Nokia's new Android phones include its first 5G-capable handset.

Nokia returns with new budget-friendly Android phones

Nokia

Nokia has a fresh batch of value-for-money Android smartphones, with the new devices led by the brand's first 5G-capable handset, the Nokia 8.3 5G – a phone you'll be able to see in the next Bond film when it arrives in November. 

Under the guidance of parent company HMD Global, Nokia has slowly been building up a reputation for good quality, affordable, bloat-free Android phones in recent years, and the new handsets follow that trend.

The Nokia 8.3 5G is the first Nokia phone with 5G connectivity, hence the name, and its specs start with a large 6.81-inch LCD screen running at a resolution of 1,080 x 2,400 pixels. There's a mid-range Snapdragon 765G processor powering everything, which is paired with 6 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, or 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.

By no means a flagship phone then, but comfortably at the upper-end of the mid-range. That's backed up by the rear camera, a quad-lens affair combining a 64-MP wide, 12-MP ultrawide, 2-MP macro and 2-MP depth camera.

As with some previous Nokia handsets, the camera comes with Zeiss optics built in, which should mean above-average quality from the resulting pictures. Look out for the phone making an appearance in No Time To Die, the 25th Bond film due later this year.

Further down the specs and price ladder is the Nokia 5.3, with a 6.55-inch, 720 x 1,660-pixel LCD display, a Snapdragon 665 processor, 64 GB of storage and 3 GB, 4 GB or 6 GB of RAM depending on region. The phone comes with a more basic quad-lens rear camera than the one on the Nokia 8.3.

Then there's the Nokia 1.3, with a 5.71-inch, 720 x 1,520-pixel LCD display, a Qualcomm QM215 processor, 16 GB of storage and 1 GB of RAM. There's just a single-lens 8-MP rear camera on this budget model.

All three phones will run a clean, bloat-free version of Android 10, and should be some of the first handsets in line when Android 11 arrives later this year. You don't get extras such as IP68 waterproofing and wireless charging that you might expect on more expensive smartphones, however.

Last but not least, Nokia also had time to show off another of its rebooted Classics series, where it brings back phones from its storied past as devices for the modern age. This time around it's the turn of the Nokia 5310, with returns as a 2G handset targeted largely at those in developing nations.

For now we only have European prices for the phones, which go on sale in the coming months. They are €599 (roughly US$640) for the Nokia 8.3 5G, €189 (US$200) for the Nokia 5.3, €95 (US$100) for the Nokia 1.3, and €39 (US$40) for the Nokia 5310.

Source: Nokia