Smart Android And Trik-Commenting on Andorid indeed never endless, because smart devices this one is often updated every certain amount of time. So that the market can always be garapnya menerinya with pleasure. And it is not denied if this device has become the lifestyle of each society. To not wonder if the 6th business information and many are turning to mobail smartphone. With Android which thoroughly dominated the mobile industry, choosing the best Android smartphone is almost identical to choose the best smartphone, period. But while Android phones have few real opponents on other platforms, internal competition is intense.
Introduction
Running out of single-digit numbers in its ever-growing portfolio, the reborn Nokia has started adding words - the high-end Nokia 8 Sirocco is worthy of an iconic moniker from the past, while simpler phones only get a 'plus', with a lowercase 'p' at that! But the Nokia 7 plus isn't looking half-bad - capital 'P' material at least.
The Snapdragon 660 is certainly as powerful a chip as you can get in the midrange and a dual camera with a telephoto secondary shooter reads like a line from a high-end phone's specsheet - in fact, it's the Sirocco's hardware. The 18:9 display is in keeping with the trends and 1080p is perfectly alright for a 6-incher in this segment. The 3,800mAh battery is more than generous and the bundled 18W quick charger is great for quick top-ups.
Sure to entice Android purists, the Nokia 7 plus is an Android One device. Ours is running 8.1 Oreo with an April 1 security patch - that's Pixel-level up-to-date.
Nokia 7 plus Specs
- Body: Aluminum body with ceramic-feel coating; 158.4x75.6x8.0mm
- Screen: 6.0-inch, 18:9, FHD+ 2160x1080, IPS LCD, laminated, polarized; Gorilla Glass 3
- Rear Camera: Main 12MP, 1.4µm pixel size, f/1.75 aperture lens; Secondary 12MP, 1.0µm pixel size, 2x Telephoto f/2.6 aperture lens; Dual-tone LED flash, ZEISS optics; 2160p video recording
- Front Camera: 16MP 1.0µm pixel size, f/2.0 aperture lens; 1080p video recording
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon® 660, octa-core CPU (4x2.2 GHz Kryo 260 & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 26); Adreno 512 GPU
- Memory: 4GB RAM, 64GB, microSD slot (hybrid)
- OS: Android 8.1 Oreo, Android One member
- Battery: 3800mAh, Quick Charge
- Connectivity: Optional dual SIM (4G), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/GLONASS, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, NFC, USB Type-C (USB 2.0 spec), 3.5mm jack
- Misc: Rear-mounted fingerprint reader, bottom-firing single speaker, Nokia OZO audio with 3 mics
You know what would have been great? If, like that Pixel 2 XL, the Nokia 7 plus had stereo speakers. Well, unfortunately it doesn't. Its otherwise superbly built body also lacks waterproofing, but we do have a layman's grasp of how market segmentation works so we'll let that slide.
Nokia 7 plus unboxing
There's a brand recognition aspect to retail packaging and the 7 plus' box is very much Nokia. Looks aside, this year's boxes come with a slide-out tray that goes out the bottom, so make sure you're in control of things after removing the seal.
The phone will greet you from the right and under it we found a clear plastic bumper case - not the fanciest around, but good to have from the get-go. What's not so clear (dumb pun 1) is whether that will be the case (dumb pun 2) in all markets.
There's an 18W quick charger with a Type-A port and a USB cable to go with it. Type-C chargers haven't exactly taken off - the Pixel stands out in this respect. In this context, the Type-A solution is still a lot more versatile. A pair of earbuds is included as well - a reasonably stylish one, too.
Design and 360-degree spin
The Nokia 7 plus is machined from a single block of 6000-series aluminum - you're unlikely to miss that fact in Nokia promo materials, but you'll also feel it you hand. Well, there's a 'ceramic-feel coating' on top, whatever that may be, but you can sense there's metal in there.
The unit we have for review is in a black and copper color scheme with a matte black back and copper frame and accents. 'Tacky' might have been what we expected from the product photos, but in person it's nothing of the sort - in fact it's quite classy.
