All new Nokia-branded Android phones to be part of the Android One program

[D13H4RD]

Behind the dust left by the Galaxy S9 announcement is something that I think many of us will appreciate, especially those who want stock Android and fast updates on anything that isn’t a Pixel.

 

HMD Global, the current licensee for the Nokia brand on smartphones just announced that all new Android phones under the Nokia brand will be certified under the Android One program, starting with the Nokia 8 Sirocco, 7 Plus and global variant of the 6 2018.

 

Quote

Furthering its promise to a pure, smart, secure and up-to-date Android experience, HMD Global also announced it is to become the first global partner to have a full suite of devices selected into the Android One programme by Google. The unwavering commitment to deliver a pure, secure and up-to-date Android experience has ensured Nokia smartphones were a natural fit for the global programme.

In addition to these stunning new Android smartphones, the iconic Nokia 8110 is reloaded, delivering 4G connectivity, apps including Google Assistant, Google Maps, Google Search, Facebook and Twitter, and the return of the slider phone.

 

Quote

Three new Nokia smartphones – the Nokia 8 Sirocco, Nokia 7 Plus and the new Nokia 6 – join the Android One family, offering a high quality software experience designed by Google. Each phone will stay fresh over time with the latest AI powered innovations to the highest grade of security from Google. With a pure Android installation, Nokia smartphones come with no unnecessary UI changes or hidden processes that would eat up battery life or slow them down so you can enjoy your new phone for longer. Each of the new phones comes with a limited number of pre-installed apps so that you'll get more storage space, as well as the latest innovations that help you stay ahead of the game every day.

By shipping with Android Oreo™ out of the box, you'll be able to enjoy the latest features, including Picture-in-Picture for multitasking, Android Instant Apps to discover and run apps with minimal friction, 60 fantastic new emojis and battery-maximising features like limiting background app use.

Source: HMD Press Release, this one given to Android Central https://www.androidcentral.com/nokia-exclusive-android-one-all-smartphones

 

To recap, the Android One program allows devices to be certified by Google to meet certain requirements in return for advice and support for future updates directly from Google. This should mean that they should be the second after the Pixel to directly receive major OS upgrades and security patches.

 

This sounds like great news, but what about you?

[Crunchy Dragon]

Interesting. I personally would like stock Android, but I really don't like the Pixel's aesthetic. Still considering installing a custom ROM on my phone.

 

I've never felt drawn to Nokia phones in particular, I prefer Samsung's models to most other phones I've used. The major OS upgrades and security patches are definitely something I'd like as well, and with Android's tendency to not support updates for longer periods of time briefly had me considering an iPhone.

[dizmo]

Eh. I've never seen the draw of stock Android. I much prefer the spin other companies put on it, as a lot of the features they include I find genuinely useful, and a lot of which I'm shocked aren't a part of core Android. The only plus is speedy updates...but seeing as I buy a new phone every year, it's a nonissue for me. *shrug*

[Nowak]

This is really nice, honestly. They're also bringing back the Nokia Pro Camera features that were last seen on Windows Phone.

 

Now if only they'd consider a US release, because I'd be lying if I said I didn't want a Nokia 7 Plus.

[D13H4RD]

1 minute ago, Daring said:

Now if only they'd consider a US release, because I'd be lying if I said I didn't want a Nokia 7 Plus.

I want that phone too. 

 

Out of everything they announced, the 7+ is my favorite, even more so than the Sirocco. It just looks like a fantastic midrange all rounder, and judging from the performance of the SD636, the SD660 should be more than plenty.

 

And that battery. 

[Nowak]

1 minute ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

I want that phone too. 

 

Out of everything they announced, the 7+ is my favorite, even more so than the Sirocco. It just looks like a fantastic midrange all rounder, and judging from the performance of the SD636, the SD660 should be more than plenty.

 

And that battery. 

tbh I'd be more into the Sirocco if it had a headphone jack. I really hope that Nokia enters the US market next year, I'd love to throw my money at them again.

[D13H4RD]

6 minutes ago, Daring said:

tbh I'd be more into the Sirocco if it had a headphone jack. I really hope that Nokia enters the US market next year, I'd love to throw my money at them again.

It's not really the lack of a headphone jack or the SD835 processor that swung the 7+ in its favor over the 8S for me 

 

It's more to do with how the Sirocco had a priority on design and not much else, which I guess was its point. 

 

The 7+ seemed to be made more to be used, evident by its construction and specs like its battery. In essence, the Sirocco is the one I'd put in my glass cupboard to admire while the 7+ is the one I'd put in my pocket 

[Nowak]

Just now, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

It's not really the lack of a headphone jack or the SD835 processor that swung the 7+ in its favor over the 8S.

 

It's more to do with how the Sirocco had a priority on design and not much else, which I guess was its point. 

 

The 7+ seemed to be made more to be used, evident by its construction and specs like its battery. In essence, the Sirocco is the one I'd put in my glass cupboard to admire while the 7+ is the one I'd put in my pocket 

Water resistance and the OLED display (unfortunately an LG one) are nice tho, but yeah. Overall, the 7+ seems like the better phone.

[DanielMDA]

1 hour ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Interesting. I personally would like stock Android, but I really don't like the Pixel's aesthetic. Still considering installing a custom ROM on my phone.

