Among the latest Nokia offerings by HMD Global, let us introduce you to thee Nokia 8 Sirocco, which is a special edition of the Nokia 8 phone that launched last summer. This isn’t the same phone that launched last summer because it has a completely overhauled design that consists of almost entirely of glass.
Despite the fact that it’s different from the Nokia 8 released last summer, why did HMD want to reference it as a special edition? Well, it’s probably because the phone in some ways is still the Nokia 8. It’s running Android 8.0 Oreo, and has the same cota-core Snapdragon 835 chip, 6GB of RAM and offers 128GB of storage. Now, this is where the similarities more or less end.
The Nokia 8 Sirocco has an IP67 water and dust-proof rating. It provides support for wireless charging and has a bigger battery capacity of 3,260mAh. If you’re a photo enthusiast, the cameras aren’t similar either. The phone rocks a 12MP wide-angle shooter and a 13MP camera with 2x optical zoom (the new Nokia 7 has a similar setup as well). In terms of the selfie camera, it did take a bit of a downgrade. It has a 5MP camera in front comapred to the Nokia 8’s 13MP.
Now that we have the specs talk out of the way, the biggest difference in the Nokia 8 Sirocco special edition is the design. The Sirocco edition is 95-percent vacuum-molded Gorilla Glass 5. The other five person is the stainless steel chassis on the phone that’s only exposed to the air around the perimeter and that’s only 2mm.
Now that the front panel of the glass is now curved, there’s a new flexible display on it as well. The special edition now boasts a bendy OLED screen with 2,560 x 1,440 resolution. The Sirocco edition looks a lot cleaner and neater than its previous counterpart. In addition, it moves away from the physical key on the Nokia 8’s bottom bezel.
To be frank, the Nokia 8 Sirocco special edition is more of a nifty upgrade rather than a new flagship smartphone. It looks and feel like other premium smartphones when compared to its predecessor. The price of the device, however, it where some issues start. The Nokia 8 Sirocco will launch in early April. It will go for around €749 (roughly $920/£659). Mind you, the iPhone 8 Plus starts at $799, and you can bet that when the Samsung unveils the Galaxy S9 today, it will be more expensive too.
