Nokia 3.2 Review: Long Battery Life In A Good Budget Package

HMD Global has recently launched Nokia 3.2. Nokia 3.2 is an affordable handset. Nokia 3.2 consists of 6.26 inch HD+ display and a battery capacity of 4000mAh and comes with Android 9 Pie. Nokia 3.2 looks like an upgraded version of Nokia 3.1 released last year. The smartphone comes in two colours – Black and Steel.

We had a chance to use the Nokia 3.2 and here is our review for the smartphone. We received the 3 GB / 32 GB version of the smartphone which is priced at INR 10,990.

Specifications
Design
Colour Black, Steel
Size 159.44 x 76.24 x 8.60 mm
Weight 181 g.
Performance
Operating system  Android 9 Pie
RAM  2/3 GB DDR3
CPU Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 429
Display
Size and type  6.26″ (15.9 cm) HD+ a-Si TFT LCD with selfie notch
Resolution 720×1520, 269 PPI
Aspect ratio  19:9
Material 2.5D glass
Connectivity
Sensors Fingerprint Sensor (Only in Nokia 3.2 32 GB), Ambient light sensor, Proximity sensor, Accelerometer, Biometric face unlock, OTG
Network and Connectivity
Networks GSM: 850, 900, 1800 | WCDMA: 1, 5, 8 | LTE 1, 3, 5, 8, 40, 41
Network speed  LTE Cat 4 – 150Mbps DL/50Mbps UL; VoLTE; VoWiFi
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Others Bluetooth® 4.2, GPS/AGPS/GLONASS/BeiDou, FM radio
Storage
Internal memory  16/32 GB
Storage type  eMMC
MicroSD card slot  Supports up to 400 GB
Camera
Rear camera  13 MP AF/F2.2/1.12µm with flash
Front-facing camera  5 MP FF/F2.2/1.12µm/77° FOV with face unlock
Battery 4000mAh (non-removable)

The device has a glossy finish with a single camera and LED flash present on the back of the smartphone on the top middle. The fingerprint sensor is present just below the camera and is easily accessible with the finger. There is a Nokia branding present in the back. The smartphone is made of poly carbonate material and it attracts fingerprints and there are lots of smudges in the back even when we use for few minutes. The smartphone feels a bit heavier when we hold in our hands due to the 4000mAh battery and it weighs 181 grams. The volume rockers and power button is present on the right side of the smartphone while we can find the SIM tray with separate microSD card slot and the Google Assistant button on the right side. Nokia 3.2 also has a micro USB port and speaker on the bottom and we can see the headphone jack present on the top of the device.

The Nokia 3.2 comes with a 6.26 inch HD+ TFT display with 2.5D glass. It also has a selfie notch present on the top of the screen. The smartphone comes with a 19:9 display. The screen has a resolution of 720×1520 and 269 pixel per inch. The display is brighter even in sunlight and the fonts are looking crisp. Thee screen of Nokia 3.2 gives good colour reproduction and viewing angles.

Nokia 3.2 comes with a Qualcomm snapdragon 429 chipset with 3GB and 32GB storage capacity which can be extended up to 400GB. It has only quad-core processor. Performance wise we did not that much lag when multitasking. We also tried to play PUBG and the game could run in only low graphics mode. Other casual games were good to play without any problems. It is good to perform day to day tasks without any problems.

Coming to the software part, Nokia 3.2 comes with Android 9 Pie out of the box and manages background applications using AI, learning from user behavior to know when to throttle or increase power to specific apps or processes. It joins the comprehensive line-up of Nokia smartphones in the Android One family, which means it delivers the latest Android innovations and software experiences. Nokia smartphones with Android One offer great storage and battery life right out of the box and come with three years of monthly security patches and two major OS updates.

Android 9 Pie includes AI-powered features to make your device smarter, faster and adapt to your behaviour as you use it, so your smartphone experience gets better with time. The Adaptive Battery feature limits battery usage from apps you don’t use often, and App Actions predicts what you’re about to do so you can get to your next action quickly. These features further streamline your device’s functionality and your overall Android experience.

As far as the camera concerns, Nokia 3.2 is packed with a 13MP rear camera, f/2.2 aperture, 1.12um pixel size. We tried taking pictures with the camera. The pictures were quite decent and the camera could produce good photos. The Nokia 3.2 has Google Lens feature which means when you select a photo you have taken and touch the Google Lens icon, you can see theat the Google Lens suggesting you what the image is. The front camera consists of 5 MP, F2.2 aperture, 1.12um pixel size and 77° FOV with face unlock. Thee selfies taken were not that much good.

Here are a few samples of the photos taken.

Nokia 3.2 has a fingerprint sensor and also supports face unlock. The fingerprint sensor is quit fast while we can see that the face unlock sometimes only unlocks faster.

The single speaker present in the bottom is quite clear and loud enough. The call quality was good and clear. We did not face any connectivity issue in the calls. Nokia 3.2 supports apt X codec. So it should provide good sound quality if you have apt X supported wireless headphone.

Nokia 3.2 comes with a massive 4000mAh battery. The low power consuming chipset coupled with the battery gives us a long battery life with the optimization offered by Android 9 Pie. The battery lasts for approximately 2 days. So you can go on without charging the smartphone for 2 days.

Nokia 3.2 consists of 2 nano SIM slots with a separate slot for microSD card which can be used for extending the storage up to 400GB.  Nokia 3.2 also supports OTG. It also has a dedicated Google Assistant button which can b used to access the Google Assistant in just a press.

Verdict

Nokia 3.2 can be used to perform basic tasks without any problems. It also has a good battery life with the battery capacity of 4000mAh. The photos are also quite decent but only selfies are not good. The smartphone is not good for those who wants to play games a lot. But with the Android One experience and Google Assistant button it is a good budget phone with a price of INR 10,990 for 3GB and 32GB version.

About Hema

Likes Food, Technology and Mobile Devices in that order. Started as a programmer, became an architect and now a blogger. Topped University Ranks once, been in tech for two decades. Wants to travel the world and climb the everest!

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