Nokia smartphone comIng

The anticipated Nokia smartphones are finally coming to Malaysia. HMD Global, the company behind the revival has sent out invites for a Malaysian launch that’s happening in less than two weeks from now.

They will be introducing 3 smartphones in Malaysia – Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6, that were announced earlier this year.

Nokia 6

The Nokia 6 is currently their top of the line offering with a 5.5″ Full HD display and a pair of speakers enhanced with Dolby Atmos. It gets a 2.5D glass on top while the body is crafted from a single block of 6,000 series aluminium.

It runs on a Snapdragon 430 processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage. There’s also a special Nokia 6 R edition that comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage along with a glossy black colour. In terms of optics, it gets a 16MP main camera and an 8MP selfie shooter with Auto Focus. It is powered by a 3,000mAh battery and it runs on Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box.

Nokia 5

Going down a notch is the Nokia 5 which gets a 5.2″ HD 720p display. It also runs on a Snapdragon 430 processor but with 2GB RAM and 16GB of storage. Like the Nokia 6, it is also made of 6,000 series aluminium for a more upmarket feel.

The Nokia 5 gets a 13MP main camera and a front-facing 8MP selfie shooter. The battery capacity remains unchanged with a 3,000mAh unit and it also runs on Android 7.0 Nougat.

Nokia 3

For the entry level segment, the Nokia 3 comes with a modest 5″ HD 720p display and under the hood it runs on a MediaTek 6737 processor. It comes with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage while the cameras are bumped down to an 8MP main camera and an 8MP front shooter. The battery is a notch down too with a 2,650mAh capacity.

According to earlier speculation, the Nokia 6 could be priced at RM899 while the higher-spec Nokia 6R is priced at RM1,299. There’s no mention of the Nokia 3310 in the official invite but there’s a chance that this throwback device could be making an appearance.

Moto G5 plus

Lenovo Malaysia has dropped a note to us that a Moto event is taking place on 29 May 2017. Following the release of its Moto M smartphone earlier this year, we believe this is likely to be the launch of the Moto G5 Plus which was introduced during MWC 2017.

The Moto G lineup has been Motorola’s popular mid-range series and it’s now in its 5th generation with the G5 and G5 Plus. Among the two models, the G5 Plus is the device that you should be looking out for. It gets a 5.2″ Full HD IPS display and a unibody metal design.

Under the hood, it runs on a frugal 14nm 2.0GHz Snapdragon 625 processor and there are different spec options depending on the region. The G5 Plus comes with up to 4GB RAM along with storage options up to 32GB. You can expand storage via microSD up to 256GB.

At the rear, it gets a 12MP f/1.7 main camera with Dual Autofocus Pixels which Lenovo says it is the most advanced in its class. Meanwhile, the front gets a 5MP f/2.2 selfie shooter. Unlike the Moto M, the fingerprint sensor is placed at the front underneath its display. Keeping the phone ticking is a 3,000mAh battery that comes with TurboPower fast charging. A quick 15-minute charge claims to be sufficient to provide 6 hours of usage.

The Moto G5 Plus had passed our Malaysian SIRIM certification in January this year and we expect it to be priced slightly above RM1,100 when it goes on sale. If the Moto M isn’t your cup of tea, the Moto G5 Plus could be the mid-range device you’re looking for. As expected, it runs on Android 7.0 Nougat with a stock Android experience. Interestingly, Lenovo Malaysia has submitted several new devices for certification ahead of its official launch. This even includes a phone with the model number XT1710-09 which appears to be the upcoming Moto Z2 Play.

Samsung’s Galaxy S8 is the world’s first phone with Bluetooth 5.0

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is a milestone for smartphones. It has an unbelievable screen, incredible specs and a body to die for. But those are just the headlining features. If you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that this phone has yet another first.

Bluetooth 5.0.

Those of you who watched MKBHD’s first impressions video would probably have noticed it, but it hasn’t seen that much coverage so far. Samsung’s Galaxy S8 is indeed the first phone ever to feature Bluetooth 5.0 technology.

Bluetooth on most outgoing phones currently are Bluetooth 4.2, a standard that was first announced about three years ago. With Bluetooth 5.0, things have been improved significantly. First up, this new standard is twice as fast as its predecessor with about four times the range. It’s also more robust, allowing Bluetooth 5.0 devices — like the Galaxy S8 and S8+ — to push audio to two separate wireless headphones at the same time, for example.

Although it gets a significant boost in speed, transfer speeds are still not going to be as fast as WiFi direct, so you’d be better of sharing files with WiFi direct instead.

Still, this is an interesting piece tech that, thanks to the incredible about of awesome things on the Galaxy S8, actually got buried and removed from the headlines.