Nokia 1 Android Go phone launched in India, priced at Rs. 5499

HMD global, a Nokia brand licensee, has announced the launch of their new smartphone, Nokia 1, an Android Go phone, today in New Delhi. The phone comes with modest specifications and is aimed towards developing markets, and in India, this is the second Android Go phone to be launched, after the Lava Z50.

The Nokia 1 has a 4.5-inch FWVGA IPS LCD display with 480x854p resolution. The screen has 5-point multi-touch support and a 16:9 aspect ratio. The processor powering the phone is the Quad-core Mediatek MT6737M and a Mali-T720 GPU with 1 GB of LPDDR3 RAM. The phone comes with just 8 GB of internal storage which can be expanded up to 128 GB, using the hybrid SIM/ MicroSD slot. The phone runs on pure Android 8.0 Oreo (Go edition), which is a lighter version of Android.

As for the cameras, the Nokia 1 comes with a 5 MP camera on the back with an LED flash. The rear camera can shoot videos at a maximum resolution of 480p. On the front, we get a 2 MP selfie snapper. The Nokia 1 has a 2150 mAh battery that can give you 53 hours of music playback. The back is made out of plastic and the phone doesn’t feature any fingerprint scanner. The phone has 4G connectivity with VoLTE support. The phone comes with the proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, and a G-sensor.

The Android Go phone from Nokia comes with few Go apps preinstalled, like Google Go (Google web search app) Maps Go, Files Go, GBoard Go, Youtube Go and even Google Assistant Go, which is basically trimmed down versions of the full-fledged Google apps that are intended to run on low-end hardware.

Announcing the India launch, Ajey Mehta, Vice President India, HMD Global, HMD Global, said, “There are more than 1.3 billion feature phone users around the world, many from markets in Asia and Africa[ii]. As the value market leader in feature phones, we understand the barriers and challenges people face when it comes to stepping up to a smartphone which is where the Nokia 1 fits in perfectly. Not only is this our most affordable smartphone ever, it also combines the reassuring quality and design of a Nokia smartphone with the latest Android Oreo™ (Go edition) to deliver exceptional value and realize our dream of creating a complete smartphone experience that is accessible to everyone.”

The Nokia 1 comes in Warm Red and Dark Blue colors. The phone is priced at Rs. 5,499 and will be available to purchase at all leading outlets across the country, starting from March 28, 2018. Since the phone is made out of plastic, the phone’s back can be personalized with the so-called Xpress On covers that will be sold separately at a price of Rs. 450/-, starting from April 2018. The Xpress On covers are available in a pack of two – Azure & Grey or Yellow & Pink.

The effective cost of the phone would be Rs. 3299, by availing cashback offer of Rs. 2200 from Jio, which gets you 60 GB of additional data. The cashback offer can be availed by new and existing Jio customers and there is a certain number of recharges to be done in order to avail the cashback.

Additionally, Nokia 1 users can avail complimentary 12-Month Accidental Damage Insurance by Servify upon opening a new Kotak 811 savings account and activating it with an initial deposit of Rs. 1000, during the introductory period. Consumers also get 20% off on their first bus ride through redBus.