPO's flagship device and they're pretty proud of it. They should be - it's perhaps the most unique phone I've ever used.
You see, it has a pop-up camera.
This is such a revolutionary concept, it's actually kind of hard to describe exactly what I mean.
Let's start with how the Find X looks, straight out of the box; it's a stunner. Available in Bordeaux Red and Glacier Blue, the gradient effect on the class-covered rear casing is so subtle, it's almost breath-taking. This is not some gaudy, mirror-like blast of pink or sky-blue... it's elegant, soft, shimmering highlighted edges that hint how classy this phone really is.
Turn it over and you'll discover the Find X is pretty much all screen - well, 93.8% to be precise. No physical buttons, no fingerprint sensor and only the tiniest ear speaker right at the very top edge. Oh and that's right... no camera to be seen.
The display curves sensuously around the sides, reminiscent of a high end Samsung device. OPPO calls this its Panoramic Arc Screen and it looks and feels superb.
So where are the cameras?
Just wait.
Unusually, both top and bottom edges of the Find X are concave, not round. The bottom edge is where you'll find the main speaker and the charging port which, unlike the other mid-range and entry level OPPOs I've reviewed in the past, thankfully is USB Type-C. This accommodates the SuperVOOC charging cable, OPPO's own fast charging system.
If you thought VOOC charging was quick, try 0-100 in just 35 minutes - that's what SuperVOOC is capable of. When I tested it, it took 42 minutes because I couldn't help myself checking the screen every few minutes to see the battery percentage tick up before my eyes. It really is that quick. Alas, no wireless charging option, although the OPPO team tell me they've been researching wireless for years. They claim until they can make it work as speedily as their miraculous SuperVOOC, they'll stick with the wall charger.
No headphone jack by the way - face facts people, these days it's more likely to be bluetooth or Type-C connector earbuds like the ones included in the box.
There's one other oddity on the bottom of the Find X; the sim tray. Too ugly to blemish the slim, smooth edges of the phone and you can't bung it on the top because...
Yes, alright. That camera.
OPPO's "Stealth" 3D cameras are lying in wait, inside the phone and pop up instantly when required. The engineering behind this is so precise, the seam is practically invisible. The mechanism makes a slight noise when the cameras emerge, but it's really only noticeable in an absolutely silent room. The rear dual-camera setup sports 20MP and 16MP lenses while the selfie camera is an impressive (as always) 25MP. Once again, OPPO really delivers with its camera performance, packing a powerful A.I. punch which works mostly behind the scenes to produce consistently high quality shots, inside and out, in just about all lighting conditions.
That A.I. performance comes courtesy of a very high-spec Snapdragon 845 processor, paired up with a PC level 8GB of RAM. That kind of processing power makes this one of the fastest phones on the market and my user experience has been silky smooth, whether gaming, multi-tasking, filming or streaming. There's also a very healthy 256GB of internal storage, which is a genuinely high-end number.
The Find X's big brain means faultless 3D abilities, including facial recognition. There's no fingerprint sensor but OPPO claims their face unlock is so accurate, it's 20 times more secure than a fingerprint. I can confirm it works very well, even with my weird face. It also works in both landscape and profile which is a bonus for those of us who mount their phones sideways in their car cradles. Oh, if you thought the camera having to pop up to unlock your phone might slow things down, it doesn't. It's just really cool.
It's not just a gimmick either - there are genuine advantages to keeping your camera tucked away inside your phone when you're not using it; it's a great way to keep your lenses scratch, dust and fingerprint-free.
The obvious concern is reliability. How long can mechanical moving parts like these last? OPPO has an answer for that. They've tested these things rigorously and assure me the cameras can whiz up and down at least 300 000 times, no worries. That's about 8 years worth if you unlock your phone 100 times a day.
That's probably enough.
I've certainly yet to experience any hiccups with the slider mechanism, other than when I forget it's there and accidentally hold my finger over it. Obviously, the Find X is so clever, it doesn't try to fight my fat finger and waits till the coast is clear.
Some things can't be designed away though. While a transparent case is included with the phone, it goes without saying it doesn't fit over the top of the device to allow for the camera slider to do its thing. While OPPO says it's all been drop tested, glass covered phones can only withstand so much rough treatment. So I guess, don't treat it roughly?
While ColorOS is not my favourite Android-based operating system, I do like how stripped back it is and somehow, because of the sheer speed of the Find X's impressive processing power, I didn't find navigating around the phone as cumbersome as I have on some of OPPO's lower spec devices.
The OPPO Find X is selling for $1499. This is an interesting price point because I think that's probably about what it's worth in terms of features and performance. The questions is, can OPPO convince users to give it a go over other more well-known brands in this price bracket. Certainly, if you want a truly unique piece of hardware, Find X is the one.
