Nokia Launches New Models in UAE

If you’re a tech-lover who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s the name Nokia probably holds a very special place in your heart. For many of us, our very first mobile phone was a Nokia. Heck, even to this day you can find various memes online reminiscing of a time when a single charge could keep a 3310 alive for what felt like weeks by today’s standards, and a certain toughness that could possibly split the Earth if dropped. Unfortunately, in recent years, the brand’s popularity dropped considerably. Perhaps mostly due to the rise of smartphones. Ever since the original iPhone came out, things had turned against Nokia. Back in the day, if you wanted an excellent camera-phone, Nokia was the brand you went to. But, alas, this simply wasn’t enough for them to retain their popularity.
For many years, they struggled. Even after Microsoft bought the company and attempted to refresh the brand with smartphone designs, features, and an OS somewhat based on Microsoft’s own Windows OS, things weren’t looking great.

Fast forward to December of 2016 when Microsoft sold the Nokia brand to HMD Global, which was founded by a couple of ex-Nokia employees. Then, in January 2017 they announced their first smartphone – the Nokia 6. Later, in February of the same year, they announced a total refresh of the famous 3310.

A New Start For Nokia

Now, for 2018, they’ve announced 3 new smartphones at MWC 2018. An all-new Nokia 6 (dubbed the ‘New Nokia 6’), the Nokia 7 Plus, and the much-anticipated Nokia 8 Sirocco. Finally, these 3 latest models have now been released to the UAE market.

All 3 devices are running Android One. If you’re unfamiliar with what Android One is, you’re hardly alone. Launched in 2014, Android One was intended to offer a somewhat watered-down version of Android to lower-cost handsets.
The idea didn’t really take off too well, but it seems that things are changing now. You see, the Android One that’s installed on these latest Nokia phones can hardly be called a watered-down version of Android. In fact, it’s almost a totally vanilla version of Android Oreo – free of annoying and often heavy-skins and other bloatware. Essentially what we’re talking about here is pretty much a Google Pixel device bearing Nokia branding (and minimally so). This partnership between Google and Nokia almost seems too perfect, as both are perfectly capable of refreshing the somewhat tattered image of the other.
In the beginning of May HMD Global invited Samma3a to attend a small and exclusive launch event to showcase the new devices. In particular we were given a lengthy and rather in-depth demo of the Nokia 8 Sirocco.

Held at The Green Planet in Dubai, the location was perfect to demo the camera capabilities of the Nokia 8 Sirocco.

Availability

All three devices are now available in the UAE, and the recommended prices for the devices are AED 899 for the New Nokia 6, AED 1,399 for the Nokia 7 Plus, and AED 2,399 for the flagship Nokia 8 Sirocco.

Check in on the Samma3a.com/tech site for full reviews of all 3 of the new devices in the coming few weeks.