How to choose the best Nokia smartphone

13 July 2018

From Nokia 1 to Nokia 8, we break down everything you need to know to choose the right Nokia handset.

Updated July 17th, 2018

Name	Processor type	Display size (inches)	Display resolution	Internal storage
Nokia 3	MTK 6737	5.00	1280 × 720	16GB	Buy at Amazon View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Nokia 6.1	Snapdragon 630	5.50	1920 x 1080	64GB	Buy at Amazon View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Nokia 1	MT6737M	4.50	854 x 480	8GB	View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Nokia 8 Sirocco	Snapdragon 835	5.50	2560 x 1440	128GB	Buy at Amazon View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Nokia 3310 3G	N/A	2.40	320 x 240	128MB	Buy at Amazon View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Nokia 5	Snapdragon 430	5.20	1280 × 720	16GB	Buy at Amazon View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Nokia 8	Snapdragon 835	5.30	2560 x 1440	64GB	Buy at Amazon View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Nokia 7 Plus	Snapdragon 660	6.00	2160 x 1080	64GB	Buy at Amazon View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Nokia 6	Snapdragon 430	5.50	1920 x 1080	32GB	View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...

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Fast Nokia phone facts

The Nokia of today is not the same company that dominated the mobile industry in the 1990s. Slowing sales saw Microsoft buy the business back in 2014, only to sell it in 2016 to the current Nokia brand holder HMD Global.
In its current iteration, Nokia manufactures and sells a wide range of smartphones at both the high and low ends of the market and has even begun rebooting classic Nokia handsets like the 3310.

What to consider when choosing a Nokia phone

Nokia's modern smartphones span the entire breadth of the mobile market, from $1,000+ feature phones down to $100 budget handsets. This provides plenty of choice no matter what budget you're working with, but it can also present a challenge in determining which handset is right for you.

To help you wade through the sea of slick marketing and complex specifications, we've highlighted the main factors to focus on below. Keep these in mind as you compare Nokia smartphones, and you'll be better equipped to find a handset suited to your specific needs.

The built-in storage included with Nokia's smartphones varies as wildly as the handsets themselves. At the budget end of the spectrum, models like the Nokia 1 come with just 8GB of onboard storage, while the top-of-the-line Nokia 8 Sirocco is equipped with a hefty 128GB. Internal storage needn't be a make-or-break deal, though, since all Nokia handsets apart from the Nokia 8 Sirocco support external storage via a microSD card slot. This makes adding extra storage relatively cheap and easy. Just bear in mind that the only way to go beyond 128GB with the Nokia 8 Sirocco is to use online storage services like Google Drive.
Screen size can have significant impact on how you use your phone. A large display makes playing games or watching Netflix on the go a more compelling experience, but it also makes a phone less mobile and often awkward for single-hand use. In turn, smaller displays allow for compact phones that don't require two hands to operate, but limited screen real estate can lead to cramped user interfaces and poor visual experiences.
Wherever your preferences fall on the screen size debate, odds are there's a Nokia handset for you. Displays range all the way from a tiny 2.4-inch screen on the rebooted Nokia 3310 up to an expansive 6-inch screen on the Nokia 7 Plus.
More than any other factor, the price of a smartphone is what dictates whether it's a suitable choice for your situation. Forking out $1,000 for a top-of-the-line handset simply isn't an option for a lot of people. Fortunately, Nokia seems to understand this. It has a smartphone for Aussies of all budgets, from premium handsets to mid-range, budget and even sub-$100 handsets like the classic 3310.
If you prefer staggering out the cost of a smartphone rather than paying it all upfront, you can also find a number of Nokia handsets available on contract through Australian mobile providers.
Protecting your smartphone is about more than just buying a heavy-duty case. Phones store a wealth of personal information that ne'er-do-wells could use against you, making data security every bit as important as the physical kind.
Most modern smartphones incorporate robust security features in their operating systems, and Nokia's handsets are no different. Along with the protection afforded by Android OS, most Nokia phones include a fingerprint sensor for keeping unwanted individuals from brute-forcing their way past your lock screen.
You don't have to look far to find a high-quality camera in a smartphone these days. Many flagship handsets can easily take the place of a dedicated digital camera, and even budget phones are often capable of taking some impressive photography.
Sadly, Nokia stands as one of the few exceptions to this rule. Camera quality is decent at best and woeful at worst, with sluggish camera app performance and poor picture quality in low-light and active environments. Be mindful of this if you love taking smartphone snaps, and be sure to check out the sample photos from our Nokia smartphone reviews.
Unsurprisingly, the front-facing selfie camera on Nokia's smartphones is no better than its rear-facing counterpart. The only consolation is the inclusion of a "bothies" feature in the Nokia 8 and Nokia 8 Sirocco that allows for simultaneous capture from both the front- and rear-facing cameras. Unless you're particularly keen on documenting your every reaction to the world around you, this feature is unlikely to make up for the decidedly humdrum quality of the cameras themselves.
Fast mobile Internet requires two key components: a high-speed mobile network and a sufficiently powerful modem. The first is likely no surprise, since it's what networks like Telstra and Optus sell themselves on. The latter, meanwhile, is less obvious, as modem speeds rarely make it onto the bullet-point list of a phone's standout features. Nevertheless, the speed of a smartphone's modem dictates just how fast it can send and receive data, potentially bottlenecking even the fastest of mobile networks.
For this reason, it's worth digging into the specs of any Nokia handset you might be considering and checking the supported network category speed. Depending on the handset, this can range from the relatively slow Category 4 up to the much faster Category 12. If you want to learn more about how different categories impact mobile Internet speeds, read our guide on Network Category speeds.
Nokia has been slow to adopt advanced charging technologies, only supporting wireless charging and fast charging with the recent Nokia 8 Sirocco. Other Nokia handsets charge via traditional methods, meaning they can potentially take multiple hours to go from dead to fully charged.
If wireless charging is more important to you than the Nokia brand, you can see which smartphones currently support wireless charging here.
It's reasonable to expect a modern smartphone battery to make it through a full day of moderate use, but Nokia's handsets often struggle to deliver in this regard. The cheaper models are especially prone to running dry part-way through the day, and because they don't support quick charging, this means leaving your phone tethered to a power point for an extended chunk of time. Only the Nokia 8 and Nokia 8 Sirocco deliver truly solid battery life, so be sure to factor this in when considering a Nokia smartphone.
IP ratings are an increasingly common selling point for modern smartphones. These ratings indicate how shielded a particular handset is against solid and liquid hazards like dust and water. A high IP rating is handy not just for those who work outdoors or in messier environments, but for all phone users – you never know when some ignorant motorist is going to drive straight through a puddle and drown you in dirty water, after all.
It's unfortunate, then, that most Nokia handsets do not feature any official water or dust resistance. Only a few handsets carry an IP rating, and even then the rating typically only guarantees protection against dripping or splashing water. In short, if you're looking for a rugged smartphone, Nokia is probably not the brand for you.
Despite ongoing advances in mobile technology, sluggish performance is still a real concern in the modern smartphone market. Complex apps and flashy websites can pose a challenge to even the most powerful handsets, so it's vital to do your research before throwing down your hard-earned cash on a phone that can't keep up with your digital life.
The easiest way to assess a smartphone's performance is to read through reviews that include benchmark testing since benchmarks provide a simple yet valuable snapshot of how a specific handset stacks up against the competition. In our reviews here at finder, for instance, it is clear that Nokia's handsets tend to underperform compared to rival handsets in a similar price range. You'll need to be willing to accept this compromise in power if you're keen on joining the Nokia family.

