Lots of cameras are becoming the big deal feature in phones, and in Nokia’s latest, the plan is to get four in for below $400.
Regardless of what price point you’re considering for your next phone, or possibly a first phone, there’s a good chance there’ll be an emphasis on big screens and lots of cameras. What is fast becoming a staple in smartphone design has now pushed past the flagship and entered the budget and mid-range with it.
Originally arriving in the premium sector for the past few years, the big screened smartphone is now something of normality, and with that big screen typically comes support for bigger features, or features that are a bigger deal overall.
Typically that’s one really solid camera accompanied by a few extra, sitting under a huge screen and paired with an equally big battery, a formula that tends to work and has delivered for folks in the mid-range and high-end.
But you don’t just have to spend $500 to get that sort of technology, as 2020 is beginning to show. In fact this year, manufacturers are actually showing the opposite, and that below the mid-range price, you can nab phones that push similar features for much less than you may expect.
This year, Nokia is doing just that, announcing a phone that will retail for below $400 outright, with four cameras included and a big 6.55 inch screen. The handset is the Nokia 5.3, and it features what Nokia says is a two day battery, thanks to a huge 4000mAh battery and support for an AI-assistant “Adaptive Battery”, which helps the system optimise processes to extend the battery life.
You’ll find four cameras inside this model, as well, with a 13 megapixel standard camera, plus a lower megapixels for the ultra-wide, depth, and macro camera, while the front camera sticks to 8 megapixel selfies.
The design appears to be a little more plastic and glass focused than other phones, but Nokia is looking to keep its sub-$400 Nokia 5.3 compelling not just because of the price, but with future Android support.
At $349 outright, its price is very interesting for what you get, but Nokia is making it even more interesting with support that it is ready for the next version of Android later this year, Android 11. There’s already Android 10 out of the box, but it’s handy to know the next version is coming, with support extended for two years of Android upgrades, meaning Android 12 should run, too.
As to when you’ll get those changes from when Google releases them, that remains to be seen, but at $349, the Nokia 5.3 could well be a compelling first smartphone option, or even a next phone for some all the same.
You’ll find it in stores this week, arriving at JB HiFi and Officeworks from $349, with Big W and The Good Guys receiving the phone soon, too.
