11 months on from its predecessor, HMD Global has just introduced the company’s latest budget smartphone entry, the Nokia 1.4 – compete with a larger display, battery and an extra camera.
Nokia’s 1 series serves as the brand’s most modestly-specced but also impressively low-cost Android smartphone range and the 1.4 doesn’t do anything to subvert expectations here.
The phone runs on Android Go (as did its predecessors) – the stripped back version of Android designed to run on more modest hardware. Speaking of hardware, the 1.4’s heart – a Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 chip – remains unchanged from last year’s Nokia 1.3, paired with 1GB (or 2GB or 3GB – market dependant) of RAM, 16GB (or 32GB or 64GB – market dependant) of storage and microSD expandability (up to 128GB).
Its budget nature means the phone still sports older connection types, for better (like its 3.5mm headphone jack) or worse (microUSB in place of newer USB-C), however, the biggest talking point is the phone’s reworked camera system.
Unlike the 1.3, this new entry in the 1 series more obviously embraces the brand’s current Nordic design language; with a circular rear camera module that plays host to two sensors (up from one on the Nokia 1.3). The primary rear 8Mp snapper is this time joined by a secondary 2Mp macro sensor, while a more gradual ‘dewdrop’ notch at the top of the phone’s 6.51in display accommodates a 5Mp front-facing snapper.
While the 1.4 runs on the Android 10-based version of Android Go at launch, HMD Global has confirmed that the phone is Android 11-ready and will receive an update in due course. The company’s signature promise of at least three years of security updates looks set to continue on the 1.4 too.
Here’s the Nokia 1.4’s full spec rundown:
- 6.51in 20:9 HD+ IPS LCD
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 215
- 16GB/32GB/64GB internal storage
- microSD expandable up to 128GB
- 1GB/2GB/3GB RAM
- 8Mp primary camera
- 2Mp secondary macro camera
- 5Mp front-facing camera
- Fingerprint sensor
- Dedicated Google Assistant button
- Android Go Edition (based on Android 10)
- FM radio
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- Bluetooth 4.2
- Micro USB
- 4000mAh battery
- 166.42mm x 76.72mm x 8.7mm
- 178 grams
- Colours: Charcoal, Dusk, Fjord
The Nokia 1.4 is available across Europe from 3 February, costing €99, while it’ll land in the UK in mid-March, priced at £89.99.