Starting at the ceramic-feel back the dual camera bump has a thick copper frame. A 'Zeiss' logo between the two lenses shows the collaboration with the German optics specialists without being overly specific with f-numbers and focal lengths like Huawei's done on the P20 Pro. Frankly, we appreciate the 'less is more' approach.
There's a dual tone dual LED flash to the right of the cameras, and one of three OZO mics is above them. Below the camera, the circular fingerprint reader has a copper ring of its own, thinner than the camera's frame. A Nokia logo in matching copper color is the last of the accents on the back.
There's a lot more text, though - an Android One logo, model number, country of origin, regulatory markings, HMD's address in Finland, the menu at the cafeteria at the company's headquarters. Well, minus that last one.
The front is much cleaner. The 6-inch display dominates, of course, and its size, rounded corners, and well, meaty top and bottom bezels, give off a very Pixel 2 XL vibe. No OLED this one, though.
A Nokia logo in the top right corner is about as unoffensive as logos go - we're not strictly against front logos, but we've heard that some folks hate them. To its left is the selfie camera. The earpiece is in the center, but sadly doesn't double as a speaker. Right next to it is the ambient light/proximity sensors combo. There's no notification/status LED - Nokia thinks the ambient display makes it redundant. We disagree.
In the hand • Pixel 2 XL lookalike? • Top bezel stuff
The display glass (Gorilla Glass 3) is gently curved towards the edges, where a fine copper rim surrounds it. Fret not, there's a lot more copper on the sides - the entire frame, some 2.7mm of it, shines bright.
The power button and volume rocker are on the right side, in the correct order - power under volume. The buttons are metal too, and click very reassuringly. Nice. On the opposite side is the card tray - it'll take a nano SIM and a microSD. The dual SIM model comes with a hybrid slot for your choice of microSD or a second nano SIM.
Down on the bottom, you'll find the USB-C port in the center, the loudspeaker to its right, the second OZO mic on its other side. Up top is the 3.5mm headphone jack, and... we're missing the third mic.
Card tray • USB-C port, loudspeaker and a mic on the bottom • Headphone jack up top
The Nokia 7 plus measures 158.4 x 75.6 x 8.0mm, which is about what you can expect for its display size. The Honor View 10 is 1.4mm shorter, half a mil narrower, and a mil thinner. The Xperia XA2 Ultra is noticeably larger, but it has to accommodate a 16:9 6-incher, which is larger than the View 10 and 7 plus' 18:9 aspect panels.
The Xperia is a hefty beast though, with its 221g - the Nokia 7 plus isn't. It weighs 183g - again perfectly manageable for a 6-incher. Though the Honor is some 11g lighter.
FullHD 6-incher doesn't impress, doesn't disappoint either
For the 7 Plus Nokia has opted for a 6-inch IPS display with 1,080x2,160px resolution for pixel density of 403ppi. Aspect ratio is 18:9 and the corners are rounded, so you can say the 7 plus is staying on top of current trends. Well, not as far as protection goes, but Gorilla Glass 3 is still better than nothing (it's even less scratch prone than 4 and 5, if you ask us, at the expense of shatter proofing).
