The MWC 2022 exhibition has become one of the most interesting in recent years. We were shown many new smartphone concepts. But the models already ready for release turned out to be no less interesting. I don't just mean flip phones from Samsung or Huawei. Much attention was paid to the Nokia 9 PureView smartphone, which received a 5-camera system.
Nokia 9 is not a perfect device. The in-screen fingerprint scanner turned out to be capricious, battery life could be better, and photos are processed rather slowly. But in terms of price-quality ratio, this phone is very interesting. The retail price of the “eyeball” is about 46,000 rubles.
I should make a clarification - the ninth Nokia PureView will go on sale in a limited edition, and therefore it is practically exclusive.
Nokia 9 PureView Specifications
| Display | 5.99-inch pOLED QHD+ |
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 |
| Graphic arts | Adreno 630 |
| RAM | 6 GB |
| ROM | 128 GB not expandable |
| Cameras | Main: two 12 MP f/1.8 RGB cameras + three 12 MP f/1.8 monochrome cameras Front: 20 MP (four 5 MP pixels combined into one) |
| Audio | No 3.5mm headphone jack |
| Battery | 3320 mAh non-removable / 18 W charging / wireless charging 10 W |
| IP rating | IP67 |
| Sensors | Barometric, E-compass, G-sensor, Gyroscope, Hall, In-display, In-display fingerprint |
| Networks | Cat-16 LTE with 4?4 MIMO |
| Communications and connections | Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou, NFC |
| SIM | Single SIM, Dual-SIM |
| System and software | Android 9 Pie |
| Dimensions and weight | 155?75?8 mm at 172 grams |
| Case color | Dark blue |
Design and appearance
As for the appearance, the Nokia 9 PureView does not surprise anything from the front. The screen fits into 2022 standards, and there are no cutouts or eyebrows. This will appeal to those who do not like relatively strange innovations from manufacturers. Instead, here, there are very small top and bottom panels. I like this design better.
The build quality is also impressive. The body of the 9 PureView is made of 600 series aluminum, and the front panel is protected by Gorilla Glass 5. The edges of the case are rounded to make the smartphone comfortable to hold without feeling large. But the phone turned out to be slippery, I was always wary of holding it in my hand. I recommend using a bumper or cover.
The power button and volume rocker are located close to each other. There can be no erroneous presses, since the power key is textured. Unfortunately, there is no 3.5mm jack, so you'll either have to use a USB-C adapter or Bluetooth headphones.
The most important element is the back panel of the Nokia 9, or rather, a whole set of cameras. There are five of them at once; you can compare the location of the lenses and the entire system with the spider gas. Not the most pleasant association, however, for some reason I like this option. The smartphone really doesn’t copy anyone, and the cameras don’t protrude above the body.
Didn't find a fingerprint scanner? Nokia PureView has joined the new wave. The scanner is now built into the display, although it uses ultrasonic technology. To unlock your smartphone, you need to press the screen quite hard. Maybe I did something wrong, but my Nokia did not always unlock the first time. Even saving the same fingerprint in different profiles did not help. The situation was corrected by the option with Face Unlock and face scanning.
As for the choice of body colors, there is only one; the device is offered only in blue.
Shell
Two top points that make using Nokia 9 very pleasant. The first is pure Android directly from Google. A comfortable, unoverloaded system in the form in which it was intended by Google. It's always great!
The second joy is the vibration response. Each touch of the virtual buttons is accompanied by a subtle but sharp vibration. The rattling sound is very noble, comfortable and pleasant. Typing on the virtual keyboard is a pleasure.
And now a duet of unpleasant moments. Problem number one is the presence of brakes. Scrolling through lists, switching between applications - in such bottlenecks the system often “pleases” with small lags. For a smartphone on flagship hardware, even last year’s, this is unacceptable.
Secondly, for some reason Nokia 9 was not included in the list of devices on which you can install the beta version of Android Q. Instead of the flagship, Nokia 8.1 is participating in the test. And this indirectly leads to not the most pleasant conclusions regarding the smartphone and its future fate.
It’s funny that at one point a notification appeared on the screen with an offer to give recommendations regarding the device to friends. Perhaps Nokia are not confident in their device and want to get additional feedback from owners.
Smartphone display
The big-eyed Nokia 9 PureView has a 5.99-inch POLED display with a resolution of 2880×1440 pixels. The screen is not stunning like the Galaxy S10, but the image is very clear and colorful. The brightness is especially impressive, allowing you to use the phone comfortably even in sunny weather.
