Nokia 6 and 7 Plus rock metal jackets and stripped-back Android – CNET

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Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Alongside the flagship Sirocco and reissue of the classic 8110, Nokia has a pair of midrange Android phones that combine neat metal designs with low prices.

The Nokia 6 is the cheapest of the two, and is very much just a bumped-up version of the Nokia 6 that the company released last year. The design is much the same, although the metal body now comes in a few new colours.

It’s equipped with a beefed up processor, USB Type-C and fast charging. It’ll be going on sale in the UK in April for somewhere under the £200 mark. US and Australian availability has yet to be announced but for reference, £200 converts to about $280 or AU$360.

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Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Then there’s the Nokia 7 Plus, which stretches its 6-inch screen to reach right to the edge of the handset. It has a two-tone metal body with machined edges, which I think looks awesome, particularly in the black and copper variant.

You won’t find higher-end features such as waterproofing or wireless charging, but there is a fingerprint scanner on the back, along with a dual-lens camera.

It’ll be available sometime around April for roughly £350 (about $490 or AU$620 converted).

Both phones run the Android One version of Oreo — a stripped-back version of Android with no manufacturer tweaks that’s designed to be simple to use, as well as being less demanding of the phone’s processor. 

Nokia 6 specs

  • 5.5-inch display
  • 1,920×1,080-pixel resolution
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor
  • 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage, or 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage, depending on variant
  • 16-megapixel rear camera
  • 8-megapixel front camera
  • 3,000mAh non-removable battery

Nokia 7 Plus specs

  • 6-inch display
  • 2,160×1,080-pixel resolution
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor
  • 4GB RAM, 64GB storage
  • 12-megapixel rear camera with 13-megapixel telephoto lens
  • 16-megapixel front facing camera
  • 3,600mAh non-removable battery with fast charging

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