We measured a maximum brightness of 432nits which isn't all that great for an LCD - in fact, we'd call it below average. There's no boost in Auto mode either. The very dark blacks do make for an extra nice contrast ratio of just above 1700:1 - values under 1000:1 used to be common, but not anymore.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.254 | 432 | 1701 | |
| 0.367 | 469 | 1278 | |
| 0.382 | 703 | 1840 | |
| 0.404 | 631 | 1562 | |
| 0 | 390 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 590 | ∞ | |
| 0.352 | 483 | 1372 | |
| 0.455 | 616 | 1354 | |
| 0.278 | 453 | 1629 | |
| 0 | 410 | ∞ | |
| 0.257 | 476 | 1852 | |
| 0.289 | 515 | 1782 | |
| 0.357 | 546 | 1529 | |
In our sunlight test, the Nokia 7 plus exhibited very good contrast for a phone with an LCD panel, and scores on par with the Xperia XA2 Ultra. The Nokia 8 is superior in this respect, but, rather oddly, so is the Nokia 6 (2018). The AMOLEDs have an inherent advantage, of course.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Apple iPhone X
5.013 - OnePlus 5T
4.789 - Samsung Galaxy S8
4.768 - Samsung Galaxy S8+
4.658 - Samsung Galaxy S9
4.63 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Samsung Galaxy S9+
4.537 - Motorola Moto Z2 Play
4.459 - Oppo R11
4.454 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Oppo R15 Pro
4.251 - Samsung Galaxy Note7
4.247 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - Nokia 8
4.239 - Google Pixel 2 XL (pre-update)
4.234 - OnePlus 3T
4.232 - Google Pixel XL
4.164 - ZTE Axon 7
4.154 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
4.148 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
4.147 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Huawei Mate 10 Pro (normal)
4.096 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Huawei P20 Pro
4.087 - Nokia 6.1
4.052 - Google Pixel 2 (pre-update)
4.023 - LG V30
4.022 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3.998 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Apple iPhone 7
3.964 - Apple iPhone 8 (True Tone)
3.957 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
3.935 - Lenovo Moto Z
3.931 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - OnePlus 5
3.914 - Samsung Galaxy C5
3.911 - Samsung Galaxy C7
3.896 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
3.842 - Sony Xperia XZs
3.818 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)
3.812 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
3.804 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3.798 - LG V20 Max auto
3.798 - Sony Xperia XZ
3.795 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Xiaomi Mi 6
3.767 - Sony Xperia XZ1
3.765 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact
3.729 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus (True Tone)
3.725 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Sony Xperia X Compact
3.694 - Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
3.688 - Huawei P20
3.683 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Huawei Mate 9
3.68 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact
3.675 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
3.597 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3.588 - Sony Xperia XZ2
3.58 - LG G6
3.556 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Motorola Moto Z Play
3.526 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
3.523 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
3.523 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - Nokia 7 plus
3.479 - nubia Z11
3.466 - Huawei P10 Plus
3.456 - HTC U Ultra
3.453 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
3.445 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - LG V20
3.402 - Huawei P10
3.379 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
3.378 - Oppo R9s
3.352 - Honor 8 Pro
3.341 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Lenovo P2
3.316 - Archos Diamond Omega
3.305 - Honor 9
3.289 - Xiaomi Mi 5s
3.276 - Nokia 5
3.261 - Nokia 6 (Chinese version)
3.244 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
3.238 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
3.228 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Oppo F3 Plus
3.218 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
3.206 - Huawei P9
3.195 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
3.19 - ZTE Nubia Z17
3.159 - Oppo R11s
3.153 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - HTC U11 Life
3.108 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - HTC U11
3.089 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Apple iPhone 6 Plus
3.023 - Asus Zenfone 4 ZE554KL
3.019 - Motorola Moto X4
3.012 - Sony Xperia XA1
3.012 - Sony Xperia L1
2.994 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - LG Q6
2.987 - Huawei P10 Lite
2.974 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Xiaomi Redmi 5
2.951 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Sony Xperia XA2
2.938 - Xiaomi Redmi 4
2.92 - Xiaomi Redmi 3S
2.913 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
2.913 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - Huawei Honor View 10
2.896 - Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
2.893 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2.884 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
2.877 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)
2.877 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Nokia 3
2.871 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Lenovo Moto M
2.813 - Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
2.803 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - Nokia 2
2.752 - Meizu MX6
2.751 - LG V10
