Nokia 3 And 5 Hands-on, Quick Review: Worthy Of The Name

Nokia 3 And 5 Hands-on, Quick Review: Worthy Of The Name

We go hands-on with the Nokia 3 and 5!

A few months after their announcement in Mobile World Congress, the new Nokia smartphones are now ready for primetime in the Philippines. HMD Oy, the company that’s authorized by Nokia to use their name have officially unveiled the new devices earlier today, along with very attractive price tags. Today we’ll be taking a look at the Nokia 3 and 5, which are very attractive smartphones with metal bodies as well as very aggressive price tags.

Nokia 5 specs

  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor
  • 2GB of RAM
  • 5.2-inch IPS LCD display, Corning Gorilla Glass protection, 1280 x 720 resolution
  • 16GB of internal storage, expandable via microSD
  • 13-megapixel rear camera, PDAF, 1.12um sensor size, f/2.0 aperture, dual tone LED flash
  • 8-megapixel front camera, AF, 1.12um sensor size, f/2.0 aperture, 84-degree wide angle
  • Dual SIM
  • 3G, LTE
  • WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC
  • GPS, A-GPS
  • Fingerprint sensor
  • 3000mAh battery
  • Android 7.1.1 Nougat

Nokia 3 specs

  • MediaTek MTK 6737 quad-core processor
  • 2GB of RAM
  • 5-inch IPS display, 1280 x 720 resolution
  • 16GB of internal storage, expandable via microSD
  • 8-megapixel rear camera, AF, 1.12um sensor size, f/2.0 aperture, LED flash
  • 8-megapixel front camera, AF, 1.12um sensor size, f/2.0 aperture, 84-degree wide angle
  • Dual SIM
  • 3G, LTE
  • WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC,
  • GPS, A-GPS
  • 2650mAh battery
  • Android 7.0 Nougat

Initial impressions: Bang for the buck smartphones, with Nokia branding

We’ve grown pretty jaded with the sheer amount of new phones and products that we see in a daily basis to be easily impressed, but the new phones really tickled our fancy once we got our hands on them. While the Nokia 5 and 3 don’t really offer anything new in terms of design and materials used, it’s how the phones are put together that really impressed us.

When you pick up the two phones, you can feel the care that HMD Oy put into creating the new devices. The Nokia 5 uses an aluminum unibody design that feels as solid as anything Nokia’s built in the past. The Nokia 3 on the other hand, uses a metal frame that’s sandwiched between a plastic exterior. Both phones feel extremely solid in the hands, and is designed a little bit like the Lumia phones of old.

Both phones have HD resolution panels: the Nokia 5 has a 5.2-inch display while the Nokia 3 has a screen 5-inches big. Both phones feel comfortable to hold in the hands, and the Nokia 3 especially feel particularly comfy to use, despite our gorilla-like appendages.

The two devices look to have good rear optics as well: the Nokia 5 has a 13-megapixel rear camera, PDAF, 1.12um sensor size, f/2.0 aperture, dual tone LED flash, while the Nokia 3 has a 8-megapixel rear camera, AF, 1.12um sensor size, f/2.0 aperture and LED flash.

Despite the premium exterior, both phones sport entry-level specs: the Nokia 5 runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor with 2GB of RAM while the Nokia 3 runs a MTK 6737 processor plus 2GB of RAM. Both have 16GB of storage, and as an added bonus, both devices have separate microSD slots. That means you can have both additional storage AND dual-SIM capability.

The best part is the fact that both devices are priced pretty aggressively: you’re paying Php 9,990 for the Nokia 5 and Php 6,990 for the Nokia 3. That’s incredibly aggressive pricing for the two phones – we know of a couple of Android smartphones that are already approaching the 15K mark that don’t have the design and build quality of the two new phones.

Funnily enough, the Nokia 6 that we reviewed earlier this year is also being released here in the Philippines, with a far lower Php 11,990 price tag. That’s also the global version of the device, with access to Google Play services.

All of the Nokia phones launched today will be available to purchase at the end of the month.

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