Nokia 1 Plus first impressions: gateway to Android

“Our initial impressions of Nokia’s most affordable handset for 2019 – the 1 Plus”

If there’s one smartphone company which really knows how to cover all the bases, it’s undoubtedly Nokia. Reason being, the company has just announced a slurry of smartphones at its pre-MWC event this year catering to every price bracket. Of the four smartphones announced, the Nokia 1 Plus is the most affordable handset you can get your hands on and in this article, let’s take a closer look at the device.

The Nokia 1 Plus draws parallels to its predecessor in more ways than one. In fact, as its moniker suggests, the Nokia 1 Plus is just a bigger version of the Nokia 1 smartphone launched last year. On that note, the device now ships with a larger display measuring in at 5.45-inches with a resolution of 480 x 960 pixels. The panel also sports a more modern 18:9 aspect ratio and consequently, you’ll notice that the Nokia 1 Plus has substantially sleeker bezels than its predecessor.

As for the rest of the design, the Nokia 1 Plus too has been constructed in entirety using polycarbonate and the device ships with a removable back cover which can be opened to access the replaceable battery. The smartphone is a tad bit boxier than its predecessor, but quite honestly, I found the newer design quite appealing. It also lends the smartphone a more robust aura, and oddly enough, accentuates the in-hand feel too. In hindsight, that could have something to do with the company’s 3D nanometer finish, which adds a comforting texture to the back of the device.

The placement for ports and buttons is a standard affair on the Nokia 1 Plus, with the power button and volume rocker taking up space on the right fascia of the device. Towards the bottom, buyers will find a microUSB port to charge the smartphone, with a mono-firing speaker positioned at the back. There’s no fingerprint sensor onboard the Nokia 1 Plus, which is more than acceptable going by the smartphone’s price. On the flip side, you do get an old-fashioned headphone jack located at the top of the device which will let you plug in any 3.5mm earphones.

Underneath its plastic chassis, the Nokia 1 Plus is driven by a quad-core MediaTek MT6739WW processor which works alongside a gig of RAM and 8GB of built-in, user-expandable storage. Now, don’t be appalled by the handset’s specs it is an entry-level Android smartphone for potential buyers who’re coming from a feature phone. To that extent, the smartphone works well. App launch times weren’t the quickest and there were some noticeable jitters when I was jumping from one app to the other, but for the most part, the smartphone held up well. I will have more to say about the device’s performance when I get to spend more time with it, so stay tuned.

For software, the Nokia 1 Plus ships with Android Pie Go Edition, which for the uninitiated, is a lightweight version of Android and is completely stock. What’s more, to leverage the smartphone’s low-end hardware, Android Go allows buyers to download the Go’ version of some popular apps. These apps retain most of the core features of their regular counterparts without eating up the system’s resources all that much, making them well suited for devices like the Nokia 1 Plus.

In the camera department, the Nokia 1 Plus features a pair of 8MP and 5MP sensors positioned on the back and the front respectively. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take photos with the device on the showfloor, so you’ll have to wait for our full review of the device to know more about the same. As for battery, the handset is fueled by a 2,500mAh cell which as I mentioned previously, is replaceable.

Coming to the pricing, the Nokia 1 Plus will retail for $99 and will go up on sale starting next week. Stay tuned to our blog for more coverage around Mobile World Congress 2019.  

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