HMD Global has made great strides with the Nokia branded mobiles since its inception. They have made the brand synonymous with stability, reliability and nordic design that is based on a smooth experience. The Nokia 5.3 was a good and appreciated device last year, so naturally, when I got my hands on Nokia 5.4 – the successor, I was very curious. I have spent some time with the device that was launched last week and here is my review of this new offering from HMD Global.
The First thing that struck me about this device is the design. The design team has done a brilliant job with this device. This device is nothing like the phones available in the same price bracket. The gentle curves, the subtle color schemes and the attention to detail deliver a very premium in hand feel. I put the device on a table and it turns heads for sure. It can give any contemporary flagship a run for it’s money. Everyone who saw the device was mighty impressed with the design and frankly, so was I. It gets full marks from me in the design department. This is yet another device in the Nokia lineup that has very distinctive design. It fits into the hand very well and grips well. The materials used also feel premium and good in hand.
The phone comes with a 6.39-inch touchscreen display and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. Nokia 5.4 is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 processor. It comes with 4GB of RAM. The Nokia 5.4 runs Android 10 and is powered by a 4000mAh battery. The Nokia 5.4 supports proprietary fast charging.
So you get a very decent and crisp display that is very helpful for consuming any kind of media. And post lockdown and due to the pandemic, most students are attending online classes and a screen like that will be a BIG advantage for them. I like the fact that the chipset is AI enabled and helps in the overall experience quite a lot. The battery is a solid one that will run more than a day on a single charge.
All of the above things put together mean that the phone is a very good one for daily use. I used it with a fair amount of social media, messaging, media consumption and a very fine mix of VoLTE and VoWiFi calls. On a single charge, the phone ran a good 14 hours and at the end of it I had 23% charge left.
I tried video streaming and gaming. Video streaming was very smooth and good without any hitches. Gaming was smooth as long as the settings were in the mid range. The display delivers smooth colors that are clearly fleshed out and rendered well. There were no over-saturated hues or any visible frame drops in any situation during my review.
The chipset and the RAM work well together without any stutter. This phone is good for above average users who need to be productive for most of the day and helps to get things done on time every time. Nokia brand does not sell phones on specifications alone, it is the experience and smoothness that marks the devices and this one is also one where the experience is smooth and neat.
In the camera department, the Nokia 5.4 on the rear packs a 48-megapixel primary camera; a second 2-megapixel camera; a third 5-megapixel camera and a fourth 2-megapixel camera. The rear camera setup has autofocus. It sports a 16-megapixel punch-hole camera on the front for selfies. So there is a thoughtful and useful upgrade to the rear camera setup. There is a very improved night mode and many other nifty features that have been added to the camera app. I put the camera through the tests and it churned out very decent pictures every time. There are a lot of thoughtful additions in the camera UI too. All that will be covered in the detailed camera review that will come up very soon.
Nokia 5.4 is based on Android 10 and comes with 4GB RAM and comes in variants of 64GB and 128GB of inbuilt storage that can be expanded via microSD card (up to 512GB). The Nokia 5.4 is a dual-SIM (GSM and GSM) smartphone that accepts Nano-SIM and Nano-SIM cards. The Nokia 5.4 measures 160.97 x 75.99 x 8.70mm (height x width x thickness) and weighs 180.00 grams. It has been launched in Dusk and Polar Night colours. It is an android one device. That means that you get assured security updates from Google every month and you get two assured updates to the next versions of Android. So overall, all the goodness of pure Android, timely updates and no bloatware. The experience is a key selling point for Nokia phones and this one does not disappoint at all. This is very close to the experience of pure android that you get on Pixel phones. I would happily recommend this to anyone who wants a clean android experience.
When it comes to Connectivity options on the Nokia 5.4, they include Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth v4.20, USB Type-C, FM radio, 3G, and 4G. Sensors on the phone include accelerometer, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, and fingerprint sensor. Calls were clear and crisp and there were no call drops. The sound output from the phone is pretty decent and when coupled with the right headset, you can use it for a very good music experience. The type-C socket helps in charging nifty fast and gets you decent data transfer speeds too.
In summary, this offering from Nokia – the Nokia 5.4 is a good successor to the Nokia 5.3. It builds on all the right areas and offers a fully rounded smooth experience. Stability, Reliability and Security have been the hallmarks of the new Nokia devices and this one is also there in all three points. The absolute absence of bloatware is a big plus. If you are a professional who uses it to be productive, this one has you covered. If you are a young student who needs to take online classes or consume media, this one is good for that too.
Verdict
Starting at ₹13,999, with the Nokia 5.4 you get a clean experience, smooth software and great design, if you are keen on pure android, security and clear design, this is the phone for you.