2.744 - Huawei Mate 10 (normal)
2.742 - Motorola Moto G5S Plus
2.737 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Huawei Honor 7X
2.734 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
2.714 - Meizu M5
2.71 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Xiaomi Mi A1
2.689 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
2.679 - vivo V7+
2.671 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2.658 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
2.654 - Oppo F5
2.653 - Doogee Mix
2.642 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Xiaomi Redmi 4a
2.635 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Standard)
2.616 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus
2.582 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
2.582 - Meizu M5s
2.58 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Huawei P Smart
2.563 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
2.563 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
2.561 - HTC U11+
2.556 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A (Y1)
2.556 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
2.506 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - BlackBerry Motion
2.494 - Oppo F1s
2.481 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
2.473 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Huawei nova
2.467 - Sony Xperia Z
2.462 - Lenovo Vibe K5
2.459 - Meizu m3 max
2.447 - Xiaomi Mi 4
2.424 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Auto)
2.417 - HTC 10 evo
2.407 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Vivo V7
2.404 - Sony Xperia E5
2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - HTC 10
2.378 - Oppo F3
2.376 - vivo V5 Plus
2.371 - Meizu m1 note
2.362 - Huawei nova plus
2.329 - Razer Phone
2.328 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Sony Xperia L2
2.266 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - HTC U11+ (EU)
2.253 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Xiaomi Mi Note
2.234 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - LG Nexus 5
2.228 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Meizu M5 Note
2.189 - Huawei Honor 6
2.169 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2.166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 - HTC One X
2.158 - LG Aka
2.145 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20)
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Xiaomi Mi 4S
2.095 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - vivo V5
2.059 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi 3
2.001 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Sony Xperia Z2
1.944 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - HTC Butterfly
1.873 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zenfone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Jolla Jolla
1.605 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - Sony Xperia L
1.351 - HTC Desire C
1.3 - Sony Xperia C
1.283 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
As for colors, the situation is simple - there are no modes and the accuracy isn't spectacular. We measured an average DeltaE of 4.9 against an sRGB target with a maximum deviation (DeltaE 9.5) where it hurts the most - white is strongly shifted towards blue.
Nokia 7 plus battery life
The Nokia 7 plus packs quite a sizeable 3,800mAh battery. The usually overly generous folks from Huawei have fitted a 3,750mAh power pack in the Honor View 10, while the Sony Xperia XA2 relies on 3,580mAh.
We ran our usual tests on the Nokia 7 plus and got an overall endurance rating of 87 hours - not bad at all. The individual scores also paint a picture of dependability with more than 11 hours in each of our screen-on tests and 21+ hours of talk time.
The funny thing is that the Xperia XA2 Ultra with its smallest battery can actually outlast both the Nokia handset and the View 10.
Our endurance rating denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Nokia 7 plus for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The
One of the better bits about the Nokia 7 plus is that it comes with a fast charger in the box. A 30-minute charge with the 18-watt adapter will take the 7 plus from flat to 43%, while an hour into it you'll be looking at around 75%. Charging speed then tapers off, and a full charge is reached at just over 2 hours.
Loudspeaker
There's a single loudspeaker on the Nokia 7 plus, a bottom-firing one. It's not a record breaker in loudness by any stretch and it falls in the Good category in our test - there are two notches above it. It's clean and it's got decent punch in the low end, so not all is lost.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 62.9 | 65.2 | 71.6 | Below Average | |
| 60.6 | 69.5 | 70.3 | Below Average | |
| 65.4 | 68.0 | 69.1 | Average | |
| 63.5 | 70.8 | 71.5 | Average | |
| 62.1 | 71.2 | 73.8 | Average | |
| 68.4 | 73.2 | 69.9 | Good | |
| 67.5 | 71.3 | 79.7 | Good | |
| 67.2 | 71.1 | 80.7 | Good | |
| 69.7 | 73.5 | 76.6 | Very Good | |
| 69.2 | 70.6 | 81.6 | Very Good | |
| 67.8 | 71.0 | 84.5 | Very Good | |
| 68.8 | 73.9 | 80.8 | Very Good | |
| 67.1 | 74.0 | 85.3 | Very Good | |
| 71.1 | 72.7 | 87.7 | Excellent | |
| 70.9 | 75.3 | 88.0 | Excellent | |
| 88.0 | 77.1 | 81.4 | Excellent | |
| 91.5 | 74.9 | 86.9 | Excellent |
Audio quality
The Nokia 7 Plus didn't cover itself in fame in the first part of our audio quality test. Its abnormally high intermodulation distortion and poor signal-to-noise ratio mean you won't be enjoying the best quality when you hook it up to an active external amplifier. Volume was nicely high, but not enough to offset the quality issues.
