Nokia has officially launched the brand new Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 1 smartphones in Malaysia. While the former is a premium mid-ranger, the latter is Malaysia’s first Android Oreo (Go edition) entry-level smartphone.
Nokia 7 Plus
This is the “flagship” of this launch and it’s designed to sit just below the Nokia 8 in the company’s hierarchy. The Nokia 7 Plus will retail for RM1,699 and will be available in stores starting the 20th of April 2018. Two colours will be available on launch: Black/Copper and White/Copper. What’s more, each purchase of the Nokia 7 Plus comes with a gift box worth RM300 — while stocks last — that includes a Bluetooth tripod, tempered glass, and a fish eye, wide and macro lens (probably clip-ons).
Nokia 7 Plus is the first Nokia smartphone to embrace the 18:9 aspect ratio display as it sports a large 6″ Full HD+ IPS display in front pushing 2160×1080 pixels. Inside, it’s powered by a Snapdragon 660 processor mated to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage that’s expandable via microSD. Keeping the lights on is a 3,800 mAh battery with support for fast charging via USB-C.
For photos, you get a primary dual-camera featuring a 12MP primary camera with 1.4-micron pixels with an f/1.75 aperture lens and a 13MP secondary shooter with 1-micron pixels and an f/2.6 aperture short telephoto lens. Both come with ZEISS optics. In front, you’re getting a 16MP selfie shooter.
On the software side of things the smartphone will be running on Android 8.0 Oreo with Nokia’s commitment to security and software updates.
Nokia 1
On the other hand, the Nokia 1 is the company’s super entry-level smartphone that’s designed to be accessible for pretty much everyone. This means that the smartphone will retail for RM339 and will be available in Malaysia starting the 13th of April 2018. Each purchase of the Nokia 1, during this introductory phase and while stocks last, will also include a free Xpress-on cover (usually sold separately for RM39.90 for a pack of 2).
Since it’s an entry-level phone, you’re getting a 4.5″ FWVGA display up front with a MediaTek MT6737 processor (clocked at 1.1GHz) mated to 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD). Powering the smartphone is a 2,150 mAh. For photos, you get a 5MP primary camera with LED flash and a 2MP selfie shooter in front.
While the hardware is decidedly entry-level, the smartphone is running on Android Oreo Go Edition software. This is a special “lite” version of Android Oreo with various optimisations to memory, performance and storage. Will that be enough offset the basic hardware? We don’t really know but I doubt it’ll make it worse.
For more info:
Nokia 6 (2018) and the banana phone (Nokia 8110)
Nokia also said that the Nokia 6 (2018) and the Nokia 8110 will be launched in Malaysia very soon, though no official date was given. Stay tuned for updates!
