The Nokia 8 has arrived on my desk – the most recent flagship from Nokia.
Mostly available only outside the USA.
Amazon does sell a few stateside, and that's where I got mine.
Nokia is pronounced differently all over the world, but here in the USA, saying Nokia is
pretty standard.
This is the same phone that can record video in split-screen, using both the front and
rear cameras simultaneously.
Pretty sweet.
I'll leave the video camera test for a different video.
This one's all about durability.
Let's get started.
[Intro]
Nokia says this is their most powerful Android smartphone so far.
Let's keep our fingers crossed that they stuck all that power in a durable body.
This phone is using 6000 series aluminum – the same stuff Apple had to stop using because
all their phones were bending.
But we'll see how it holds up with Nokia behind the construction.
Like always, we start scratching the front glass with my Mohs picks.
And with Gorilla Glass 5 in place over the IPS display, we get the flagship norm of scratching
at a level 6 and a deeper scratch with a level 7.
This means that keys and coins won't do any damage, but glass isn't invincible, so a screen
protector is always a good idea.
The home button is down at the bottom of the phone and holds it's own against my razor
blade.
No damage or scratches are done to the surface of the button so it will last quite a long
while.
Sliding up at the top of the phone we get the 13 megapixel front-facing camera, protected
under that same Gorilla Glass 5 of the front screen.
So no damage happening here.
Then we have the earpiece.
It is a thin nylon covering underneath that glass, but even after it's been damaged and
punctured, it won't pull out from the phone, so if for whatever reason you get it dirty
with makeup or dirt, just be gentle to not puncture it while getting the gunk out.
Now the back of the phone is using anodized 6000 series aluminum, which isn't as solid
as the 7000 series in recent iPhones.
But it's not always about the quality of the metal.
The construction and shape has a lot to do with how the metal holds up.
The scratching keys initially leaves a mark, but it rubs away with my fingers.
My razor blade, on the other hand, manages some real damage to the metal.
This phone comes in 4 colors: polished blue, polished copper, tempered blue, and tempered
steel.
And while my particular phone isn't blue, I think I drew the Twitter bird logo pretty
well.
A little known fact is that the bird actually has a name: Larry.
Kind of random.
But now, with that random fact, you'll be really fun at parties.
You're welcome.
The Nokia 8 has a dual camera set up on the back, but it's one of those monochrome sensor
deals, instead of a zoom lens like on the Note 8, or a wide angle lens like on the LG
V30.
So it just depends on what kind of pictures you need in your life.
Either way, both lenses are protected by glass, so they won't be scratched or damaged easily
like a plastic lens would.
Nokia did use a plastic lens on their Nokia 3 this year, so I'm glad they avoided that
with this flagship.
The sides of the phone are completely metal.
Up at the top though, next to the essential headphone jack, we get a plastic antenna band.
And I am actually a really big fan of this design because the plastic wraps around past
the corners.
Corners are most likely to impact the ground first during a drop, and it's nice to have
a forgiving and absorbing material sitting there.
The side buttons are made from metal, and then down at the bottom with the USB-C charging
port we have another string of plastic wrapping around each of the corners on the base.
Taking a lighter to the phone is as useful as ever.
The stock background just so happens to be an iceberg.
Setting the appending doom and global warming jokes aside, this phone does claim to be IP54
water resistant, which basically means nothing.
Light rain probably won't do damage to your phone, but any shallow puddle, sink, or toilet
will kill your phone.
The 1440p IPS display lasted 10 seconds under my flame.
With an IPS LCD, the pixels come back to life after I remove the heat.
Let's hope it's an allegory that the ice caps will do that in real life as we transition
to more environmentally friendly energy sources.
Double checking the Nokia logo on the back, the flame from this small lighter is not near
hot enough to effect the aluminum, but the logo is embedded into the back shell.
So with time, the reflective bits might fall out, just like we saw with some of the older
Nexus phones.
It's pretty tightly embedded though, so it's hard to say for sure.
Like I mentioned before, Nokia used that 6000 series aluminum on this phone and the ultimate
test of durability will show us if that was a good idea or not.
Flexing from the front shows hardly any movement in the body of the phone.
Even flipping the phone around and pressing from the back almost had zero effect.
The shape of the 6000 series aluminum inside the Nokia 8 is more than enough to stand the
test of time.
This is a very solidly built and durable phone.
Nokia's legacy continues with some of the most well built phones of this year.
The Nokia 6 was pretty impressive as well.
Come follow me and Larry, the Twitter bird, over on my Twitter.
And subscribe to stay updated on all the future phones being released later this year.
Thanks a ton for watching, and I'll see you around.