Did I mention the limited edition Lamborghini version? Even more unique with more storage and a body constructed of carbon fibre, all bundled with some pretty swanky wireless ear buds. More unique means more expensive of course - but $2399 doesn't make OPPO's Lamborghini Find X the most expensive phone on the market. Not even close.
Click here for more information on the OPPO Find X
Click here for more information on the OPPO Find X Lamborghini Edition
What a golden age we're living in.
Who would have guessed, even 18 months ago you'd be able to purchase a phone for $2799?
Truly eye-watering. I've bought cars for less than that.
Presumably, unless you're one of the brainwashed Apple acolytes, like most normal people, you think nearly three-thousand bucks for one little phone is bordering on criminal.
But what's available at the other end of the scale? Some clunky old brick? Not these days...
There are some things you just don't expect from a sub-$400 phone.
You won't get a big display. You won't get much on-board storage. The camera will be average. The processor will be slow. The O.S. will be out of date. Battery life will be terrible. Oh... and it'll look cheap too.
The OPPO AX5 turns most of those preconceptions on their heads.
As you can see from the picture, I've been sent the Diamond Pink version (not sure it's my colour, but I could be wrong) The AX5 is also available in Diamond Blue - both have unique back covers with individual cut-glass sections that catch the light from different angles; a cool effect I haven't seen on any phone before, let alone one in this price bracket. The metal edge is coloured to match the back cover which is another eye-catching premium feature.
The screen is a very respectable 6.2inches, although the device itself still fits easily in one hand as there are no physical home or navigation buttons on the front so it's basically all screen. This impressive screen-to-body ratio is further enhanced with the use of a notch around the top speaker and front-facing camera. Don't worry, if you're not into notches, you can blank out the whole notification bar to disguise it (unlike some other notchy phones that seem happy to cut out the left side of your display when you're gaming in landscape mode)
There are other surprisingly large and respectable numbers built into the AX5 - like 64GB of on-board storage - which can be added to with a microSD in the hybrid dual-sim+SD tray. That's right, dual sim and memory expansion on a $399 phone.
3GB isn't a massive number, but when you're talking processing power on a phone, it's not too shabby. While the AX5 isn't lightning fast, it's certainly smooth to operate. As I've remarked when reviewing other OPPO devices, I'm no fan of the stripped-down Color O.S. home-screen. I need a nice, tidy app drawer and preferably the ability to rotate from portrait to landscape - all easily fixed with a third-party launcher of course. What I am a fan of is a lack of pre-installed bloatware, which is certainly what you get (or don't get) with the AX5. I still find it weird OPPO doesn't have a native email app though, instead relying on the standard Gmail app.
Every time I try a new OPPO phone, Color O.S. gets a little more user-friendly, but I did struggle to access some settings I wanted to change - particularly in terms of keeping apps running in the background.
That brings me to battery life which, quite frankly, is astounding. OPPO has packed a whopping 4230mAh battery into the AX5 and it simply never runs out. I can't emphasise this enough; if battery life is your major bugbear with your current phone, throw it away and get one of these. I've been using this phone for a while and most days I struggle to go below 70% by the time I go to bed. That includes streaming and bluetooth connectivity with my earbuds and smart watch. There is a "however" here though... As I just mentioned, the AX5 seems to have a particularly aggressive hunt-and-kill policy when it comes to background apps. No matter how hard I tried, there were some apps I couldn't persuade the phone to receive push notifications from (like my home security system) even though other messages like emails and Instagram posts arrived with no problems. This seems to be an issue with less well-known apps so maybe it's something OPPO will address with software updates over time.
Weirdly, the thing I was least impressed with was camera performance. That's not to say the pictures I've taken with the AX5 have all been fails, it's just that I'm used to OPPO making it all about the camera and the photo quality is usually the feature that outshines everything else on the phone. At least it's a dual-lens configuration for the rear-facing camera so you can still achieve some nice mixed-focus portrait effects and the 8MP selfie cam is pretty much up to OPPO's usual high standards. However, shots taken from long distance or in low light were pretty average, even for a photographic know-nothing like me.
On the other hand, the selfie-cam does facial recognition very well, opening straight to your home screen pretty much as soon as you take the device out of you pocket and glance at it. That's right; facial recognition - yet another premium feature for only $399.
Don't misunderstand me, the AX5 is not in the same league as the $1000+ (or even $2000+) superphones out there, it certainly has its limitations. No wireless charging, no IP water-resistance rating, no NFC for contactless payments. But added-extras like those are definitely nice-to-haves rather than must-haves.
Other than my slight camera disappointment, the AX5 is a solid performer especially in terms of battery life where I think it'd probably beat just about any phone in any price range.
It looks good too... although maybe the blue one would've been a slightly better match for my wardrobe.
