Nokia 3.1 Review

• Overview
• Design and Build Quality
• Display
• Performance
• Software and User Interface
• Camera
• Battery Life
• Connectivity and Networking
• Additional Features
• Comparison with Other Related Phones
• Pros and Cons
• Conclusion

Overview

The Nokia 3.1 is a budget-friendly smartphone that offers a perfect blend of affordability and functionality. With its sleek design and compact build, it easily fits in the palm of your hand. The 5.2-inch display provides crisp visuals and vibrant colors, making it enjoyable for multimedia consumption. Powered by Android One, the Nokia 3.1 delivers a smooth and clean user experience. Capture memorable moments with the 13MP rear camera and perfect selfies with the 8MP front camera. The phone offers good battery life, ensuring you stay connected throughout the day. With its affordable price tag, the Nokia 3.1 is a great choice for those seeking a reliable smartphone without breaking the bank.

Design and Build Quality

The Nokia 3.1 boasts a sleek and premium look with its well-crafted design elements. The phone features a compact form factor, making it easy to hold and operate with one hand. The combination of beveled aluminum sides and a plastic back with a soft-touch finish adds to its aesthetic appeal. The device feels robust and sturdy, giving a sense of durability and build quality. The weight and dimensions of the phone are well-balanced, enhancing its portability without compromising on screen size. The 5.2-inch display is surrounded by thin bezels, maximizing the screen-to-body ratio and providing an immersive viewing experience. The frame of the Nokia 3.1 is made of metal, adding to its overall sturdiness. The back panel offers a comfortable grip, reducing the chances of accidental slips. The placement and feel of the buttons and controls are well thought out, ensuring easy accessibility and smooth operation. The finishing touches on the phone, such as the curved glass on the front, contribute to its premium look and feel. Overall, the Nokia 3.1 impresses with its sleek design, premium aesthetics, and sturdy construction, making it a visually appealing and durable choice for users.

Display

The Nokia 3.1 boasts a 5.2-inch display with an 18:9 aspect ratio, providing a modern and immersive viewing experience. The LCD technology used in the display delivers decent color accuracy and vibrancy, although it may not match the vividness of OLED displays. The display resolution of 1440x720 pixels is adequate for everyday use and streaming videos.

In terms of brightness levels, the Nokia 3.1 performs well indoors, but may struggle under direct sunlight due to its average outdoor visibility. The touch responsiveness of the display is reliable and smooth, making navigation and typing a breeze.

To protect the display from scratches and minor impacts, the Nokia 3.1 features Gorilla Glass, which adds durability to the phone. The pixel density of the display is around 310 pixels per inch, resulting in sharp and clear visuals.

While the Nokia 3.1 does not offer features like HDR or a wide color gamut, it still provides satisfactory viewing angles and an anti-reflective coating to minimize glare. The phone does not have a notch design, but rather features slightly noticeable bezels.

Overall, the Nokia 3.1's display is suitable for everyday usage, offering a decent viewing experience with its 18:9 aspect ratio, good color accuracy, and sharpness. However, it may not excel in terms of outdoor visibility or advanced display technologies.

Performance

The performance of the Nokia 3.1 is satisfactory for its budget price range. The phone is powered by a MediaTek MT6750 chipset, which features an octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU and a Mali-T860MP2 GPU. While it may not be the most powerful combination, it handles day-to-day tasks smoothly and provides a decent gaming experience.

In terms of CPU benchmarks, the Nokia 3.1 performs adequately, delivering a smooth and lag-free user experience. It excels in multitasking performance and app loading speeds, ensuring that users can switch between apps seamlessly. The system optimization on the phone contributes to its overall performance, as it efficiently manages resources and ensures smooth operation.

When it comes to gaming capabilities, the Nokia 3.1 offers a reasonable gaming experience for casual gamers. The GPU benchmarks and gaming benchmarks indicate that it can handle popular games with moderate graphics requirements. While it may struggle with more demanding games, it still provides an enjoyable gaming experience for lighter titles.

Thermal management on the Nokia 3.1 is effective, ensuring that the phone does not overheat during extended gaming sessions or resource-intensive tasks. This is an important aspect to consider, as it helps maintain the phone's performance and prevents any potential issues.

Unfortunately, specific benchmark scores were not provided to give a more detailed performance analysis. However, based on user feedback and overall impressions, the Nokia 3.1 delivers a satisfactory level of performance for its price range. It may not be the most powerful or feature-rich device, but it offers a smooth and responsive user experience for everyday tasks and casual gaming.

Software and User Interface

The Nokia 3.1 runs on the Android One software, which is a major highlight of this budget smartphone. It comes with the Android 8.0 Oreo operating system out of the box, and being part of the Android One program ensures that users will receive timely software updates and a clean, bloatware-free interface.

The software experience on the Nokia 3.1 is smooth and user-friendly. The clean interface makes it easy to navigate through the various menus and settings. The lack of bloatware means that users won't have unnecessary pre-installed apps taking up storage space and slowing down the phone.

