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The Nokia 8 Sirocco is official: This is HMD Global's true flagship
- HMD Global unveils Nokia 8 Sirocco at MWC 2018.
- Features 3D curved glass, 5.5-inch pOLED display, and a 12/13 MP dual-camera.
- Available from April priced at €749.
If there’s one thing that has been missing from HMD Global’s impressive Nokia revival it’s a true, bonafide flagship phone. This all changed at MWC 2018, as the Finnish OEM has now unveiled the Nokia 8 Sirocco – a premium, €749 powerhouse with an iconic brand name and an all-new look.
The most striking aspect of the device is its design. The slimline stainless steel chassis combines with 3D curved glass for a sleek, lightweight feel and an overall look that screams “flagship”.
The same can be said of the display too, which is a 5.5-inch edge-to-edge pOLED panel with a 2560 x 1440 resolution built from Gorilla Glass 5. In a strange move, HMD Global has eschewed recent trends and stuck with a traditional 16:9 aspect ratio (much like the one we saw on the original Nokia 8) all while stripping back as much bezel room as possible.
On the camera front, the Nokia 8 Sirocco sports a dual-camera configuration with a 12 MP and 13 MP telephoto combo kitted out with Carl ZEISS optics and 2x optical zoom capabilities (the same setup as the Nokia 7 Plus). There’s also a Pro camera mode for manual control of white balance, focusing, ISO, and more, and dual-sight support for taking “Bothies” in combination with the front-facing, 5 MP sensor.
The vanilla Nokia 8’s spatial audio capture and quick charging capabilities both carry over to the Sirocco, while QI wireless charging and an IP67 rating offer welcome upgrades over HMD’s former flagship.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case when it comes to the SoC, as the Sirocco is once again powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 chipset backed by 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB storage. The battery does get a slight boost from 3,090 mAh to 3,260 mAh. There’s no room for a 3.5 mm headphone jack, but you do get a USB-C adapter with each device as standard.
Fans of nu-Nokia’s approach to software will be pleased to hear that the Nokia 8 Sirocco – alongside the newly-announced Nokia 6 (2018) and Nokia 7 Plus – is part of Google’s Android One initiative, which guarantees a pure, bloat-free OS experience and timely updates. The Nokia 8 Sirocco will run Android 8.0 Oreo out-of-the-box, with 8.1 likely arriving shortly after launch, via an OTA update.
The Nokia 8 Sirocco launches in April – check out our Nokia 8 Sirocco availability post for more info. Likewise, head here for a full rundown of the Nokia 8 Sirocco’s specs, and be sure to let us know your thoughts on HMD Global’s new top dog in the comments.