Nokia 7 Plus First Impressions: Feels like a complete midranger

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Nokia has let loose its Android One trio in India. These three phones – the Nokia 6, Nokia 7 Plus, and Nokia 8 Sirocco – are spread across three different budget segments. And the most interesting of the three, arguably, is the Nokia 7 Plus.

It addresses the void around the 25,000 INR price segment, poses with powerful hardware, and is well suited to be a flagship killer that’s cheaper than the OnePlus 5T. We got to test the phone briefly at Nokia’s artsy launch party to determine if it indeed feels as convincing as billed.

Let’s sum up our initial experience with Nokia 7 Plus in a quick review:

Also Read: Xiaomi’s Black Shark Gaming Phone To Launch On April 13

Nokia 7 Plus Design and Build

  • 158.4 x 75.6 x 8 mm; 77.2% screen to body ratio
  • Full metal body (Aluminum 6000)

The Nokia 7 Plus is a tall phone, thanks to the use of 6-inch 18:9 display panel with a sizeable chin and forehead. It’s carved out of a single block of Aluminum and then gets 6 layers of paints resulting in, as Nokia puts it, a ceramic finish.

The mate ceramic finish feels like, well, metal. And its prone to smudges. The polished accented side edges (Copper) add a metallic sheen to the appearance. Other than that, there is a USB Type-C port (2.0 based) at the bottom alongside the speaker grill and a fingerprint sensor on the rear right below the dual camera capsule.

  • The Nokia 7 Plus is a lanky phone and it certainly looks and feels premium.
  • The phone is essentially metallic in feel and is quite solid. The dual color ascent works for us.
  • It is moderately slim (8mm) and has a decent heft to it.
  • Besides, this should be a perfect mid-range option for people who detest ‘Notch’.
  • The volume rocker, power button, and the fingerprint reader are all accessible.
  • Unlike the Sirocco, this one still has a 3.5mm audio jack (at the top).

Nokia 7 Plus Display

  • 6-inch Full HD+ (1080 X 2160); 18:9 aspect ratio
  • 2.5D Gorilla Glass 3

We used the display under artificial event lighting and briefly under natural light. Our initial reading is that Nokia is using a good quality IPS LCD panel. There isn’t much gap between the panel and the digitizer which makes the screen pop nicely. Colors, brightness and dynamic range felt optimum as well.

There is no notch on the screen, and I am sure that’s something that will help Nokia 7 Plus standout. The display is layered with Gorilla Glass 3 which is more scratch resistant (and less drop resistant) than Gorilla Glass 5.

  • Nokia is using a good quality display panel here. One without a notch.
  • Colors are vibrant and contrast is high. It’s a good screen to enjoy multimedia content.

Nokia 7 Plus Camera

  • Rear: 12 MP (f/1.75, 1.4 µm) + 12 MP (f/2.6, 1.0 µm); Carl Zeiss optics
  • Front: 16 MP (f/2.0, 1.0 µm), Carl Zeiss optics

The existing mid-range phones haven’t set the bar very high when it comes to camera performance. They certainly lack the wow factor of flagship phone cameras and are only moderately better than what we see on affordable phones.

So, the dual 12MP sensor on the Nokia 7 Plus and the 16MP front camera, each with Zeiss optics are certainly expected to fair better than average in this regards. The fact that Nokia is using the same rear camera setup as on its flagship Sirocco should inspire some more confidence.

  • Having said that, we will reserve our verdict till we have tested the Nokia 7 Plus in our own space and are doubly sure of what’s on offer.
  • The handset has the same dual rear camera setup as the high-end Nokia 8 Sirocco.
  • The extra sensor on the rear has a telephoto lens and is used for 2X optical zoom and for portrait mode.
  • The camera also has a workable professional mode. No OIS, though.

Performance, Software, and Battery

  • 2.2GHz Snapdragon 660 Octa-core (4×2.2 GHz Kryo 260 & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 260).
  • 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, MicroSD card slot is hybrid
  • Android 8.0 Oreo (Android One)
  • 3800mAh battery, fast charging

The Nokia 7 Plus is powered by Snapdragon 660 octa-core chipset, which is also the best mid-range chipset available as of today. Just as the Snapdragon 636, this one two has Kyro 260 cores (all eight of them) ticking at a maximum frequency of 2.2GHz. The SoC is paired with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. In our hands-on time, the phone felt extremely snappy.

The software running on the phone is pure Android 8.0 oreo. While the stock Android is surely light and efficient, but it’s totally possible that some less tech-inclined consumers would find it to be a bit bland.

Since this is an Android One phone, you can expect timely updates and security patches for the next couple of years. Although we wonder why it doesn’t ship with the Android 8.1 oreo out of the box.

Either way, we expect Nokia 7 to deliver an unmatched experience in its class.

  • Snapdragon 660 mobile platform gives Nokia 7 Plus a clear-cut edge over the competition
  • The stock Android 8.0 Oreo software should further appeal to the purists.
  • With a power efficient chipset on board, the 3800mAh battery is expected to yield a comfortable mileage.

Nokia 7 Plus Quick Review

Nokia 7 Plus surely feels like a complete mid-range phone. With the feedback we are getting, many of you do feel that the 7 Plus is overpriced, but not every OEM is interested in selling at cost. Of course, if it were a 3 to 4 K cheaper a lot more people would have bought it but that’s not where Nokia sees itself. In our opinion, the 7 Plus seems to have what it takes to justify the overhead cost. Of course, we will still like to be doubly sure before we can wholeheartedly recommend it. But for now, based on our initial experience, things look good.

10 Best Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 Phones You Can Buy

Deepak SinghDeepak Singh
Deepak has more than 8 years of experience in covering technology for several eminent publications in India. He currently leads an enthusiastic team of young writers at Smartprix and tries to uphold the highest quality standards.

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1 Comment
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Anonymous
5 years ago

Nokia 7 plus surely feels like a complete mid-range phone which has some good specifications and features which may attract nokia users.

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