HMD Global has been making great strides re-establishing the Nokia smartphone brand worldwide. Their phones have been getting positive reviews, with the Nokia 7 Plus bagging awards and accolades globally for being a well-balanced Android One device. The Nokia 6.1 Plus aims to follow through the Nokia 7 Plus’ success with the same pure Android experience paired with a more premium build and more affordable price tag. You can buy it here in Philippines through Lazada via Cash On Delivery & Nationwide Shipping.
Display and Design
Nokia 6.1 Plus sports a 5.8-inch full HD+ display with a notch, Nokia 6.1 Plus has an aspect ratio of 19:9 with Gorilla Glass 3 protection. It is wrapped in 2.5D curved glass and comes in three colour options of gloss midnight blue, white and black. The smartphone is also quite compact, slim and light. It was quite a delight moving to this phone from a long list of phones with clunky design. Nokia 6.1 Plus fits perfectly in my tiny hands and even in my tight denim pockets. Colors are vibrant, viewing angles are excellent, and the phone doesn’t have any issues with sunlight legibility.
Performance
Nokia 6.1 Plus is powered by Snapdragon 636, a relatively new chip by Qualcomm, which does its job rather well. The processor and Android One software sit well together. The performance, to put it simply, has been smooth. There was no noticeable lag during our extended testing phase.
Heavy games like PUBG and Asphalt 9 ran with no noticeable frame drops. However, the games automatically slotted into lower graphics for better overall performance. The UI was generally buttery smooth and at times overly responsive. The fingerprint sensor on the back panel is also very responsive and feels like has been borrowed from a flagship.
Android One makes Nokia 6.1 Plus a no-nonsense smartphone. There’s no bloatware on the device and animations are snappy as ever.
Camera
The camera on Nokia 6.1 Plus is a dual lens setup which is capable of producing some good looking pictures. The front camera also meets expectations. The primary set up comes with one 16 MP lens with f/2.0 and phase detection auto focus (PDAF), and another 5MP depth sensor.
In the daylight, images shot on the device are sharp with good details and dynamic range. The automatic HDR mode does its job well in containing highlights. For dimly lit areas, the camera does a decent job in letting more light in but the lack of image stabilisation required me to take multiple shots before getting the final shot. There is noticeable noise in darker areas of the picture. Both in day and night, the colour composition mostly felt accurate.
One area where the camera left us more than impressed was the portrait mode which is called “Live Bokeh” in the native camera application. The second lens does a good job of detecting edges and the pictures turn out to be impressive. The camera can also detect more than one person in the frame and adjust accordingly. One can select their desired level of depth while clicking the picture.
The front facing camera has a 16MP lens with f/2.0 aperture, it also comes with a portrait mode and it’s no exception when it comes to performance. The edges are clear with sufficient light but the unit could struggle a little in dark environments. All in all, you’ll be more than happy with the phone’s bokeh mode.
Battery
The battery is a 3060mAh unit which seems standard with a display size of 5.8-inch. However, in our usage, the Nokia 6.1 Plus did not disappoint. The phone can last a single day on 100 per cent charge. For context, my average day starts around 7 am and ends around 11 pm. Despite keeping the hotspot on for a couple of hours and gaming sessions that could last for 30 minutes, the battery never died on me. The phone gets Quick Charge 3.0 but the charger in the box does not support it.
Full Specifications:
- Android 8.1 Oreo (Android One)
- Dual Nano SIM, Dual-standby, Hybrid
- 5.8-inch FHD+ IPS display, 2280 x 1080 pixel resolution, ~435ppi
- 1.8GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 octa-core processor
- Adreno 509 GPU
- 4GB RAM
- 64GB internal storage, expandable up to 400GB via microSD
- 16-megapixel front camera, f/2.0
- 16-megapixel (f/2.0) + 5-megapixel (monochrome, f/2.2) dual rear cameras, PDAF, dual-LED flash
- Fingerprint scanner
- HSPA+, 4G LTE
- Bluetooth 5.0
- GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
- USB Type-C
- Dimensions: 147.2 x 71 x 8.6 mm
- Colors: White, Black, Blue
- 3,060mAh battery, Quick Charge 3.0
One For All 