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