Nokia has launched the Nokia 1 smartphone in India.
It is Nokia's first phone based on Google's new Android Oreo (Go Edition)
platform. The phone is priced at INR 5499 (US$ 85) and will be available starting
Wednesday, March 28. The Xpress-on covers will be sold separately in April for
INR 450 (US$ 7) each, and will be available in azure/gray or yellow/pink. Reliance
Jio customers will get a cashback of INR 2200 (US$ 34) and also 60GB of data.
The Nokia 1 is Nokia's cheapest smartphone yet based
on the Android Oreo (Go Edition) platform. Go Edition comes with Google's suite
of optimized apps for services like Gmail, Assistant, Search, Maps and YouTube
that consume less data and have smaller file sizes. The Play Store is also
optimized to show you lite version of other apps. The OS itself takes up less
space compared to standard version of Android Oreo and has data saving features
built-in.
As for the Nokia 1 itself, it's a fairly barebones
device with a 4.5-inch, 854x480 resolution IPS display, MediaTek MT6737
processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage. The phone also has a very
basic 5MP rear camera with LED flash and 2MP front camera.
The Nokia 1, along with the whole Android Oreo (Go
Edition), comes across as a tone deaf effort, especially in markets like India,
which already has a great variety of capable affordable devices. For example,
the Xiaomi Redmi 5A costs INR 5999, which is slightly more than the price of
the Nokia 1 but has significantly better hardware and runs full version of
Android rather than the nerfed Go Edition.
Go Edition only works if you're paying considerably
less, almost feature phone prices and still getting a good smartphone
experience. If you're paying as much as a much capable and fully featured
Android smartphone then you're better off just buying that.