Nokia 9 PureView

amazon Nokia 9 PureView reviews

Design

Nokia 9 PureView gives me a serious appearance with a distinctive metal rim on the surrounding edges and a serious look – worthy of the brand’s flagship. The front looks quite normal, not too impressive. The design of the top and bottom edges is quite large (compared to 2019) making it look a bit outdated and reminds us of LG G6 (launched in 2017). For some people, it looks better than their smartphone with “malformed” rabbit ears. But if you put it on the table with other smartphones, such as the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus, Nokia 9 looks like it just ended a long hibernation that is trying to re-integrate with the world.

The full camera cluster consists of 5 main cameras, 1 flash, 1 ToF camera with identical shape and is rearranged into a regular hexagon. On top of that, all are flat-pressed into the surface of the back of the phone, without any “convex” camera, bringing a sleek, smooth look that is hard to see when convex camera making is a new trend on one number of smartphone lines.

This cluster of regular hexagonal cameras has become the most talked about topic when it comes to Nokia 9, even for those who don’t care much about phones. It’s understandable that it possesses a unique design that is so strange (or as bizarre as when we often discuss with each other). Many such cameras, but the fact that they are placed on the back without being protruded is quite a special thing, not to mention unique design of the phone. The back of the phone is so slippery that if you don’t pay attention to putting it on the side slightly tilted, you may regret it a few minutes later after hearing the painful “click” sound!

Apart from that unique 6-camera and 1-flash unit, no other design is really appealing at Nokia 9. The power button and volume rocker are located on the right, while the USB Type-C port is located below. No Google Assistant button. It’s easy to understand that its design was supposed to have been released a long time ago.

Overall, the Nokia 9 PureView is a high-end device with the right thickness and weight. It’s more like a larger device, like the Apple iPhone XS Max, Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus or the OnePlus 6T despite owning a modest display.

Screen display

Nokia 9 is equipped with a 6-inch OLED screen with a resolution of 1440 × 2880 pixels, providing sharp, clear images. You can switch between three display modes: Vivid, Cinematic and Basic. Vivid mode brings the most vivid colors while the Basic mode will have a slightly less vivid color. There is also a “Dynamic” mode that gives the screen a display of the ability to switch between modes depending on the task you are performing.

Not only that, also a color mode dedicated to the screen is always displayed. You may want to use it when the Nokia 9 does not have a notification LED even though it incorporates a lot of things on the front.

In terms of quality, there is nothing for us to complain about. The screen has the right brightness, watching videos is even more difficult to talk about with a resolution of up to 1440 pixels. That’s what you expect to get in a flagship smartphone. But the parts below the surface are not like that …

Fingerprint sensor and face unlock

Nokia 9 has an optical fingerprint reader inside the screen, similar to on OnePlus 6T, Xiaomi Mi 9 and Huawei Mate 20 Pro. However, its performance is not so. Every time we try to use it, we all get a notice that requires more emphasis or a retry. The frequency was so frequent that we thought it didn’t even bother scanning the fingerprint.

“If the fingerprint sensor doesn’t work, then unlock it with a face, right?” – Ok, we heard you and we admit it. Yes but it is definitely not safe by fingerprint sensor. If you have high security requirements, face unlocking isn’t really a good choice. And next is how much more convenient it is to unlock with fingerprints. Not only is it slow, but it sometimes makes mistakes in reading your face, even in good light conditions, forcing you to return to using the fingerprint sensor. Or even have to enter a PIN code. These unpleasant experiences can make you no longer want to use this phone.

Fortunately, these problems can be improved by updates, theoretically. But the problem is that when customers spend hundreds of dollars to get the Nokia 9 right now, these unpleasant experiences are really unacceptable.

where can you get a Nokia 9 PureView online

Nokia 9 PureView – Android 9.0 Pie – 128 GB – Single SIM Unlocked Smartphone (at&T/T-Mobile/MetroPCS/Cricket/H2O) – 5.99″ QHD+ Screen – Qi Wireless Charging – Midnight Blue – U.S. Warranty: Buy it now

Nokia 9 PureView TA-1087 128GB /6GB LTE Dual SIM (GSM ONLY, NO CDMA) Factory Unlocked No Warranty (Blue): Buy it now

Interface and function

Nokia 9 uses Android One operating system, or as many people call it “original Android”. Currently, the phones using this system have quite a few advantages: simple, timely updates, no built-in software can not be removed (bloatware) or features do not need too much set. But with the advantages, there must be defects.