Click here for more information on the OPPO AX5
Early this year, I confidently (and admittedly, somewhat hastily) predicted the Samsung Galaxy S9+ could well be the phone of 2018. I made that prediction after playing with one for only an hour or so and weirdly, I copped a bit of flack for it.
As it turns out, so far I've been absolutely right.
There are other handsets that are slightly stronger in certain areas... maybe a higher-spec camera... a bit more processing power... bigger storage... but none of these come close to offering the complete package the GS9+ does.
Till now...
Right off the bat I want to be quite clear in declaring the Samsung Galaxy Note9 is not my phone of the year... but only because it's a bit ugly. Call me shallow, but compared to most other flagship devices out there, the Note9 is decidedly square and brick-like. The team from Samsung tried to tell me this was a deliberate design choice to differentiate it from the S9 and S9+. Are they suggesting there's a market out there for big, heavy, block things? They're probably right. I mean, they also decided to make the S-Pen for the blue Note9 yellow, so what would I know?
The Note9 is in fact available in 3 colours, the mandatory Midnight Black, the aforementioned Ocean Blue and a very classy Metallic Bronze. Depending on the deal you choose, there seems to be the option of a lavender S-Pen floating around too. Talk about being spoilt for choice.
I think the real implication is Note users are traditionally more interested in functionality over form, with the Galaxy Note range usually being one of the biggest handsets on the market. That's not necessarily true this time round because although the screen is a whopping 6.4 inches, (Samsung's largest Infinity display to date) the device is practically bezel-free so the Note9 isn't actually that much bigger than the GS9+.
The main point of the Note9 is what's under the hood. I'm not usually one to get bogged down with tech specs, facts and figures, but you can't help but be impressed by the sheer brute force of this device. There are two variants available, the 128GB and the 512GB. What's significant here is they both have microSD expansion slots so the 512GB version can accommodate another 512GB in flash memory, effectively making this the world's first terabyte smart phone. That's literally millions of selfies you can store on there... so much for us all moving to the cloud.
The processor has been upgraded since the S9 and there's now a stunning 8GB of RAM available on the 512GB variant. I was only sent the 128GB version to review, which has a mere 6GB of RAM, but even then there was a noticeable bump in speed. Nothing causes this phone to slow down, pause or stutter. Gaming, streaming, multi-tasking, downloading and installing apps - the Note9 is easily one of the fastest phones I've used with most functions happening instantly. Whether you unlock via fingerprint or facial recognition, your homescreen now appears before you really have time to think about it.
Even if those memory numbers don't mean much to you, just compare them to your work laptop. There aren't too many people walking around with that much storage and power on their computers, let alone their phones. That's why Samsung has now taken DeX mode a step further. Previous devices required a DeX dock to create a desktop experience on a large screen. Now you can plug the Note9 into any HDMI display directly, using a single USB Type-C to HDMI cable. Then you can really use it like a full-sized PC, presenting and even creating documents, PowerPoints, slideshows or other multi-media projects. Only high-end Huawei devices offer anything approaching this kind of functionality and the Note9 takes it a step further with its new S-Pen.
The S-Pen has been the most full-featured stylus around for generations, letting you take notes, screen write, capture images, translate and create live animations. Now its bluetooth connectivity means you can also use the S-Pen as a remote control. That's right, we're no longer faced with the prospect of a projector we don't know how to use, with a clicker that doesn't work properly anyway. Just plug your Note9 in (or share the screen wirelessly) pop the S-Pen out and your presentation'll run just the way you planned it. You can also use the S-Pen as a media-controller, playing and pausing your content.
Camera-wise, we have a same-but-different situation. In terms of hardware, it's the same camera configuration as the GS9+, although the rear camera looks different because the dual lenses are now side-by-side instead of one above the other. However, because of all the extra processing grunt, there's a host of new AI capabilities and Bixby lens features available, including live object recognition and live online shopping link suggestions. Although the camera is no major leap forward, just remember, the GS9 cameras were already stunning, especially in low light.
I also continue to be impressed by the stereo sound tuned by AKG... now with the inclusion of Dolby Atmos, you can legitimately enjoy your Netflix and the like without headphones or other speakers. It's not surround sound home theatre, but it certainly packs plenty of aural punch.
At 4000mAh, the Note9 boasts the biggest battery in a Galaxy phone to date, so as you'd expect you'll coast through a whole day on a single charge with no problems, even if you're doing a lot of streaming or bluetooth connecting. The S-Pen's charge doesn't last anywhere near as long, but it charges itself every time you slot it back into the handset.
Just on charging; one of Samsung's innovative line of new accessories includes the Duo wireless charging pad - a double-sized charger with a space for your phone and an extra spot for your smart watch. There's also a nifty flip cover that folds out to a triangle shape for a surprisingly stable instant tripod. Group selfies up the mountain? No longer a problem. Plonk the Note9 on a rock, pop out the S-Pen and use it as your camera remote. Come on, that's clever.