Headphones fixed both outstanding issues, but caused a few of their own - the stereo crosstalk rose a moderate amount and a tiny bit of intermodulation distortion crept in, while the loudness went from high to just above average. All in all a decent performance with headphones, but hardly one fit to please the most demanding audiophiles.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.02, -0.31 | -38.8 | 81.7 | 0.0013 | 4.690 | -95.9 | |
| +0.25, -0.23 | -93.3 | 90.4 | 0.0045 | 0.227 | -53.9 | |
| +0.02, -0.01 | -92.6 | 92.6 | 0.0021 | 0.012 | -94.4 | |
| +0.17, -0.03 | -92.0 | 92.1 | 0.0023 | 0.092 | -52.8 | |
| +0.01, -0.03 | -92.1 | 92.2 | 0.0038 | 0.0085 | -90.0 | |
| +0.30, -0.07 | -91.7 | 91.8 | 0.022 | 0.206 | -72.4 | |
| +0.02, -0.02 | -93.4 | 93.2 | 0.0025 | 0.012 | -90.8 | |
| +0.20, -0.37 | -93.4 | 93.0 | 0.015 | 0.320 | -55.7 | |
| +0.01, -0.03 | -94.0 | 94.0 | 0.0018 | 0.011 | -93.7 | |
| +0.15, -0.09 | -94.3 | 94.3 | 0.0071 | 0.135 | -60.1 | |
| +0.02, -0.02 | -94.3 | 94.3 | 0.0038 | 0.0072 | -93.5 | |
| +0.31, -0.01 | -93.3 | 93.3 | 0.016 | 0.243 | -63.8 |
Nokia 7 Plus frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Android One Eight-point-One
The Nokia 7 plus is part of the Android One program - a boon for anyone that's a fan of pure Android, but finds the Pixels out of budget (or out of stock). Indeed, the promised timely updates are timely and the unit we've had for review is running Oreo 8.1 with the most recent April security patch.
Android as Google intended shows up when you wake up the phone - clock, notification cards, two shortcuts on the bottom. Ambient display will show you a clock and notifications when you pick up the phone even without waking it up, but be sure to enable it in settings.
Fingerprint enrollment uses the standard Oreo interface. Unlocking works as advertised and is quick and reliable.
Past that is the standard Android 8 homescreen with a pull-up app drawer.
Lockscreen • Ambient display • Fingerprint enrollment • Homescreen • App drawer
The quick toggles and notifications shade changes color depending on the wallpaper white for lighter ones, black for darker ones. The task switcher is the usual rolodex and wouldn't it be great if Google put the 'clear all' button on the bottom instead of up top? Anyway, multi-window is supported natively since Nougat.
There are several gestures like double press the power button to launch the camera and fingerprint swipe for notification.
Quick toggles • Notifications • Task switcher • Multi-window • Gestures
As for multimedia, it's all in the hands of Google and its default apps. Google Photos is in charge of gallery-related tasks and video playback, while Google Play Music is the audio player. There's a file manager with batch actions and Google Drive sync, and Google's Calendar is Nokia's calendar of choice.
Google Photos • Google Play Music • Equalizer • File manager • Calendar
Synthetic benchmarks
The Nokia 7 plus is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset - top-of-the-line 600-series silicon with 8 Kryo 260 cores (4x2.2GHz + 4x1.8GHz). Graphics are in the hands of the Adreno 512 GPU. There are 4GB of RAM on board for quick multitasking, and 64GB of storage isn't bad either.
Kryo cores are nice, we like Kryo cores. GeekBench like them too and in the single-core tests the 7 plus posts high marks. The Cortex-A73 in the Honor View 10's Kirin chip is still more powerful though, yet the same design isn't pushed that hard inside the Galaxy A8 (2018)'s Exynos 7885.