I had only one subjective comment about the Nokia 9 display – the picture is a little oversaturated. Because of this, I immediately turned on the Basic mode to soften the colors. The phone also supports HDR10. Therefore, any video is displayed with high contrast and is very pleasant to watch, thanks to the wide dynamic range.
Of course, you shouldn’t pay attention to monophonic sound - unfortunately, HMD saved money here, because stereo is much better. Although over time I stopped noticing this, since the sound of the speaker is loud and clear.
Safety
To protect user data, there is an in-display fingerprint scanner and face unlock. The latter works well, even in the twilight and quite quickly. But the fingerprint scanner was a complete disappointment. During use, it worked correctly only 1 time out of 10. Moreover, your finger also needs to be pressed quite firmly against the display. In general, after honestly suffering for 3 days, I switched to face unlock, although this is also a compromise option, because it does not work very well for people with glasses.
Hardware performance
Nokia 9 PureView was released in 2022, but the smartphone is powered by last year's Snapdragon 845 processor. An odd choice for a flagship, because there have already been several flagship devices from other manufacturers with Snapdragon 855.
Did this lead to a lack of productivity? Absolutely not. In every application and the most demanding game, the 9 PureView ran smoothly. By the way, as for the reason for the absence of Snapdragon 855 here, Nokia 9 was developed for quite a long time, and the new processor was not yet available.
Here are some test results:
- AnTuTu 3D Bench: 275,985 points.
- Geekbench CPU: 2363 (single core); 8783 (multi-core).
- 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme: 4216 (Vulkan).
These results are typical for smartphones with Snapdragon 845, however, the Pixel 3 and OnePlus 6T were ahead here. Numbers are numbers, but in real life the power of Nokia PureView is enough for you to enjoy the device for several years.
The only thing that makes the smartphone think is the Google Photos application, where large-sized photos are processed and stitched together. We also get 128GB of internal storage out of the box. Sadly, there's no support for microSD cards, which makes you wonder how many photos you'll be able to store given their sheer size.
Nokia 9 cameras
I note that the Snapdragon 845 is not simple here. In close partnership, manufacturers managed to create a complex architecture of several chipsets, designed specifically for 5 cameras. The Nokia 9 PureView has a special Lux Capacitor chip that allows you to use the full power of the Snapdragon 845 when working with the camera.
The bottom line is that 5-cameras capture a lot of data, which makes it difficult to process. The ISP processor has to process a total of 240 megapixels at once. At the same time, the DSP module works to reduce noise threefold with a 10-fold reduction in power consumption, and the graphics chip controls the resulting depth map, consisting of 1200 layers.
HMD also partnered with Zeiss to fine-tune all of the main cameras. The multi-camera technology was developed in collaboration with Light, the company that created the L16 with 16 cameras. As a result, we got the opportunity to step to a new level in mobile photography.
How it works?
Most smartphones with multiple cameras have clearly defined roles for the lenses, where you can't use them all at the same time. Instead, the main module is used in combination with a telephoto lens or wide-angle camera. In Nokia 9 we have 5 12-megapixel lenses with f/1.8 aperture. When you press the shutter here, all 5 cameras capture a photo at once, and then they are all combined into one image.
After releasing the shutter, 9 PureView will think for 10-20 seconds. All this time, nothing can be done with the smartphone. Unless a preview of the photo will be displayed on the screen. I hope they will work on this in the firmware update and the time will be significantly reduced.
Three of the five cameras are monochromatic, and the remaining two are RGB color. This is because monochromatic sensors can capture 2.9 times more light than RGB. As a result, Nokia 9 captures 10 times more light. If you want to take truly fantastic black and white photos, the smartphone has a monochrome shooting mode, where 3 lenses work simultaneously.
Photo quality and processing?
Nokia 9 PureView produces the most realistic photos I've ever seen. Naturally, this applies only to the mobile segment. The pictures are not oversaturated, the contrast is not excessive, and the detail is simply amazing.
Due to the complexity of the entire system, the camera app does not launch very quickly. I even measured the time - from 1.8 to 2.2 seconds. The shutter also does not boast zero lag, although it is minimal. Here I can advise you not to rush with a quick shot, otherwise it will be a little blurry. However, believe me, the wait is worth the result.
In low light, almost all photos are also of very high quality, but the detail is slightly worse than if we shot under good conditions. There is no optical stabilization here, however, there is no need to worry. Even at night, images weren't blurry—the Nokia 9 almost always captures exactly what you see.
