The Nokia 8.3 5G is the first truly global 5G phone, comes with Snapdragon 765G 5G, Zeiss quad cameras, and Android One for €599

HMD Global's annual refresh of the Nokia lineup was supposed to have taken place during MWC 2020. Since the event had to be canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak, the company decided to have an online launch for its 2020 lineup led by the Nokia 8.3 5G. 

The Nokia 8.3 5G is currently HMD's top dog. We do not know if there would be a higher specced flagship down the line as sales of the Nokia 9 PureView didn't exactly pan-out as expected. That being said, the Nokia 8.3 5G is no slouch (at least on paper) and is, in fact, the first truly global 5G phone. 

The Nokia 8.3 5G is powered the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G 5G, which comes with a built-in 5G modem on-die. The SoC is paired with either 6 or 8 GB of RAM and 64 GB or 128 GB storage with the option of further extending it via a microSD card. The power button also acts as the fingerprint reader. A generous 4,500 mAh provides the needed juice, and it can be quickly topped-up using the bundled 18W charger. 

The phone sports a 6.81-inch FHD+ 20:9 Adaptive PureDisplay with HDR support with a punch-hole notch in the top left corner that houses the 24 MP selfie camera with Zeiss optics. Towards the back, there are four cameras comprised of a 64 MP primary sensor, a 12 MP ultrawide lens, a 2 MP depth sensor, and a 2 MP macro lens. HMD is offering an Action Cam feature on the 12 MP ultrawide lens at 60 fps that allows for capturing fast moving objects. 

Like all Nokia phones, the Nokia 8.3 5G comes with stock Android 10 and with the backing of the Android One program that promises guaranteed OS feature updates for two years and security updates for three years.

The Nokia 8.3 5G will be available in a single Polar Night design this summer starting from €599. The pricing does raise a few eyebrows, though. From the spec sheet alone, we see that the Nokia 8.3 omits (going by the spec sheet) quite a handful of features that competitors such as Xiaomi and even Redmi are offering at more cheaper prices.

While the decision to not opt for a Snapdragon 865 may be understandable, HMD's new flagship (?) does not feature an AMOLED display, OIS, IP rating, or fast refresh rates that have quite become the norm even in the US$300 and below segment. The specs to price ratio matters a lot in price-sensitive Asian markets, so it remains to be seen how well the Nokia 8.3 will work out for HMD.