It's that sort of functionality that warrants the Note9's $1699-$1999 price tag - it really is more than just a phone (a fantastic phone)... it's a cool camera... but most significantly of all, it's probably more powerful and has more storage than your computer. All this, and it still fits in your pocket.
Oh, and it's not actually that ugly either. I just said that so I wouldn't be wrong about the phone-of-the-year thing.
Click here for more information and pricing on the Samsung Galaxy Note9
Huawei makes great phones. The tri-lens camera on this year's P20 Pro is probably the finest camera ever seen on a smart phone. Combined with the awesome power of Huawei's Kirin chipset technology, it's an extremely nice device.
But the question is; why have three cameras when you can have four?... ...for less than half the price?...
Okay, the four camera thing is slightly misleading - but only slightly.
The Huawei nova 3i only has a dual lens rear-facing camera as opposed to the P20 Pro's unique tri-lens setup. I say only, but truth is, very few phones in this price range sport dual lens cameras. What even fewer phones at any price have is a dual lens forward-facing camera. This means the nova 3i offers you the same features for your selfies you can access for the rest of your pics.
The camera innovation doesn't stop there. AI object recognition has been popping up in a lot of flagship devices, now you get it in the nova 3i - both front and back. Not only does this help you take way better photos in a range of environments and lighting conditions, but it also gives you the option of shopping for things you take pictures of. If the phone can recognise it, it can link you to an online store that sells it.
Of course, the other thing you get when you combine powerful AI with cool cameras is 3D facial recognition. Not only does this mean fast and accurate face unlock functionality, but also silly live animations you can superimpose over your own face. Huawei calls these QMojis. I call them too much time on your hands.
But the nova 3i is so so much more than just pretty pictures. It's also extremely pretty itself. While it is available in black, no-one in their right mind would choose anything other than Iris Purple. Iris Purple is only partly purple, quite a lot of blue and all the colours in between. It's kind of hypnotic to look at... like a double rainbow. This is all encased in glass with a metal mid-frame. It's super light, super slim and super slippery. It feels luxurious in your hand... but only if you can actually manage to grip its near frictionless surface. It could well be the slipperiest phone I've ever encountered - at one stage it worked its way out of my pocket onto the floor, while I was sitting on the couch. The glass seems pretty tough... no damage to report.
The 6.3inch display sounds too big but because it's edge-to-edge, the phone really isn't over the top size-wise and you want maximum display real-estate for streaming and gaming - two things the nova 3i does very well again, due in large part to the built-in AI. Combined with the impressive processing power of the Kirin 710 chipset, the nova 3i even offers a dedicated Gaming Mode which commits maximum resources to graphics and sound while blocking pesky notifications.
There's a more-than-ample 128GB of built-in storage, and the 4GB of RAM once again puts this lower-mid-range device up with the big boys.
The only real sign of the budget price-tag is the microUSB connection instead of the more user-friendly USB Type-C all high-end phones now support. Still no wireless charging here either which is slightly mysterious because in other markets Huawei does have a phone available with wireless charging capability.
A slightly old fashioned plug. That's really the only thing wrong with the nova 3i. So actually, there's nothing wrong with it at all. Plus it takes incredible photos from both cameras. PLUS plus it's amazing to look at.
But here's what I don't understand... why offer a phone that's almost as good as your flagship device for less than half the price?
The nova 3i is currently available for just $499 - and that's not even including the nice bonus pressies most retailers are bundling in with it. So surely it makes no sense to pay $1200 for a P20 Pro, just to get a 3 lens rear facing camera?
Click here for more information and pricing on the Huawei nova 3i
At the beginning of the year, OPPO was one of the first cabs off the rank with its latest flagship device, the R11s.
It was a major progression for one of Asia's biggest phone brands, because while last year's phones took pretty great pics, especially selfies, the user experience left a little to be desired.
Well, it's only August and OPPO has taken another giant leap forward...
The R15s PRO is a thing of beauty - and not just because it comes in Ruby Red, although the way it catches the light is truly mesmerising. You can choose Cosmic Purple if that's more your style and to be frank, it looks pretty damn fine too.
Whereas previous OPPO's seemed to make a deliberate effort to imitate the latest iPhone, the R15s Pro finally seems to have its own personality and it truly is stunning to look at. The glass back and steel bezels all feel like pure luxury.
Given all this, it seems quaintly retro to find both a headphone jack and a microUSB charging port instead of the USB Type-C version pretty much every new release phone has moved to now. Apparently, OPPO's amazingly fast VOOC flash charger is only designed for microUSB, so probably worth it for the impressively quick top-up. In saying that, can't the VOOC designers just redesign it?
