MANILA, Philippines – HMD Global launched the latest Nokia flaship phone, the Nokia 8, at Manila House in Taguig, Friday night, September 29. 

The phone is now available at retailers nationwide for P29,990, making it one of the more affordable flagships equipped with the class-leading Snapdragon 835 chip. At that price, it’s cheaper than other 835-equipped premium phones like the Samsung Galaxy S8, the HTC U11 and the Sony Xperia XZ Premium, but more expensive than value champs OnePlus 5 and the Xiaomi Mi 6.

The price is lower than the direct conversion of its suggested retail price in Europe of 599 euros (around P36,000) .

Originally unveiled in mid-August, the Nokia 8 boasts some unique selling points specs aside – chief among which is its ability to shoot with the rear camera and the front camera simultaneously, which Nokia conveniently calls “Bothies”.

With the system, known as the Dual-Sight camera, users will be able to livestream both the front and the back scene without having to constantly switch between the two.  

The two cameras are both co-developed with longtime German collaborator ZEISS, and both are 13MP in resolution. 

Along with that, the Nokia 8 also features OZO audio for high-fidelity, 360-degree spatial surround sound. It runs on Android Nougat 7.1.1 and comes in single- and dual-sim variants. 

At the launch, Nokia’s Philippine country manager Shannon Mead talked about the strength of the brand in the country: “The Philippines has always been a strong market for Nokia. Filipinos, particularly those in the provinces have a strong affinity for Nokia phones, which have always delivered on quality, reliability and innovation.”

Nokia, the phone brand, is now licensed under HMD Global – a group of former Nokia employees that banded together in 2016 to acquire the Nokia license and make new phones again. 

Below we have photos of the Nokia 8 on display at the event: 

Here’s the Tempered Blue version: 

Here’s the Nokia 8 spec list:

• Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line Snapdragon 835 chip
• A 5.3-inch quad HD display (2,560 x 1,440 pixels)
• Android Nougat 7.1.1
• 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage (expandable to 256GB via microSD)
• Weighs 160 grams
• Available in Tempered Blue and Polished Blue colors
• 3090mAh battery

Do you think the Nokia 8 offers good bang for the buck?– Rappler.com