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Huawei Honor View 10
1902 - Nokia 7 plus
1634 - Oppo R15 Pro
1612 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
1532 - Oppo R15
1520 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
913 - Nokia 6 (2018)
882 - HTC U11 Life
873 - Motorola Moto X4
866 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
866
In the multi-core test the 7 plus edges ahead of the Oppo R15 Pro (same Snapdragon 660 inside), but the View 10 is a lot more powerful. Then again the Snapdragon 630 devices are nowhere near, just like the Galaxy A8 (2018) with its Exynos.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Huawei Honor View 10
6738 - Nokia 7 plus
5893 - Oppo R15 Pro
5809 - Oppo R15
5806 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
4418 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
4198 - HTC U11 Life
4140 - Motorola Moto X4
4136 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
3603
In graphics benchmarks, the Snapdragon 660 proves superior to the Snapdragon 630 (duh). The Nokia 7 plus and the Oppo R15 pro post the same results in offscreen runs, but the Nokia has an edge in onscreen tests. The flagship-grade GPU of the Honor View 10 is in another league.
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Huawei Honor View 10
38 - Oppo R15 Pro
15 - Nokia 7 plus
15 - Nokia 6 (2018)
9.9 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
9.9 - Motorola Moto X4
9.8 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
9.7 - HTC U11 Life
9.6 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
4.8
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Huawei Honor View 10
35 - Nokia 7 plus
14 - Oppo R15 Pro
12 - Motorola Moto X4
11 - Nokia 6 (2018)
10 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
10 - HTC U11 Life
9.6 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
8.7 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
4.6
GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Huawei Honor View 10
22 - Nokia 7 plus
9.1 - Oppo R15 Pro
9 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
6 - Nokia 6 (2018)
5.6 - HTC U11 Life
5.4 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
5.4 - Motorola Moto X4
5.3 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
2.9
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Huawei Honor View 10
20 - Nokia 7 plus
8.6 - Oppo R15 Pro
7.6 - Nokia 6 (2018)
6 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
6 - Motorola Moto X4
5.8 - HTC U11 Life
5.3 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
5.2 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
2.7
Pretty much the same goes for Antutu, except here the R15 Pro has pulled ahead of the Nokia 7 plus - not by much, though.
AnTuTu 7
Higher is better
- Huawei Honor View 10
212708 - Oppo R15 Pro
146526 - Nokia 7 plus
140820 - Oppo R15
140161 - Nokia 6 (2018)
90918 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
89110
Overall, the Nokia 7 plus with its Snapdragon 660 chip is a clear step up from Snapdragon 630 devices. The phone also outperforms the Galaxy A8 (2018) with the latest upper-midrange SoC from Samsung. The Nokia 7 plus also runs cool under load and in our testing never exceeded comfortable temperatures.
12MP normal cam plus 12MP telephoto cam
The Nokia 7 plus packs a pair of cameras on its back, the same two cameras you'll find on the Nokia 8 Sirocco, for the most part. The primary cam is built around a 12MP dual pixel sensor (1.4µm pixel size) behind an f/1.75 aperture lens which is stabilized.
The secondary cam is a telephoto one that delivers 2x optical zoom, even though Nokia doesn't specify focal lengths. It uses another 12MP sensor, this one with 1.0µm pixels. It's got a dimmer f/2.6 lens in front, and it lacks stabilization.
The lenses carry the Carl Zeiss branding - the collaboration between the two companies goes back more than a decade.
The camera app on the Nokia 7 plus is practically the only piece of custom software on it. And we're temped to say that it shows. It's not bad, strictly speaking, but it's not necessarily good either. One major beef we have with it is the position of the rear/front camera switch - it's your only way of going into selfie mode (up/down swipe doesn't work) and it basically requires two hands.
