For the primary time, I’m going to interrupt down the identify of a cellphone for you, solely as a result of it is ridiculously convoluted. This cellphone known as the “Nokia 8 V 5G UW.” Nokia 8 is that this Android smartphone’s precise product identify; the V stands for Verizon; 5G is for the assist of the new network standard; and UW is Ultra Wideband, the identify of Verizon’s 5G that makes use of millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum. Clearly, Verizon is guilty for this catastrophe.
This is the mannequin I’ve been testing for a number of weeks. Thankfully, you needn’t take a deep breath to say the identify of the practically equivalent unlocked model that’ll work on different carriers—the Nokia 8.three 5G. It skips millimeter-wave assist in favor of slower however extra accessible 5G spectrum (sub-6). Regardless of the mannequin, it is tough to advocate this cellphone. At $700 it prices an excessive amount of, and it is simply not enjoyable to make use of.
Big Drop
I grimaced the primary time I took it out of the field. This factor is heavier and greater than the brand new iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.
I do not thoughts large telephones, nevertheless it’s tough to achieve elements of the display screen with one hand until you shimmy it down your hand, and the glass on the again is an instantaneous fingerprint magnet that will get dirty rapidly.
Then got here the drop. I used to be crouching, taking a photograph low to the bottom (with one other cellphone, for comparability’s sake). My pant pocket was a couple of foot and a half above the sidewalk. The Nokia 8.three 5G, too large to be constrained by a measly pocket, slipped out. CRACK.
The glass again shattered, and it has continued to launch tiny bits of glass into my arms ever since. Wonderful. I’m coming to this cellphone after having simply reviewed two different $700 telephones, the Google Pixel 5 and Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Fan Edition. They use aluminum (with a bio-resin end) and plastic, respectively, for the fabric on the again—way more wise. Both are also IP68 waterproof and assist wi-fi charging, two lacking options on the Nokia.
Nokia’s LCD show is not all that spectacular for this worth, both. It’s sharp and brilliant sufficient to see open air on sunny days. But it could actually’t match the OLED panels from rivals. Each pixel in an OLED display screen acts as a backlight, so once you see black the pixel is totally off, and it seems to be brilliantly darkish. On this cellphone, black pixels nonetheless glow a bit of, which means darkish stuff is not fully darkish. The lack of OLED is problematic for options just like the Always-On Display, which exhibits the time and notifications when the cellphone is on standby. I needed to flip the cellphone the wrong way up at bedtime as a result of your complete display screen has a backlight that emits a distracting glow. Bummer.
The excellent news? I did not have any efficiency woes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G inside. Apps are fast to launch, and video games run easily more often than not. There’s the occasional stutter, nevertheless it was by no means a trigger for concern.
Its battery life is poor. The 4,500-mAh cell lasts a day, however not a minute extra, and that is once I barely use the cellphone to do stuff like browse Reddit and Twitter, studying articles, and perhaps take a number of pictures. Simple actions like that introduced me right down to 20 % by 10 pm with a bit of greater than three hours of screen-on time.
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