Pictures are saved in JPEG or RAW format. RAW records maximum information compared to JPEG. This makes it possible to professionally process them in Adobe Lightroom and bring them to perfection. The 9 PureView cameras give you control over the entire process in a way that other devices don't offer. I'm impressed with what can be achieved with mobile RAW photography. Even the latest iPhone and Pixel can't do this.
Unfortunately, I couldn't pick out facial details in a JPEG photo, but it's possible in RAW. Same with every photo. That's why the ninth Nokia PureView will appeal to all photography enthusiasts. Although the average user would rather not appreciate the fact that the smartphone thinks for 10-20 seconds each time while saving the result. By the way, Adobe will even release an update for Android Lightroom, where a separate profile will appear for Nokia 9 with its 5 cameras.
Background blur and bokeh
I would also like to point out the feature I liked most about the Nokia 9 PureView cameras – working with depth. All 5-lenses allow you to save a depth map with 1200 layers (not in monochrome mode). After shooting, you can focus on literally any point in the photo, while simultaneously adjusting the intensity of the background or blur in the foreground. This gives you the opportunity to completely change the look of your photo and be amazed at what you can do with depth.
The bokeh effect also looks amazing, although there are some bugs from time to time, Nokia 9 is one of the best smartphones for shooting in this mode. The downside is that depth control is only available for JPEG and not for monochrome photos. Because of this, you need to look into the settings from time to time.
Front camera
Despite the fact that the front-facing 20-megapixel Nokia PureView camera also produces detailed images, it does not always shoot well in HDR. Often in sunny weather, artifacts are noticeable in the background.
There are a few other cool features, including Pro Mode, which takes 10-second long-exposure photos to illuminate night scenes. There is also a mode in which the main and front cameras shoot simultaneously.
Bottom line
Apart from its cameras, the Nokia 9 is far from the best smartphone. Last year's hardware, menu lag (I hope they will fix them), and the in-screen fingerprint scanner is absolutely not working. It’s very strange to pay 50 thousand rubles for all this with competitors alive and well, some of which are more productive and even cheaper. BUT!
Nokia 9 has three cool advantages that captivate and make you fall in love with the smartphone. The first is design. A nice, neat, relatively compact smartphone with non-protruding cameras. From the back, the device looks completely unique. A clean system and noble vibration response further increase the comfort of using the device. Secondly, Nokia 9 pleased us with its pOLED screen. Moderately saturated, very contrasty, excellent display without eye-catching colors. The image is always natural, honest, but at the same time high quality and perfectly calibrated.
Third is the cameras. The smartphone takes average videos and selfies. But you can’t deny the quality of pictures taken with the main five cameras. Gorgeous HDR and amazing frame depth make the Nokia 9 not just a smartphone with good cameras, but a real tool for creative photography.
Nokia Nokia 9
System and software
Don't worry that the Nokia 9 PureView operating system is overloaded with unnecessary software. The smartphone runs on a pure version of Android One without unnecessary add-ons. The big advantage of the stock version of the system is quick updates. This phone will receive OS updates for at least 2 years, and then security updates will arrive for another 3 years.
Nokia 9 PureView battery life
The device received a battery with a capacity of 3220 mAh, which is not so much. The Nokia 9 phone can last a whole day away from a power outlet. By evening I usually had about a quarter of the charge left.
If you constantly load your smartphone, there is a high probability that the smartphone will not last until the end of the day and you will have to look for a recharge. This also applies to those who like to take a lot of photographs. Autonomy is becoming one of the weakest points of the ninth Nokia model. However, there is support for wireless charging and when idle, I recommend keeping the gadget on the charging station.
Screen
The Nokia 9 screen is one of the strengths of this smartphone. Nokia calls it PureDisplay. This is a large panel based on pOLED technology, which provides a clear picture. High pixel density allows you to clearly distinguish interface elements, icons and text.
The colors here are great too. The pixels are not as rich as on Samsung devices, which gives the image a more natural appearance. There are several color profiles to choose from, such as Basic, Cinema and Vivid. Or you can choose Dynamic, where the color profile changes depending on the ambient light. The white color appears as white, there is no blue or yellowish tint. Viewing angles are also quite good.
The only thing I can complain about is the automatic brightness. The screen is bright enough to be viewed outdoors. The problem lies in the software. The device runs on Android 9, so the brightness is controlled too aggressively. The value drops to almost a minimum when you are in dark places. The brightness constantly increases and decreases as you move between different light sources, such as lamps in an apartment. This is very annoying and hardly good for your eyesight. To make matters worse, the automatic control never increases the brightness enough when you're outdoors. You have to turn off automatic control and change the brightness manually. Otherwise this is a great screen.