There's a column of icons for quick settings: face smoothing, single/dual/P-I-P (for combined front/rear shots), self timer (off/3s/10s), HDR (off/auto/on), and flash (yup, off/auto/on).
Camera interface
There's a menu button below all these, which works in mysterious ways when you're in landscape orientation. Tap it, and a menu slides out from the left. Try to pull that same menu with a swipe from the left and you'll draw your notifications shade. Interestingly, if you swipe up from the bottom edge, the menu will still slide in from the left. This does make sense when you're using the phone in portrait - a swipe in from the left pulls the menu from the left, as it should be. Are we looking too much into this? Yes, we probably are. Move along then.
Pro mode is accessible either from that same menu, or simply by sliding the shutter release button inward - now that's neat. Of course, it's been a staple of Nokia camera apps for as long we can remember - the five-year-old Lumia 1020 we pulled out of a drawer recently has it.
Anyway, Pro mode lets you pick one of five white balance presets, focus manually, choose ISO (100-3200) and shutter speed (1/500s-4s), or set exposure compensation (-2/2EV in full stop increments).
Pro mode
Image quality
Image quality out of the Nokia 7 plus' main camera in good light is quite good. The resolved detail is on par with other 12MP cameras and and noise isn't an issue. The phone exposes consistently well, but dynamic range isn't wide enough to capture (admittedly difficult) high-contrast scenes - both the snail, and the iPhone mural shot have burnt highlights and pitch-black shadows. We do like the Nokia's colors - saturation's been nailed just right.
Daylight samples - normal camera
The telephoto cam comes very handy in good light bringing distant stuff closer. Its images a little softer, and contrast is lower, but it's a reasonable price to pay.
Daylight samples - telephoto camera
You could try and battle the limited dynamic range with HDR, but it's tuned in such a way that you won't be getting much of the shadows back. In fact, you might lose some more detail in the deep dark areas, but you'll get brighter lower mid-tones and salvage some of the highlights. The results are usable and come with no penalties in detail. Unfortunately, the Auto mode is a little too conservative, and we found it wouldn't kick in in situations we'd have liked it to.
HDR, normal camera: Off • Auto • On
HDR, telephoto camera: Off • Auto • On
In low light, we found the Nokia 7 plus to underexpose a little, but still produce decent images. Quality isn't Galaxy/Pixel/P20 Pro grade, but still usable, and if you remember to tap on a dark area to expose brighter or dial in some positive exposure compensation you'd like the results better.
Low-light samples - normal camera
As with many dual camera implementations on the market, once the light drop below a certain threshold, the telephoto camera doesn't work and instead you're getting digitally zoomed in shots from the normal cam. You can actually see it in the viewfinder - you tap the zoom button, it goes to tele, and then the composition changes slightly.
It appears that the switch is based on spot or center-weighted metering as the middle image below is, in fact, taken with the telephoto cam - an overall pretty dark scene with a bright light in the middle. As it turns out, neither approach delivers particularly likeable photos.
Low-light samples - telephoto camera
Feel free to pixel peep in our Photo compare tool - we've pre-selected a couple of phones we found relevant, but those can easily be replaced in the drop-down menus.
Nokia 7 plus against the Xperia XA2 Ultra and the Honor View 10 in our Photo compare tool
The telephoto camera's raison d'être is arguably blurred background portraits though, and the Nokia 7 plus does them quite well. The mode is called Live Bokeh, because Portrait is too mainstream. Most importantly, subject separation is very competent and the artificial bokeh is very convincing. Now, do make sure to take more than one shot, as we found focus to be hit and miss.
Portrait (Live Bokeh) samples
Live Bokeh works on non-human subjects, where it behaves similarly - excellent subject isolation (even on the aloe plant), but iffy focusing.
Live Bokeh on non-human subjects
Panoramas work both ways, no arbitrary left-to-right-only. At more than 3,000px tall, resolution is plenty, stitching is excellent, and detail is the same as in single photos.