With Android One, the Nokia 3.1 provides a stock Android experience, which is appreciated by many users who prefer a clean and minimalist interface. This also means that the phone performs well in terms of speed and responsiveness, despite its budget-friendly specifications.

Overall, the software on the Nokia 3.1 is a major selling point. The Android One program ensures that users will have an up-to-date operating system and a clean interface. The absence of bloatware adds to the user-friendliness and performance of the device.

Camera

The Nokia 3.1 is equipped with a 13-megapixel primary camera with an f/2.0 aperture. While it may not have the highest resolution in its class, the camera performs adequately in daylight photography, capturing images with natural colors and decent sharpness. The camera's dynamic range is satisfactory, allowing for well-balanced exposures in various lighting conditions.

In terms of low-light performance, the Nokia 3.1 struggles a bit due to its limited low-light sensitivity and lack of image stabilization. Noise reduction is average, resulting in some graininess in night photography. The phone does not have a dedicated night mode, which could have improved low-light performance.

The camera app on the Nokia 3.1 offers basic features such as HDR, panorama mode, and a pro mode for manual adjustments. It also includes AI scene recognition for automatically optimizing settings based on the subject.

In terms of video recording, the Nokia 3.1 can capture up to 1080p videos at 30fps. While it does not support 4K video recording, the phone does offer video stabilization for smoother footage. Slow-motion video and time-lapse modes are not available on this device.

Overall, the camera on the Nokia 3.1 is suitable for casual photography needs, especially in well-lit environments. However, it may struggle in low-light situations and lacks some advanced features found on higher-end smartphones.

Battery Life

The Nokia 3.1 comes with a decent battery that offers good performance and longevity. With its 2,990mAh capacity, the battery can easily last a full day on moderate usage. It provides a reliable standby time and offers a satisfactory screen-on time. While the phone does not support fast charging, it can still be charged to full in about 2 hours. The device does not have wireless charging options. However, the battery optimization features on the Nokia 3.1 help to improve power efficiency and extend battery life. The battery management system ensures efficient usage and minimizes battery drain. Overall, the Nokia 3.1 offers a reliable battery backup and performance, making it suitable for users who prioritize a long-lasting battery.

Connectivity and Networking

The Nokia 3.1 offers a range of connectivity options to meet your needs. It supports 4G LTE for fast data speeds and network compatibility with various carriers. You can easily connect to Wi-Fi networks using the phone's Wi-Fi standards. Bluetooth is also available, allowing you to connect wireless headphones or speakers. The phone features NFC technology, enabling easy contactless payments. In terms of physical connectivity, the Nokia 3.1 uses a micro USB port for charging and data transfer. It also supports dual SIM functionality, allowing you to use two SIM cards at the same time. GPS navigation is available for accurate location tracking, and you can use the phone as a mobile hotspot to share your internet connection with other devices. Overall, the Nokia 3.1 provides a good range of connectivity options, including 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, GPS, and dual SIM support.

Additional Features

Comparison with Other Related Phones

When comparing the Nokia 3.1 with other related gadgets in the market, it's important to consider its competition, market positioning, features, performance, and pricing. Let's take a look at how it stacks up against some similar devices.

In terms of design and build quality, the Nokia 3.1 falls behind competitors like the Moto G7 Play and Vodafone Smart X9. While the Nokia 3.1 has a plastic back and beveled aluminum edges, the Moto G7 Play and Vodafone Smart X9 offer a more premium feel with glass backs and metal frames.

When it comes to display quality, the Nokia 3.1's 5.2-inch screen is adequate, but it falls short compared to the vibrant and high-resolution displays found on devices like the Moto G7 Play and Xiaomi Redmi Note 7.

In terms of performance, the Nokia 3.1 lags behind its competitors. With a low-end MediaTek chipset and only 2GB of RAM, it struggles with multitasking and resource-heavy apps. In contrast, the Moto G7 Play and Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 offer better performance with more powerful processors and higher RAM options.

Camera performance is another area where the Nokia 3.1 falls short. Its 13MP rear camera and 8MP front camera produce mediocre image quality and suffer from slow autofocus. In comparison, the Moto G7 Play and Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 offer better camera capabilities and produce sharper and more detailed photos.

When it comes to pricing, the Nokia 3.1 is priced at $160, which puts it in direct competition with devices like the Moto G7 Play and Xiaomi Redmi Note 7. While the Nokia 3.1 offers a budget-friendly option, its limited storage and poor performance may not provide the best value for money when compared to its competitors.

In conclusion, while the Nokia 3.1 has some notable features like a compact build and a long-aspect display, it falls short in terms of performance, camera quality, and overall value for money when compared to other related gadgets in the market.

Pros and Cons

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Nokia 3.1 is a budget-friendly phone that offers a decent overall experience. It has a sleek design, a good quality display, and runs on clean Android One software. The battery life is satisfactory, and it has some nice features like a headphone jack and expandable storage. However, the performance is sluggish and the lack of a fingerprint sensor is disappointing. The camera quality is average at best and the charging port is outdated. Considering the price point, the Nokia 3.1 may be worth considering for those on a tight budget, but there are better options available in the market.