On the subject of headphone jacks, I'm pretty relaxed either way although I know some people think forcing customers to use bluetooth connected listening devices is some kind of crime against humanity, so having that hole there will be good news for them.
The other controversial issue for high-end phone users right now is the notch. This is where the massive 6.28 inch screen stretches past the camera and speaker at the top of the phone to make the most of the forward-facing real estate. It's great to have your notification banner up there out of the way... when you're using the phone in portrait mode. Turn the phone sideways and things get a bit screwy. Some notched phones figure out you're watching full screen content and blank out the notch bar accordingly - not so with the R15s Pro. That means if you're watching movies or TV, there'll literally be a notch out of the picture on one side. Hard to know if these issues are up to OPPO or the app developers to solve, I just hope someone does, because other than that, this phone is one of the best looking in town.
The launcher/home screen setup is still a bit of an iOS throwback - no app drawer, just pages of icons. This is always easily remedied with my favourite launcher, Nova. However, once you actually start using this device, prepare to be impressed with its speed and power. The specs compare extremely favourably with just about every other phone on the market. A more than healthy 2.2GHz octa core processor, a whopping 6GB of RAM and 128GB is plenty of storage.
While I had run into a few stuttering issues on previous models, I experienced none of that this time round. Apps opened quickly and ran reliably - especially when I figured out how to ignore battery optimisation settings for the ones I wanted to keep running in the background.
The R15s Pro introduces a new range of gesture controls, a combination of swipes from different places on the screen instead of the more traditional home and go back buttons. While quite different to other phones, these didn't take long to get used to and I actually found them pretty intuitive. The operating system, ColorOS 5.0, is a major upgrade and a real breath of fresh air, although I was often disappointed to find the app I was using didn't support split-screen use - perhaps another opportunity for OPPO and developers to sit down and improve the functionality.
In short, the R15s Pro is the first OPPO that hasn't made me feel like I'm using a phone developed for a completely different market that's forcing itself to fit with New Zealand conditions.
What I've never had an issue with is OPPO's photographic functionality. OPPO has consistently impressed me with its forward facing cameras and it was using an OPPO when I first discovered I could take a self portrait that wasn't totally hideous. the R15s Pro steps things up yet again, with lots of AI doing some hard work behind the scenes to produce extremely clear and vivid shots from both front and rear (dual lens) cameras, even in poor light.
I mean, tell me that's not the best picture of beans you've ever seen.
The 20MP selfie-cam introduces a new level of 3D facial recognition, which not only enables a damn fast face unlock feature, but also means you can do those silly live AR stickers if that's your jam. More importantly, you can now shoot selfies in HDR which makes bad light much less of an issue.
Perhaps the camera configuration on the R15s Pro isn't technically the best around, but for a pictorial numbskull like me, it's certainly the best available for the price.
At $899, it's far from the cheapest OPPO ever released, but that's probably because there's absolutely nothing cheap about it. The feel, the user experience, the power and the cameras, all genuinely first class.
Oh, and did I mention you can get it in red? Oh boy.
As for the photos, just look at the beans and get back to me.
Click here for more information on the OPPO R15s Pro
I've been slack.
I've always heard good things about Sony Xperias, but I've never actually tried one.
So I thought I'd make up for it... by trying two at once...
The Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact from Sony are all class. They are smooth, black and sexy. They have Sony written on the front and Xperia on the back and everything else is minimalistic, stylish and cool.
To look at, the full-sized XZ2 is perhaps slightly more classy than the Compact, because it's encased in glass, front and back. The Compact's rear casing is a brushed-metal feel plastic, which has its own advantages because it's nowhere near as slippery as the all-glass finish.
The unusual thing about Sony's latest combo is that in terms of specifications, other than screen size (and obviously, actual size) these two phones are almost identical.
The screens themselves, although one is 5.7" and one just 5" are otherwise identical - and they might be the most sensitive to the touch I've ever... touched. It's hard to put into words exactly why I found the experience of swiping, pinching and pressing these displays so pleasant. It's almost as though they felt soft, like there was some give. Maybe this is exactly what Sony is going for with its "TRILUMINOS" technology. If anything, the screens were almost too responsive and I did occasionally open the wrong app by mistake with my fat fingers.
They don't just feel nice, of course - the displays display superbly, which is what you would expect from an outfit like Sony, famous for cool tellies and even cooler gaming consoles. It's that sort of behind-the-scenes techie know-how that also shines through in terms of sheer processing grunt and smooth operation generally.
The Xperia O.S. is very close to a stock Android experience, with only a few native Sony apps pre-installed. As usual, the home or lock screens don't rotate into landscape mode, but hardly anyone's ever does. There's a familiar app-drawer and on-screen navigation key set-up. All this stuff is the same for both handsets.