The “pure” Android One operating system not only removes unnecessary annoying apps but also removes for you all the more useful. You get fewer settings and customization options than other phones. In general, it helps you to avoid losing more complex things, but you won’t get other good things in return. For example, a reasonable night mode on the whole system or a swipe from the top down to see the message you are used to on other Android-based smartphones. And we won’t forget to remind you of Android One’s annoying gesture selling interface, there’s no way to change the button on the classic screen, so you should get used to it.

Processor, performance and memory

The Nokia 9 PureView has a Snapdragon 845, Qualcomm’s 2018 flagship chip. The chipset set is combined with 6GB of RAM and 128 GB of memory.

Camera

Perhaps there is no need to say too much, this is a phone that focuses on photography. Its unique design is made up of five camera sensors with a resolution of 12MP and every time you take a picture, these five cameras all work simultaneously. On other phones, you’ll find they have a main camera in combination with an ultra-wide-angle camera and a telephoto lens that provides flexibility in mastering and controlling the light source, also on your Nokia 9 This will not be visible in the cluster consisting of five main cameras. These two sensors are RGB sensor modules that collect color data, the other three are light monochromatic sensors responsible for gathering details in bright, dark areas.

Its ultimate goal is to capture sharper and more detailed images in each shot. A cluster of cameras in a regular phone can put this through HDR photography – snap lots of continuous shots and combine every detail of each picture with software. Nokia 9 does not have HDR image processing mode in camera software because in fact each of its photo shoot uses HDR capture technology. But instead of snapping multiple shots in a row, the five cameras of this unique smartphone capture simultaneously, and this will reduce the lack of detail compared to continuous shooting. In contrast, its five cameras have to capture slightly different angles at five angles, so the final result still depends on the ability to process post-production, combining the software’s image.

Camer Software

Camera software, It is also quite basic: the interface has different shooting modes below and quick settings above.

But when you really use it, you know what we’re talking about. The software is slow to uncomfortable even with basic operations and the time to switch from one mode to another usually takes several seconds. The shooting time is quite fast but as we mentioned, the Nokia 9 PureView needs to handle a lot of data at every photo shoot. So it leads to after taking a few pictures and you want to see the pictures, you will only see blurry images and a “processing” message. When this “processing” process is complete, you will receive the final image.

And sometimes the process is a bit overwhelming with camera software, so the software of this unique camera will crash, stop working or malfunction in some other way. Sometimes, it stops working after you’ve taken a few shots and then you find out that not all of them are still in the collection. At other times, it appears that it cannot connect to the camera itself. And in some cases, it interrupts the process abruptly and shows you the pictures that are “glitch”.

You won’t know when or why the software crashed so you won’t know how to prevent it from happening. You can only give up on your luck. Well, in fact, you can guess when the software is having trouble by feeling the warming of the phone. This also means faster battery consumption. And of course, the time to “fit” a photo is not just a few seconds. A photo usually takes 5 to 10 seconds to process while bokeh takes up to 20 seconds to complete. Not only unique design, but image processing time is also unique, right?

Image quality

Not very round, Nokia 9’s image quality is excellent. Our experience of it is also very interesting. As we said, we had to spend a lot of time waiting, experiencing a lot of emotions as we witnessed a dimly lit photo with a rotating gear and then suddenly BOOM ! In the blink of an eye, the picture seemed to peel the ugly duckling into a proud swan. Just imagine as if you took off your glasses and put them on again. It is like you watch youtube and change from 144p resolution to 1440p. You may be shocked if you first witness this scene. Your photo suddenly has detail, a change in color, the appearance of bokeh effect. Surprise full of satisfaction.

However, there is one thing, that is the effect before and after that makes you feel these pictures are better than they really are. Although we are happy with this experience and this does not mean that these pictures are not beautiful, but after all other experiences that Nokia 9 has exchanged, these pictures may not be great as you expected.

