HMD Global, the company who makes Nokia phones, has announced its first 5G phone, the Nokia 8.3 5G, as well as the new Nokia 5.3 and Nokia 1.3 and HMD Connect, a hassle-free global data roaming service to boot.
James Bond credentials
The Nokia 8.3 5G will feature in the 25th James Bond movie, No Time to Die, features the new agent, Nomi, played by Lashana Lynch. Nokia are calling their global campaign to tie in with the film ‘The Only Gadget You Will Ever Need’, which will launch closer to the November launch date.
“I am incredibly proud of the innovations we have introduced today that build on our unique commitment to ensuring the Nokia smartphone experience will only get better over time. Today we are kicking off a new chapter for HMD Global as we step into 5G with a truly global, future-proof smartphone. Combined with the launch of HMD Connect, we are creating a truly seamless experience in terms of connectivity,” said Florian Seiche, Chief Executive Officer, HMD Global.
Global 5G smartphone
The Nokia 8.3 5G is being hailed as “a truly global, future-proof 5G smartphone” by the Finnish company. Here Nokia is making reference to all of the 5G networks in operation globally as this phone should be the king of roaming, connecting on every network, anywhere in the world. Furthermore, the Nokia 8.3 5G is designed to support evolving 5G network deployments, hence the future proofing claims, and it offers support for both standalone and non-standalone 5G combinations, which operators are rolling out globally.
“With the help of the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 765G Modular Platform, we’ve created a truly global 5G Nokia smartphone that’s designed with cost, usability and future-proofing in mind. Not only does the Qualcomm 5G solution enable to us condense more than 40 different radio frequency (RF) components in a single module, the Nokia 8.3 5G also features the highest number of 5G New Radio bands from 600hmz all the way up to 3.8GHz – meaning it is a truly global and future-proof device, " said Juho Sarvikas, Chief Product Officer at HMD Global.
A strong 5G phone offering
The Nokia 8.3 5G will come with either 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, or 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It features a 6.81-inch PureDisplay, and features a high spec camera with a powerful PureView quad camera with ZEISS optics and ZEISS Cinema capture and editor.
The 5G phone has a microSD slot that supports up to 400GB cards, comes in Polar Night colour and will be available globally starting in summer 2020. It has a very competitive average retail price of 599/649 Euros.
HMD Connect
HMD Global has also announced data roaming service, HMD Connect, that works in over 180 countries. Customers sign-up through an app, which also tracks data usage, and then get their SIM through the post. The idea behind this isn’t to replace existing operators, rather Nokia is partnering with several in the market, HMD Connect is a way for users to enjoy a hassle-free data SIM when travelling and staying in full control of their data plans.
