The Nokia 8 flagship smartphone will launch in Malaysia on Friday!

The time has come! Nokia die-hard fans who have been yearning for the company the launch a brand new flagship handset running Android in Malaysia can finally rejoice. HMD Global has sent out invites to the official launch event of the Nokia 8 and it’s taking place this Friday.

After testing the waters with the mid-range/entry-level Nokia 3, 5 and 6, the company finally pulled the covers off their brand new flagship Nokia 8 a few weeks ago. Needless to say, the phone comes with top specs including a Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and a 5.3-inch Quad HD IPS display with Gorilla Glass 5 on top. The only really pedestrian thing about it is the phone’s 3,090 mAh battery.

Over on the camera side of things, Nokia jumped on the dual-camera hype train, opting for a 13MP monochrome + 13MP RGB sensor combo instead — similar to Huawei’s P10. Augmenting this camera’s sensors are a pair of Zeiss lenses with an f/2.0 aperture, PDAF and IR range finder. You also get a 13MP f/2.0 camera up front, which is crucial, because Nokia’s “big” selling feature for this handset is what the company calls a “Bothie”.

It’s a play on the term Selfie and it basically means that the Nokia 8 has a mode to capture photos with both the front and rear cameras at the same time, combining both into one image. Honestly, I’m really skeptical about the actual usefulness of this feature but I’ll save my final judgment until after a full review.

What I actually think is the phone’s biggest feature is HMD’s commitment to timely Android updates, with the company saying the Nokia 8 will be one of the first smartphones to receive Android Oreo.

For more information on the Nokia 8 and its many other features — including binaural audio recording and an Always On display — check out our full announcement post.

I know I’m most excited to find out one thing about this smartphone and that’s its price tag. In Europe, Nokia is selling the phone for EUR599 (around RM3,025) but phones there tend to be more expensive so we could potentially see this phone sell for under RM3,000 locally.

How much would you pay for the Nokia 8? Let me know in the comments below.