One big difference is charging - the larger, glassier XZ2 offers, wait for it, WIRELESS CHARGING! Thank the lord and hallelujah! Finally someone other than Samsung and Apple have come to my wireless charging party. In saying that, battery life on both models is good without being outstanding, again with a similar performance from both phones, despite the Compact's smaller battery. (Smaller display means less drain, I guess)
Good work on the wireless charging Sony, but I have to pull you up on your stupid little light. I'm begging all phone makers out there... if you MUST ruin your beautiful design with a charging LED, at least give me the option to turn it off if I don't want it! And believe me; I don't want it. Even tiny little lights illuminate dark bedrooms in the middle of the night. At least I can stop it blinking for notifications.
The XZ2's are certainly not cheap; $1299 and $1049... so you would expect premium performance and features, which is indeed what you get, for the most part. Although both only offer 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, as I've already pointed out, these phones really fizz along.
The only obvious downside is the camera. Neither phone offers a dual lens set-up, either front or back, so there are nowhere near the photo features many other phones in this price range have to offer. That's not to say the XZ2's don't take good pics... generally I found the results sharp and detailed, but perhaps a little dull colour-wise, especially in dark conditions.
There are a few tricks though, including the option to render 3D portraits of yourself or your friends, although it wasn't exactly clear what I was supposed to use the 3D me for once I'd created him. Fun though.
So a slightly underwhelming camera experience is probably all that keeps these two phones from being genuine flagship heavyweight contenders - but then again, that's probably why they're a few hundred dollars cheaper than those dual and even tri-lens options.
Conversely, sound quality is right back up there with the best I've tried - again, what else would you expect from a major AV brand like Sony?
Other than that, the choice is really between sizes; unless, like me, wireless charging is an essential requirement, both phones function so similarly, how big a screen you need becomes the deciding factor - that and the $250 price difference of course.
Click here for more information and pricing on the Sony Xperia XZ2
Click here for more information and pricing on the Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact
So your teen has dropped their phone. Again. Now the camera's not working properly. Or the screen's cracked. Or they did it on purpose to try and get a new one.
They don't deserve a $1000+ replacement.
But maybe there's an alternative that'll keep everyone happy...
Seems like mid-range phones are now offering so many premium features, calling them mid-range is kind of insulting.
The Huawei nova 3e is a classic example.
Technically, this phone is the P20 Lite - but I suspect it's such a good phone, the powers-that-be have decided to re-name it because there's nothing much "lite" about it.
First up, the nova 3e is a really eye-catching device, especially in Klein Blue (also available in Midnight Black) It has metal edges but a glass-covered back which catches the light in the most dazzling way. This mesmerising effect even worked after I fitted the transparent case included in the box.
Although the display is 5.84 inches, which is getting up there, it certainly doesn't feel like a large phone in your hand, due mostly to the narrow bezels and lack of physical buttons on the front. This all results in a very good screen to body ratio, enhanced further by the increasingly popular "notch" design at the top of the display.
This is the first time I've encountered the notch on a phone in this price range, but it seems to be becoming the norm. I didn't love it at first, but I have to concede you may as well stick your notification bar up there so you can use the rest of your screen for more interesting things. Like some (but not all) other phones with notches, you can choose to blank it out if it's not for you.
The nova 3e sports 64GB of built-in storage, which again is quite unusual for a sub-$500 handset. This is expandable up to 256GB with the addition of a microSD card. While we're talking numbers, the 4GB of RAM seems to keep things ticking along nicely and although the Kirin 659 processor isn't the most powerful Huawei has to offer, overall my user experience was pretty smooth. Things started to get a little clunky if I was really pushing the envelope - for example, streaming video while downloading other files, but nothing like the freezes and crashes I've endured on other "lite" versions of flagship phones I've reviewed in the past.
While there are few mid-range phones with fingerprint sensors, the nova 3e is the first one I've come across with facial recognition. What's more, it works and it works fast. Just like the much higher-priced P20, the face unlock even functions in landscape, which is great for me because that's how I have it positioned in my car holder. One small hint for new users of this device - if you've activated facial recognition, the phone will hide the content of any notifications on your lock-screen. Don't panic, this can be changed in the face lock settings, although it took me a fair amount of Googling to figure out.
Other than that, the EMUI-over-Android 8.0 user interface will be pretty familiar to previous Huawei users, with a choice of an iPhone-style all icon home screen, or the more logical app-drawer configuration. As usual with Huawei, battery optimisation is pretty damn aggressive and you might find some apps you want to keep running in the background keep turning off automatically. Like the lock-screen notifications, there is a setting for this but again, it's not easy to find. Type "ignore battery" into the settings search box and you'll figure it out from there.