Day shots are not much different from those taken by other modern smartphones. They look very detailed and sharp, even too sharp, depending on your preference. But after all, its quality is not unique, so special that it can knock out all other phones. If there is anything special about image quality, it is lacking in color vibrancy. But it is also possible that other smartphones increase color artificially and distort our perceptions. Whatever it is, most photos are a bit lacking in nuance even when compared to reality.

At night, the Nokia 9 seems to show poor shooting capabilities compared to most other flagship brands. The promise of detailed reproducibility and the amazing ability to capture light did not appear in this unique camera cluster, even if there is enough light in the image. Don’t expect any possibility to approach Google’s Night Sight mode or night mode in Huawei’s dimly lit environment.

The only areas where the unique Nokia 9 design offers superiority are bokeh and dynamic color range. When the phone is in “Depth” mode, you can customize the object in the image you want to highlight between the foreground and the blurred background. But maybe you won’t do this too much, because even without doing so, the portrait taken on this phone is already pretty.

In complex lighting environments, the picture you take or will look great, or will look bad. Sometimes Nokia 9 handles well, your picture will look perfect. Sometimes, the color is slightly pale. In general, photos from this unique 6-camera and 1-hexagonal flash cluster have a darker orientation than reality, bringing a gloomy feel to the viewer. It seems that Nokia also recognizes this, so you often see a “lighten” prompt that appears when browsing photos that can brighten the image when you click.

After shooting RAW with Nokia 9, you can put it into Lightroom for post-production to produce even more beautiful photos. And the quality of RAW photos taken from Nokia 9 is already great, so the post-production images will be better than the pictures taken by any flagship. But not everyone has the time to take photos from the phone to post-production, right? Because Nokia 9 also has an integrated application in the collection so you can edit quickly after just a few steps. But after all, you still have to pull the color, light up, and pull the stroke while it should have been made for you right from the beginning.

Video quality

Included in the camera cluster are up to 5 main cameras, Nokia 9 PureView can allow you to shoot 4K quality videos, whether or not HDR, and all of them have a 30FPS frame rate. HDR is off by default, and we also recommend that you keep it that way. If you turn it on, the clip you recorded will have anti-shake capabilities even at 1080p resolution (at 4K level that didn’t have this feature). In addition, HDR video is not compatible with most devices and will not work on social networking sites, so it is better to forget the HDR recording function of this unique camera unless you really know what you are doing.

At 1080p, the video looks a bit soft, but still looks good and anti-shake works quite well. There is a theoretical Photo-in-picture option (applicable even when shooting) that will allow you to shoot something with the main camera at the same time as your reaction while shooting with the front camera.

Battery life

With 3300mAh battery capacity, Nokia’s new smartphone is not too remarkable on this side. Its benchmark score is not impressive at all, and when we experience the reality, too. And even if you use this phone with the same functionality that its unique design focuses on – shooting and shooting a lot – the battery will run out much faster. On the day we tested the capabilities of the device, we found that its battery consumed more than 50% after only a few hours of shooting, and the most costly application was Google Photos.

When talking about charging, this flagship supports not only fast charging, but also wireless charging. However, it will warm up a bit when wireless charging – not good for battery life at all

Conclude

We have expected that the return of the legendary Nokia will shake the smartphone camera sector with the best innovations and make us gasp at what Nokia 9 PureView can do. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out like we expected. In the current smartphone market, Nokia 9’s camera has a competitive advantage in the dynamic range and in the way of creating a true bokeh removal effect, but also stops there. Or even if only the Nokia 9 PureView doesn’t appear to be weak in many other areas, this could be a great option that we can recommend to you.

If you are serious about photography, you should invest your finances in a true camera and edit your photos on your computer. If your photo requirements just stop taking great photos with your phone and like the Android One experience, then maybe the Pixel phone will be much more suitable. If Nokia considers the error correction software of Nokia 9, it will probably be worth considering. But until then, there was no objective reason to choose Nokia 9 PureView instead of other options.

Advantages

– High resolution screen

– 128GB memory

Disadvantages

– Fingerprint sensor and unlock with unreliable face, easily annoying

– Camera software is slow and unstable

– Lack of diversity in photography options

– Battery life is too normal

– Snapdragon 845 chip in 2018 in a 2019 flagship line

– Loudspeaker sound distorted when opening loudly