Panorama sample
The selfie camera of the Nokia 7 plus is an 16MP with an f/2,0 aperture lens, but no autofocus. Its plane of focus is a reasonable distance away from the phone and you don't have to poke the screen with your nose to be in focus, so that's good. Selfies turn out with true skin tones and overall pleasing color rendition, though that greenery may be a bit over the top.
Selfie samples
Blurred background selfies with just the one cam aren't new anymore, and the 7 plus does them too. And it does them quite well at that. See for yourselves.
Selfie portraits (Bokeh)
Nokia insists on having composite images taken with both the front and rear cameras at the same time, and in our experience, these are notoriously hard to frame in a meaningful way. There are two modes, either a 50/50 split with two squares side-by-side (yay 18:9, displays!), or picture-in-picture stile with the selfie in the tiny window.
Combined selfie modes: Dual • P-I-P
Video quality
The Nokia 7 plus records video up to 2160p. It can obviously also do 1080p, but just at 30fps, there's no 60fps frame rate option. There electronic stabilization, which only works in 1080p (as in, not in 4K) and, like all such implementations, results in a cropped coverage. You can't turn off the stabilization.
2160p videos are recorded with a bitrate of around 42Mbps - that's just about the standard number. 1080p clips get around 20Mbps, that's actually a little more than the average 17Mbps. Audio is recorded in stereo at 256kbps.
4K videos from the main cam come out sharp, detailed, and noise-free. Colors are rendered nicely too. 1080p footage is similarly above average in quality, though we can't help but think that the always-on stabilization has an adverse effect on absolute sharpness in the instances you can do without it.
4K footage from the telephoto camera looks great too, though you'll immediately notice the very different color reproduction - zoomed in videos turn out a lot warmer. Same with 1080p.
We mentioned that stabilization is only available in 1080p. Even so - it's great. You can walk, you can march, it'll smooth it out. One minor issue is that when you're panning, it may overshoot a little and take an extra fraction of a second to go back, but with slower panning you should be fine.
You can also head over to our Video compare tool and see how the Nokia 7 plus stacks up against the competition.
Nokia 7 plus against the Xperia XA2 Ultra and the Honor View 10 in our Video compare tool
Competition
It's the full package, this Nokia 7 plus - it's got all the right bits and pieces for someone looking to get as much as possible of the flagship experience, without shelling out flagship money.
There are a few of those on the market, though. The Honor View 10 quickly springs to mind. It's a bit more expensive, but Huawei's put its high-end chipset in it, as well as the 20MP black and white camera from the top tier models.
The Xperia XA2 Ultra goes for about the same price as the Nokia 7 plus but comes with a single camera and a slower chipset. The Xperia's old-school 16:9 6-inch display offers more screen estate than the 18:9 7 plus and, actually, the Ultra has better battery life despite that. It's heavy though.
If there's one trend the Nokia 7 plus is behind on, it's notches. Well, the Oppo R15 can satisfy that craving of yours, for a few extra bills. No 2x zoom on the R15, however, and ColorOS is diametrically opposed to the 7 plus' pure Android.
You could say the same about Samsung's Experience on the Galaxy A8 (2018), but it remains a fine phone. It's got a smaller display, but it is AMOLED, and battery life is better than on the Nokia despite the smaller battery. Only a single camera sits on the A8's back, but the phone is IP68-rated, unlike the Nokia.
Huawei Honor View 10 • Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra • Oppo R15 • Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
Verdict
The Nokia 7 plus leaves the office much like it entered it - without much fuss. We found no issues with it, it cruised through the tests, it delivered in all key areas.
Pros
- Solidly built and good-looking, has the Nokia badge
- Latest OS version as soon as Google puts it out
- Dependable battery life, quick top-ups
- All-round good camera, usable 2x zoom
Cons
- For all its timely updates, vanilla Android is quite barebones
- Display could be brighter
Some phones stand out for all the wrong reasons, others have one or two defining features, but not much else about them. The Nokia 7 plus is a third type - one of those quietly good all-rounders that don't get us all hyped-up and excited, but are the ones we recommend to a friend as the sensible option. The world needs those too.
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