While this is a medium-sized handset with a medium-sized battery, I found there was still plenty of charge left by the end of the day and the more-modern Type-C USB charging cable is another bonus that sets the nova 3e apart from many other devices in the mid-range pack.
The camera configuration is yet another feature of the nova 3e that belies its price-tag. For starters, this time last year only top-of-the-line phones offered dual-lens rear-facing cameras. Even then, only a few did. Now this $499 device can take some seriously crisp shots from distance in relatively low light. Obviously we're not talking the market-leading, A.I. assisted performance of the tri-lensed P20 Pro, but I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the photos from this phone compared to any other I've tried in this price bracket. While some camera operations were a little slow to react, functions like the instant shot you can take by double-pressing the down volume key worked in under a second.
As for the selfie lens, you can't really ask for more than the nova 3e's 16MP camera, with plenty of portrait effects and filters on offer.
Not hard to understand why demand for phones like these is expanding exponentially - Spark tells me the mid-range market has doubled in size over the last four months alone.
If you're part of that growing crowd, make sure you take a good look at the Huawei nova 3e - there aren't many high-end features missing but there are certainly many hundreds missing off the price.
Click here for more information and pricing on the Huawei nova 3e
Just when you were getting used to the idea Nokia is back on the New Zealand market with the very reliable and good-value Nokia 6.1 - they've released another option...
The Nokia 7 plus is even more striking than the 6.1 with the same copper highlights but a much wider copper band right round the edge of the device. It's probably a matter of personal preference, but I find this a real touch of class and it certainly makes the phone stand out beside other boring-black or all-gold competitors.
Like the 6.1, the 7 plus is molded from a solid block of aluminum and it also has that heritage feel of durability we've all associated with Nokia devices over the years. I haven't dropped it on a snowy European road like they do in the promotional video on the Nokia website, but it certainly feels like it would survive a little bit of rough treatment.
What's more, there's a clear case included in the box. Normally I wouldn't make to much of this, but it's actually a very well-designed case that still manages to show off the Nokia 7 plus' unique copper accents.
One thing accented in copper is the camera, which, as you can see from the image above, is actually two things. Yes, the 7 plus boasts a Zeiss dual-lens rear camera configuration which takes great photos inside and out. The camera setup is designed to achieve a better low-light result, and also offers an effect called "Live Bokeh", which lets you adjust the amount of blur on the parts of your picture you're not focused on.
Once focused on your subject, you also have the option to adjust the brightness of the shot - this worked well enough, although I didn't find the on-screen slider control very responsive. I took some really good pics with this camera and the bokeh is both easy and fun to use, as demonstrated below...
The selfie camera is a significant upgrade over the 6.1 too - twice the MegaPixels and it seemed to perform better in low light too. The beauty effect didn't make me unnaturally beautiful, even when wound all the way up. This is a relief because it's a feature that can be overly aggressive on many other handsets. "Live Bokeh" is available on this camera too, along with the "Bothie" option the Nokia 6.1 introduced us to - a side by side picture or video featuring shots from both forward and rear-facing cameras at once. The major photographic limitation here is zoom quality - neither of those dual-lenses are telescopic, so once you get past 3X or so, your close-ups start to lose quality.
Again, as the 7 plus also runs on the androidone operating system, the Google virtual assistant seems ready and waiting at all times. Today I've asked it for the opening hours at the local Farmers and what the Warriors score was - I got an instant and correct response both times. I've also found the Google virtual assistant invaluable this week as a text scanner - there have been several times when I needed to send or print a document I only had in hard copy. Not a problem for the virtual assistant. It recognised the text in photos and screen shots so I could copy it and distribute accordingly. I've used Samsung's Bixby Vision the same way, but my impression is Google is faster and more accurate.
The speaker on the bottom edge is far more powerful than the one on the Nokia 6.1, and I'm actually quite enjoying Charlie Puth's new album through it as I write this - it's pretty loud and seems to have a reasonably wide frequency response.
As you'd expect, you get more processing power with the 7 plus, and while the 6.1 ran smoothly enough (probably due in part to the stripped back androidone OS) there's a noticeable increase in sheer grunt with this one. The whole phone is bigger, of course - it's a 6" display with the more modern 18:9 aspect ratio. It doesn't feel bulky though, as the edges are more rounded than on the 6.1. You get twice the storage with the 7 plus too - 64GB plus whatever you want to add into the microSD slot.
What really blew me away was the battery life. Due to some complicated work commitments, I was up at 2am yesterday and when I hit the hay at around 10pm, I noticed the battery percentage was still at 55%. That's after being connected to a smart watch all day, not to mention several hours playing bluetooth audio via my car stereo and earbuds. That's up there with some of the best performing handsets I've reviewed.
