Nokia 9 PureView and 1 Plus first impressions + hands-on!

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The Nokia 9 PureView had been in the rumours for almost a year since 2018. Whenever it appeared, it went back under the mat again never to be mentioned until a few months later. But that's changed now since it has finally been revealed at MWC 2019. Our boy, Jim had the opportunity to have a hands-on experience with the five-rear camera smartphone (and the Nokia 1 Plus as well) so here's what he has to say!

A flagship designed for mobile photographer enthusiasts, the Nokia 9 PureView phone certainly has gotten the attention for having five rear camera lenses. Instead of flowing with the trend of having an ultra wide-angle lens like other smartphone brands, the Nokia 9 PureView sports two RGB sensors and three monochrome sensors. Sounds a bit overkill? We think so too, but theoretically, on paper, it's able to produce colours with deeper depth and more closer to what we see with our eyes. Unfortunately, Jim couldn't transfer any photo samples he took from the phone, otherwise, he would have a better-detailed explanation. Despite that, HMD Global was kind enough to share some photo samples of their own, check them out below!

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This is an amazing photo taken by Konsta Punkka, a wildlife photographer

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More photo samples, I have a feeling that it was taken with the Pro Camera UI mode instead of auto

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Some model shots in low-light environments

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The back and front view of the camera. Technically, there is a sixth rear sensor which is the ToF (time of flight) for taking bokeh effects. Each sensor is 12MP while the front camera uses a 20MP sensor 

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USB Type-C and speaker grill

Another interesting note that Jim got was that the reason why Nokia is still using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor instead of the latest 855 model is because of the camera configuration. In a way, the Snapdragon model on the Nokia 9 PureView is customized to drive the camera performance further. Also, the Snapdragon 845 is still a good processor, so we aren't really complaining either.

On the other hand, Jim also got to play around with the Nokia 1 Plus. As the name suggests, it's basically the bigger variant of the Nokia 1 featuring a 5.45-inch display with an 18:9 ratio design. The rear offers a nice grip and it's quite light despite the display. However, it's an entry-level smartphone with Android Go out of the box for a smooth user interface.

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The Nokia 1 Plus features a quad-core MediaTek processor, 1GB + 16GB (with microSD support), 2500mAh battery, an 8MP rear camera and its 5.45-inch display is only FWVGA resolution.

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Quite a sturdy body

While the Nokia 1 Plus has Google Assistant on board, it doesn't have a dedicated Google Assistant button like the Nokia 9 PureView, Nokia 4.2 and Nokia 3.2. A short press on it will open the smart assistant while doing a long press-hold will bring out the assistant voice, and doing a double click will open your schedule page which is nice. So yes, the Nokia 1 Plus may not be everyone's tea of cup, but it may just be best suited for seniors or children who are just starting to use a smartphone.

So that's pretty much of Jim's first impression of the Nokia 9 PureView and Nokia 1 Plus. Currently, the Nokia 9 PureView is priced at $699 (~RM2848) but when it comes to Malaysia, the price will likely be adjusted again locally. Until then, stay tuned for more MWC19 articles at TechNave.com.