Nokia 7.2 Hands-on Review

HMD Global, maker of Nokia devices, released the Nokia 7.2 in October 2019. It offers a solid combination of design, display, camera capabilities, and the stock Android experience.

It's the first Nokia smartphone to feature a 48-megapixel primary sensor with Quad Pixel technology and a ZEISS lens on its triple camera. Here's our hands-on review of the Nokia 7.2 smartphone.

Nokia 7.2 Specs

Android 9 Pie, Android One
6.3-inch Full HD+ PureView IPS display, HDR 10 (2280 x 1080 resolution) at 400ppi
2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass
Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 octa-core processor
Adreno 512 GPU
6GB RAM / 128GB internal storage
Expandable via microSD up to 512GB
48MP, Quad pixel + 8MP, ultra-wide + 5MP, depth sensor ZEISS optics, rear cameras, LED flash
20MP, Quad-pixel selfie camera
fingerprint scanner
Dedicated Google Assistant button
Dual SIM
4G LTE
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
Headphone jack
Bluetooth 5.0
GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, Galileo
NFC
FM radio
USB Type-C
3,500mAh battery, 10W fast charging
Colors: Cyan Green, Ice, Charcoal
180g

Design and Display
HMD is known for straightforward design and good build quality, and that's what we expect with the Nokia 7.2. It sports a polycarbonate body and metal frame, this phone looks sleek and also feels solid and premium.

The back panel is a light-diffusing satin glass design with a smooth metallic finish and is available in Charcoal, Cyan Green, and Ice colors. with curved 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass on both sides for protection against scratches. It has a squarish body that makes it easy to hold, but since it has a smooth body, it tends to slip easily on the hand, so it's a good idea to put on a protective case.

There's also the triple camera that is housed in a circular design, together with the LED flash. Below are the fingerprint sensor and the Nokia branding.

At the front, there's a 6.3-inch Full HD+ PureView display with 2280 x 1080 pixel resolution and 400 pixels per inch. It has a dedicated Pixelworks processor that enhances the screen, and when watching videos, it upscales the quality to HDR, which makes the colors more vivid and more pleasing to the eye.

Underneath is the Type-C port for charging and data transfer, there's also a microphone and loudspeaker. At the top are the 35.5mm audio headphone jack and another microphone.

The power button (which has an LED for notification) and the volume rocker are placed on the right side, while the SIM slot and Google button are on the left side. It supports two nano-SIMs and one microSD card for extra storage that can support up to 512GB of capacity.

Performance and Software

For hardware components, the Nokia 7.2 is equipped with a Snapdragon 660 mobile processor clocked at 2.2GHz paired with an Adreno 512 graphics processing unit, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB internal storage, it also packs a 3,500mAh battery.

Out of the box, It runs on Android 9 Pie with Android One, and as part of the Android One partnership, you can update to Android Q, so the first thing you should do after powering it up is connecting it to the internet and check for available updates.

Nokia 7.2 will also receive guaranteed monthly security updates for three years and OS updates for two years, so it expects to get new features. Android One Ui is simple and straightforward, the app drawer will give you the list of apps installed on the device. It comes with the default Google apps, such as Gmail, Maps, Photos, Google Drive, Google Assistant, and more. There are no third-party pre-installed apps, which is good, you can sign in to your Google account and download all the apps you want.

Android One
Out of the box, the Nokia 7.2 runs on Android 9 Pie with the Android One program, which means it gets 2 years of software upgrades and 3 years of monthly security updates.

It does not have a skin on top of the operating system, or simply, it runs on the stock Android version, the UI is nice and responsive, it comes with standard Android One apps and Google services, and you can download all the apps you need on the Google Play Store. The overall experience is good, and it's easy to become familiar with how the UI looks.

Cameras

The main camera of the Nokia 7.2 is a triple camera with a 48-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor for portrait shots. For taking selfies, there's a 20-megapixel front-facing camera.

Pictures taken using the main camera are good, it have enough details and vibrant colors to be good for sharing on social media. It's a mix of good and bad experiences with the Nokia 7.2 camera. There are times that images look sharp, and other times they look a bit blurry. The ultra-wide camera is nice, but just like any other smartphone, pictures taken using this model show a decrease in quality and noticeable noise.

For portrait mode, it works great and can take pretty good pictures, there are a lot of details and colors that are more natural, it's one of the best modes of the camera.

Battery
This phone packs a 3,500mAh battery and comes with a 10W charger, it does not support fast charging and also has no wireless charging support.

The battery life is average, one full charge can get you through a day. The battery can easily be monitored in the settings menu. Standby time is impressive, it lasted for more than 2 days when we set it aside and did not use it during the test period. If you are a heavy user, who watches a lot of YouTube videos while connected to 4G mobile data and plays a lot of games with high brightness settings, it will surely drain the battery quickly.

Charging the battery using the 10W plug takes a bit longer, but it's always a good idea to plug it in once you are at home and remove it before going to bed so that you won't overcharge the battery.

Performance is good but not really impressive compared to other smartphones such as the Redmi Note 7 Pro, Redmi Note 8 Pro, or the Realme XT, which has a slightly better SoC, but since it runs on pure Android, it gives users more freedom on the skin you want to use.

The Snapdragon 660 processor can handle daily tasks and multitasking, but there's a slight lag, especially when there are many apps running in the background, This could be because Android One lacks software optimization.

Pros
Premium design
Great Display
Long-lasting battery
Clean, up-to-date software
Google Assistant button

Cons
Unreliable game performance
Average camera

Bottom line
Overall, the Nokia 7.2 offers a decent mid-range smartphone experience with a stylish design, clean software, and reliable performance. It may not excel in every aspect, but it provides a solid package for users looking for a reliable device with a stock Android experience. 

While the battery life is great and it packs a capable processor that can handle daily tasks without any issues, it lacks power when playing games. For its price, there are other brands that offer more features, just like the Huawei Nova 5i, Realme 5 Pro, and Samsung Galaxy A50. 

The Nokia 7.2 is priced at ₱15,990 and it comes in Cyan Green, Ice, Charcoal colors and it's now available nationwide.

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