Nokia launched its flagship handset last year Nokia 8. However, the handset met with a tepid response with most reviews criticising it for its poor camera performance and not living up to its high price tag. Six months later at an event in MWC 2018, instead of unveiling the successor to Nokia 8, the HMD Global-owned company unveiled an upgraded version of the handset at the MWC 2018 expo: the Nokia 8 Sirocco.

Nokia 8 Sirocco Review: Design, Build Quality

Like with any other flagship smartphone released in 2018, the Nokia 8 Sirocco features a 3D curved Gorilla Glass panel at its rear and front which sandwiches a stainless steel chassis. The top of the phone is devoid of any ports and only houses a microphone, while the USB-C port and mono speaker are located at the bottom. The speaker is below average in performance and sounds very harsh at high volumes. The single nanoSIM card slot is located on the bottom left edge of the handset.

The Nokia 8 Sirocco features an IP67 certification which makes it dust and water-resistant. While Nokia has not made any compromises with the design and build quality of the Sirocco, it has removed the headphone jack from the handset.

Nokia 8 Sirocco Review: Display

At the front, the handset sports a 5.5-inch curved P-OLED display with QHD resolution. The display is also protected by a 3D curved Gorilla Glass 5 panel. It also blends beautifully with the steel chassis. However, the steel chassis and the rounded corners are a bit too sharp and dig into the palm of your hands which can lead to an uncomfortable feeling when using the phone for long periods of time.

The Nokia 8 Sirocco is definitely a beautiful phone to look at, but the sharp edges mean it is not that pleasant to use in hand for a long time. On my unit, the SIM card slot did not flush with the steel chassis thereby leaving its sharp edges exposed.

Coming to the 5.5-inch P-OLED display, its a decent panel but with its own set of shortcomings. It is a bright and vivid panel and you are not going to have any qualms with its viewing angles. The auto brightness works just fine and it cranks the display to its very maximum when under direct sunlight to ensure the content on the screen is eligible.

Nokia 8 Sirocco Review: Cameras

The Nokia 8 Sirocco features a dual-camera setup at its rear. The primary sensor is a 12MP shooter with a f/1.7 aperture and large 1.4um pixel. It is paired with a secondary 13MP f/2.6 telephoto sensor and a dual-tone flash. The telephoto sensor allows the handset to offer 2x optical zoom and capture portrait photos.

However, the 12MP camera starts struggling as the amount of light available reduces. The amount of details captured by the camera in low-light scenes takes a hit, with photos of moving objects turning out to be blurry which can be attributed to the lack of OIS. As for the secondary 13MP telephoto sensor, it is best to use it in daylight. Under such conditions, it can capture usable photos, though there’s obviously a huge difference in the quality of the photos captured from it and the primary 12MP sensor.

Like the Nokia 7 Plus, the Nokia 8 Sirocco also features OZO audio. This allows the handset to capture high-quality audio thanks to its 3 microphone array. This does help make up for the fact that the handset only features EIS while recording Full HD videos, with 4K videos lacking any kind of stabilization.

Nokia 8 Sirocco Review: Battery Life

With a 3260mAh battery and a. 5.5-inch display, it is not surprising that the Nokia 8 Sirocco is a champion in the battery life department. The handset can easily last more than a day of heavy use. Apart from the strong performance, the excellent battery life of the Nokia 8 Sirocco is one of its highlights. In this department, it fares much better than the Galaxy S9 — Samsung’s 2018 flagship handset.

Nokia 8 Sirocco Review: Conclusion

There’s a lot to like about the Nokia 8 Sirocco. Its design, build quality, performance and battery life are definitely among its strengths. And if you love the stock Android experience, this phone has that as well. However, the phone makes some serious compromises as well. The lack of dual-SIM connectivity and headphone jack are going to a bummer for many.