In fact, everything about the Nokia 7 plus stacks up with the high-end big name phones; it looks good, it's powerful and runs smoothly, has plenty of storage and amazing battery life. No, the camera is not the absolute best on the market, but it still takes great pics. Meanwhile, the Google virtual assistant may well be the most useful I've tried.
Sadly, unlike early Nokia smart phones, there's no wireless charging option and there's no IP rating listed on the spec sheet, so it's probably not very waterproof.
Taking those minor pitfalls into account, this is still a $1200 phone, no question. The good news is; it's only $699.
Click here for more information and pricing on the Nokia 7 plus...
I have a confession to make. My first smart phone was a Nokia. That's not the confession. The confession is; I really loved that phone.
In those days, Nokia was using a Windows O.S. which actually worked really well, but made Android and iOS users laugh at me because there was very little content available in terms of apps.
A shame really, because the phone was solid, reliable and had a fantastic camera.
Things have changed. Nokia is back...
The moment I picked the Nokia 6.1 up out of its box, I was reminded of that first smart phone experience all over again. As usual, Nokia has constructed a handset that feels durable - tough even - yet looks modern and elegant.
The brushed aluminium unibody is a welcome relief from the fingerprint-fest of some of the other all-glass devices around at the moment, while the contrasting copper edges are just... styley as.
Yes, I really like the look and feel of this phone. The question is, can Nokia still come up with a device that performs as well as the other big brands in this price range?
The Nokia 6.1 boasts the latest in processing technology and 3GB of ram seems plenty to keep it ticking along nicely.
While it's essentially just another Android phone, the 6.1 comes with Android 8.1.0 straight out of the box, which is pretty much unheard of for a device in this price bracket.
The U.I. itself is called androidone, and the Nokia 6.1 is the first phone to offer it in New Zealand.
Essentially, androidone is about the most stripped-down interface you could ask for, with nothing but the basic suite of Google apps pre-installed. The phone is a veritable blank slate, waiting for you to set it up the way that suits you best, almost an anti-iPhone in a way.
For example, the default home screen, which is basically a new version of Google's Now Launcher, offers 6 different choices of icon shape alone. Obviously I chose squircles, because squircle is just the coolest word ever.
This simple but effective U.I. works smoothly and quickly - apps won't fire up with quite the lightning speed you'll experience on those $1000+ flagship phones, but the Nokia 6.1 certainly isn't far behind, and features like multi-window are only one long press away. While the 5.5" display isn't huge, it's plenty big enough to make the most of two apps at once.
There's a couple of big advantages with the Nokia 6.1 running androidone. The update policy, (Google guarantees at least two years of updates) and unlimited high quality photo storage on Google Photos - something pretty useful given there is only 32GB of built-in storage. (Although this can be expanded via micro SD)
So far I've found battery life to be good, without being great - despite Google's claims androidone works hard to keep prevent apps draining power in the background. The good news is a fast charger is included in the box and it connects via USB Type-C - more flagship features at the Nokia 6.1's midrange price.
I've also been impressed by the bluetooth connectivity - speakers, cars, watches, earbuds, everything paired easily and stayed connected reliably.
The fingerprint sensor is not as accurate or as fast as I would like, but at least it's in the right place - in the middle on the back.
The camera setup seems to be the major compromise on this handset. I really struggled to take consistently high-quality shots, with either the rear or front facing cameras. Ironically, the camera interface is perhaps too stripped back and I found I was missing easily accessible settings like selective focus and brightness controls. I was surprised because the cameras are Carl Zeiss designed and admittedly, some photos were crisp and clear, but it was a bit hit and miss.
However...
There were two photo features I hadn't encountered before - you can take "bothies" with the Nokia 6.1, a side-by side shot that uses both cameras at once. This feature is available for both stills and video, so you can capture your reaction while you capture someone else's.
The other unusual photographic trick really took me by surprise, literally as I was writing this review. I just got a notification from Google Photos telling me it had created a "Stylized Photo" for me. Apparently, the Google Photos Assistant wasn't satisfied with this photo...
So it created this one for me instead...
Definitely more Instagrammable. Thanks again Google. You're amazing... and a bit scary.
In spite of those pictorial surprises, if a high quality camera is your main priority, this is not the phone for you. On the other hand, if you're on a bit of a budget but you're looking for a handset with the processing power to run your favourite apps, that looks pretty stylish as well, Nokia is the old name in phones with a new-look Android device. The Nokia 6.1 is only $499, incredible value for what's under the hood. What's more, Spark has interest-free and complimentary headphone deals to really launch this device with a bang.
Still not convinced? The Nokia 7 plus is on the way - with a bigger screen, bigger battery, more processing power and yes, an extra camera lens. I'll be reviewing that one for you in a couple of weeks' time.
Click here for more information and pricing on the Nokia 6.1
