In-depth review of the Nokia 3

On the same Monday, July 17, 2017, a couple of days ago the new Nokia 3 was officially put on sale in Spain, a terminal that I received last week, specifically on Thursday, July 13, and since then I have been using it as a personal terminal.

That is why after about six days of intensive use of the terminal, today I bring you this in-depth video review of the Nokia 3 where I tell you the good and the bad of the Nokia 3 openly and speaking in a clear and concise way. So if you are thinking of acquiring a Nokia 3, I advise you to see yourself first and read this in-depth video review where we tell you everything, everything and everything.

Nokia 3 technical specifications

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Brand, Nokia HMD Global

Model, Nokia 3 TA-1032

Operating System, Android 7.0 without customization layer

Display, IPS 5″ HD resolution 2.5D polarized laminated display with Gorilla Glass protection and 293 ppi

Processor, Mediatek 6737 64-bit with four cores at a maximum clock speed of 1.3 Ghz

GPU, Mali T720 at 64 Hz

RAM, 2Gb

Internal Storage, 16 GB with support for MicroSD up to 128 GB maximum capacity

Rear Camera, 8.0 mpx with LED Flash, 3.50 mm lens, 2.0 focal aperture, Autofocus, video recording in maximum HD quality 1280 x 720 and the possibility of recording in 2X and 3X time-lapse

Front Camera, 8.0 mpx with LED Flash, 3.50 mm lens, 2.0 focal aperture, Autofocus, video recording in maximum HD quality 1280 x 720 and the possibility of recording in 2X and 3X fast motion

Connectivity, Dual SIM NanoSIM + MicroSD – GSM Networks: 850/900/1800/1900 WCDMA: Band 1/2/5/8 LTE: Band 1/3/5/7/8/20/28/38/40 LTE Cat . 4 150 Mbps DL/5 0Mbps UL – micro-USB (USB2.0) -USB OTG - Wi-Fi - Bluetooth 4.1 - Sensors: Accelerometer (G sensor) ambient light sensor e-compass fingerprint sensor gyroscope proximity sensor NFC GPS and aGPS GLONASS

Other Features, Quality finishes in unibody aluminum body with high precision finishes – Single speaker at the bottom – Support for updates to new versions of Android ensured by Nokia

Battery, 2630 mAh non-removable

Dimensions, 143.4 x 71.4 x 8.48 mm (8.68mm with chamber flange)

Weight, Not specified

Price, 145.80 Euros at Amazon

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The best and worst of the Nokia 3

Quality finishes

Although the design of the Nokia 3 in is a bit retro since it reminds me a lot of the Huawei P8 Lite at least when we look at it from the front, the truth is that I have to tell you that one of the best things about this Nokia 3 is precisely in this, in his slim design with elegant high precision aluminum unibody body that the truth makes us feel very good in the hand at the same time that it has the perfect measurements for a compact and wearable terminal.

A terminal with the ideal measures to be used with one hand and that it is practically not noticeable that you carry it in your pocket since it feels light and thin with only 8.48 mm of thickness. Although its back is finished in polycarbonate, so that you can understand it better as plastic, this plastic used shows that it is of great quality and, in addition to giving the terminal a greater feeling of lightness, it also gives it a special feeling of security in the grip of the terminal without noticing at any time that it is going to slip from our hands as it usually happens in terminals with more Premium finishes.

Polarized HD IPS display that looks great even in bright sunlight

Undoubtedly one of the best features of this Nokia 3 can be found on its panel IPS HD LCD with 1280 x 720p resolution. A resolution more than enough for a 5-inch screen in which in addition to having a maximum brightness that offers us a lot of brightness, its Polarized lamination technology makes it look perfect even in the worst light conditions.

If we add to this the Corning Gorilla Glass protection that protects the screen against scratches in day-to-day use and gives it a very good anti-fingerprint treatment, we are without a doubt before one of the best screens of a low-end Android terminal.

The best low-end Android cameras

Although the cameras of the Nokia 3 are some of the best cameras of the low-end Android range both the front and rear cameras since they are identical cameras, do not think that we are going to be able to ask them as a mid-range or high-range. Taking pictures in normal mode offers us more than enough quality for users who are not too demanding when it comes to mobile digital photography. A camera that interprets colors very well and does not saturate them at all as long as we are outside in broad daylight or in places with very good light.

At the moment we want record a video or take a photograph in dimly lit environments the thing is quite weak and it is when it shows that we are facing a terminal of the low range Android. The same happens with video recording or taking photographs when we want to zoom in on them, since the image becomes too pixelated that the results are very negative.

Powerful sound of acceptable quality

The sound of this Nokia 3 is a sound that comes out of a single speaker embedded in the lower part of the aluminum body just to the right of the Micro USB socket, a sound with a volume or levels more than correct that will allow us to watch video, movies and listen to music even in very noisy places, this of course is an advantage since we are also not going to miss any notification or incoming call.

The bad part comes when we take the terminal in landscape mode or portrait mode to watch videos or play games, and it is that the natural grip of the same to perform these basic actions of the day to day will make the speaker clog completely covering the audio output. We can solve this very easily by rotating the terminal 180 degrees to turn it upside down, although I can already tell you from my own experience with the Nokia 3, that this is something that will take a lot of getting used to.

Pure Android yes but not as fast and fluid as we could expect

Although in its technical specifications we have a cInfallible combination of a Mediatek 6737 with Mali T720 GPU, a combination that we have been able to test in many terminals of Chinese origin such as the HOMTOM HT37 PRO that I am currently testing for review, something is wrong with the performance of the system since it is not quite as fluid as it should be to have a completely pure version of Android Nougat and free from the burden of unnecessary applications and heavy layers of customization that do not provide us with anything.

I believe that this is due to the configuration implemented by the developers for the management of the RAM memory since it loads and maintains all the applications that we leave in the background, refusing to close them even if for this you have to subtract a lot of performance and fluidity from the user experience. This, on the one hand, is very well thought out for a terminal with at least 3 or 4 GB of RAM, but in a terminal with only 2 Gb of RAM, this permissive RAM management directly affects the operating system's performance. .

What I mean by this in a simpler way is that when we start to load and leave applications open in the background, the RAM of course loads and needs to free up space when it needs it, for example when loading a game with Heavy graphics, the most normal thing is that it closes a lot of applications that were running in the background to give more power to the game that we are playing in the foreground. This in this Nokia 3 is not managed at all well surely by implementations made directly by Nokia, which makes the user experience diminish a lot, we suffer from application loads much slower than normal and expected.

Too high price for so few additions and not so fast updates

These almost 150 Euros that the Nokia 3 costs are not directly reflected in its technical characteristics or added functionalitiesThus, for a lower price, we can find other terminals with the same processor and 3 Gb of RAM that give the terminal greater power and performance than what the Nokia 3 offers us as standard.

In addition to this, which is the main drawback of this Nokia 3 that the truth has given me very good feelings, so much so that I think that with updates via OTA, the performance of the system and fluidity can be greatly improved, the fact that it does not have a fingerprint reader and that it comes to us with Micro USB 2.0 I think they are great impediments that will slow down many users in the difficult decision to decide on the purchase of the Nokia 3.