 

I've never felt drawn to Nokia phones in particular, I prefer Samsung's models to most other phones I've used. The major OS upgrades and security patches are definitely something I'd like as well, and with Android's tendency to not support updates for longer periods of time briefly had me considering an iPhone.

If you liked the original Google ROM I would reccommend you download the Google Now Launcher, which is Google´s Official Launcher for third poarty phones and the Nexus line-up. (Up to 5X and 6P)

[captain_to_fire]

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

Eh. I've never seen the draw of stock Android. I much prefer the spin other companies put on it, as a lot of the features they include I find genuinely useful, and a lot of which I'm shocked aren't a part of core Android. The only plus is speedy updates...but seeing as I buy a new phone every year, it's a nonissue for me. *shrug*

I'm also not a fan of stock Android UI. For whatever reason, I prefer's Samsung's UI for the Note 8 even though back in the day of GS3 to GS5 I hated the crap out of TouchWiz.

[dizmo]

36 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

I'm also not a fan of stock Android UI. For whatever reason, I prefer's Samsung's UI for the Note 8 even though back in the day of GS3 to GS5 I hated the crap out of TouchWiz.

Samsung added a ton of useful features to their UI. I especially liked the Note's ability to customize the vibration notifications. There's loads of other useful things but it's been a few years since I used a Samsung device. TouchWiz used to SUCK! It's much better now though. I wish more people would realize that instead of spouting off how bad it is.

[D13H4RD]

1 hour ago, hey_yo_ said:

I'm also not a fan of stock Android UI. For whatever reason, I prefer's Samsung's UI for the Note 8 even though back in the day of GS3 to GS5 I hated the crap out of TouchWiz.

Samsung has improved a shit ton on their UI

 

There's much less feature creep and it looks much more cohesive and the stuff they kept is mostly useful. 

[Nowak]

And then there's me, the Vulpix who can't stand anything but stock Android.

[D13H4RD]

28 minutes ago, Daring said:

And then there's me, the Vulpix who can't stand anything but stock Android.

Muh debloated stock 

[Guest]

Anyone know Nokia's track record of allowing you to unlock the bootloader? (The Nexus and Pixel lineup had it easy compared to others with just a toggle in dev options.) With Project Treble and an unlocked bootloader, it'll be nice to see rom porting only take a few days. (Sauce if you need it)

[D13H4RD]

1 hour ago, tjcater said:

Anyone know Nokia's track record of allowing you to unlock the bootloader? (The Nexus and Pixel lineup had it easy compared to others with just a toggle in dev options.) With Project Treble and an unlocked bootloader, it'll be nice to see rom porting only take a few days. (Sauce if you need it)

They have had plans for it but so far, none of their devices have an unlocked bootloader yet

[Doobeedoo]

That is neat, wish that one day every OEM would be like stock Android as far as fast updates. 

[Misanthrope]

Finally peeing themselves for warmth aren't they?

[D13H4RD]

Just to be clear.

 

The updates don't come directly from Google since HMD will still need to make adjustments to make stuff like the camera work properly.

 

But if they've been good at updates before, this shouldn't change much

[Trixanity]

1 hour ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

Just to be clear.

 

The updates don't come directly from Google since HMD will still need to make adjustments to make stuff like the camera work properly.

 

But if they've been good at updates before, this shouldn't change much

Both yes and no. Using Android One doesn't mean it's a copy + paste job but with Treble support (the whole thing with a separate partition for device-specific drivers and software) makes it easier to adapt new versions of Android and security patches since an Android update won't break the hardware compatibility and the Android software won't be heavily modified since it's Android One so the burden of updating should be fairly small and doable by a small team (if not a single person).

[D13H4RD]

1 minute ago, Trixanity said:

Both yes and no. Using Android One doesn't mean it's a copy + paste job but with Treble support (the whole thing with a separate partition for device-specific drivers and software) makes it easier to adapt new versions of Android and security patches since an Android update won't break the hardware compatibility and the Android software won't be heavily modified since it's Android One so the burden of updating should be fairly small and doable by a small team (if not a single person).

Well, HMD has been pretty good at updates even without Treble, so this should be smoother sailing for them, especially for a whole range of devices.

[Trixanity]

7 minutes ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

Well, HMD has been pretty good at updates even without Treble, so this should be smoother sailing for them, especially for a whole range of devices.

Definitely. I think Android One should be seen in a similar light as LineageOS in that it has people developing the main project (in this case it's Google) and then you have developers adapting it to to their devices and maintaining it (in this case it's HMD). It reduces their development burden considerably.

 

I think they realized if they want to continue on their path of fast updates they need to make their workload small. Android One and Treble should make it very easy to maintain their devices. Well, in comparison to what Samsung or Huawei does anyway.

[Nowak]

Nokia 6 2018 is coming to the US. It's something.

 

https://www.cnet.com/news/nokia-6-your-mission-is-to-get-the-us-to-care-about-nokia-mwc-2018/#

 

[Guest]

Just now, Daring said:

Nokia 6 2018 is coming to the US. It's something.

 

https://www.cnet.com/news/nokia-6-your-mission-is-to-get-the-us-to-care-about-nokia-mwc-2018/#

Sucks that the other phones aren't, but there may be some hope since they said

Quote

"We have a more focused plan for the US and we have long-term ambition as well -- it's a key market globally," said Sarvikas. "We'll have more news to share later on this year."

 

[Maslofski]

but muh nokia 5