Which Nokia phone is best?

No matter how good a phone is, it will never be the unequivocal "best" for everyone everywhere. We all use our phones in slightly different ways, and we each value various aspects like screen size and battery life according to our own wants and needs.

So instead of declaring a single "best" Nokia handset, we've split our recommendations into various categories tailored for different types of phone users. These recommendations are built on the back of our years of experience reviewing smartphones in Australia, but always remember to consider them alongside your own preferences, rather than taking them as gospel.

finder's pick

Nokia 8

Premium power at a solid price

The Nokia 8 combines quality components and a competitive price into a single attractive package.

Buy Now

For Nokia's first crack at a premium phone, the Nokia 8 is an impressive device. A dual-lens 13MP camera array provides aspiring photographers with the tools to take sharp snapshots and record 4K video. A capable Snapdragon 835 processor ensures responsive performance when browsing the web, using apps or playing games. And a 3090mAh battery bucks the Nokia trend by outlasting almost all competing handsets of similar specs.

Best of all, in the year since its launch, the Nokia 8 has dropped in price dramatically. Originally retailing for $899, you can now find it going for hundreds of dollars cheaper than that. This makes it a seriously solid value proposition and hands-down our pick of the Nokia smartphone family.

Read our full review of the Nokia 8 here

Best Nokia phone for photography

Nokia 8 Sirocco

Competent camera, competent smartphone

Photography isn't Nokia's strong suit, but the Nokia 8 Sirocco still manages to deliver solid camera performance without any major hang-ups.

Buy Now

Recommending a Nokia phone for photography is tough, simply because there are so many smartphones from competing manufacturers like Huawei and Samsung that include higher-quality cameras with greater versatility at a cheaper price than anything Nokia has to offer.

Still, if you're adamant about sticking with Nokia, you'll want to look at the Nokia 8 Sirocco. The rear-facing camera combines a 12MP wide-angle lens with a 13MP telescopic lens for decent yet unremarkable photos, and the camera app supports quick switching between automatic and pro modes – a handy feature for when the default settings are just slightly off-base.

Read our full review of the Nokia 8 Sirocco here

Best cheap Nokia phone

Nokia 1

No frills, low bills

Android Oreo Go turns what would otherwise be a lacklustre device into a surprisingly capable smartphone.

Once you drop into the sub-$200 smartphone range, you need to be prepared to accept considerable compromises. For the Nokia 1, this means dealing with a mediocre 5MP rear-facing camera, a battery that can take hours to charge to full and a plastic design that reinforces the phone's budget feel.

In exchange for these sacrifices, though, you get a supremely affordable handset that performs better than it should thanks to the inclusion of Oreo Go, Android's budget-focused operating system. Oreo Go comes with custom versions of some of the most popular Android apps, each optimised specifically to run well on low-powered hardware like the Nokia 1. For day-to-day tasks, these optimised apps allow the Nokia 1 to perform on par with smartphones packing significantly more power and significantly higher price tags.

Read our full review of the Nokia 1 here

Looking for a Nokia phone on a plan?

Buying a Nokia phone on a contract isn't as easy as grabbing an iPhone or Samsung handset. Only a handful of Australian telcos stock Nokia smartphones, and some models aren't available on contract at all – the Nokia 1, for instance, can only currently be purchased outright.

For a look at the Nokia handsets you can get on contract, check out the table below:

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How to choose the best Nokia smartphone