At its second MWC event since last year’s major return to the smartphone industry, HMD-backed Nokia unveiled the Nokia 8 Sirocco, a phone that is tasked with taking over from the Nokia 8 unveiled last year. The Sirocco is more of new (not really) on the outside, but still the same as the OG Nokia 8 on the inside, albeit with a few upgrades here and there.
The Nokia 8 Sirocco sports a familiar body that features an edge-to-edge 3D display screen with slimmer top and bottom bezels ala Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. This is housed in a body carved out of stainless steel and has glass on either side. To keep it safe, the glass material is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5 technology, the latest and greatest there is from the renowned American company.
Nokia 8 Sirocco specs and features
As a small upgrade to the Nokia 8, the Sirocco has a lot in common with the 2017 model in terms of specs. However, due to the slimmer bezels, it’s much more compact, measuring 140.93 x 72.97 x 7.5 mm. So far, only one color variant – Black – has been confirmed and it’s unlikely it’ll get another.
Here’re the Nokia 8 Sirocco specs:
- 5.5-inch QHD pOLED display (16:9) with 3D Gorilla Glass 5
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset
- 6GB RAM and 128GB storage
- Android 8.0 Oreo (Android One)
- Main dual 12MP (78.2 degrees wide-angle, 2PD, f/1.7) + 13MP (Telephoto, f/2.6, 47.3 degrees view), dual-tone LED flash, PDAF and 5MP selfie camera with display flash
- 3260mAh battery
Extras include LTE, NFC, Bluetooth 5.0, USB Type-C, Qi Wireless charging, Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0, face Unlock, a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner as well as IP67 dust and water resistance, among others. Unlike the Nokia 8, though, the Sirocco ditches the 3.5mm audio jack.
Nokia 8 Sirocco price and availability
- Price will be €749 in Europe
- No price details for other markets yet
- Availability begins in April 2018
At launch, HMD confirmed that the Nokia 8 Sirocco will be priced at €749. Like other Nokia phones, we expect the phone to be widely available in Europe and Asia. It’s unlikely to be sold in the U.S., but there’s always that option to ship it from wherever corner it is, if interested. Although the price for the Indian market hasn’t been confirmed, the Sirocco is expected to be available priced in the regions of INR 40,000.
The Nokia 8 Sirocco will start selling in April 2018, but we don’t have a specific date. Of course, we’ll let you know when the phone is available in your nearest shop.
Why you should buy the Nokia 8 Sirocco
- It’s the ultimate Nokia flagship, much better than Nokia 8. But if you can wait, there’s for sure something coming up, perhaps the Nokia 9.
- It runs on Google’s Android One, which means super-fast software updates for at least two years.
- If you are in the market for a compact phone with a huge screen, like yours truly, the Nokia 8 Sirocco is worth every penny.
- A bigger 3260mAh battery than Nokia 8 that charges even faster with Quick Charge 4.0. Oh, there’s Qi wireless charging too.
Why you shouldn’t buy the Nokia 8 Sirocco
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 in 2018? Pass.
- €749 for a 2016-like design? Pass.
- If you can wait a little longer, the Nokia 9, whose details you can read more about here, is expected to debut with the newer Snapdragon 845 somewhere in H2 2018.
So, are you buying the Nokia 8 Sirocco? Let us know in your comments below.
