Perhaps the biggest selling point of the HMD-owned Nokia smartphones is their pure Android experience and the promise of rolling out Android updates as soon as they crop up. They’re great affordable alternatives to Google’s Pixel devices if you’re looking for a bloatware-free, stock Android UI. Nokia’s latest model, Nokia 2.3, offers that experience, and a promise of Android updates until 2021. And it will now be available in Pakistan, starting from December 20, 2019.
Nokia 2.3 features a polycarbonate panel on the back – a marked deviation from the ‘glass slab’ designs we’ve been seeing this whole year. The rear panel sports a nano-textured pattern and embeds a twin-camera system.
On the front, you’re looking at a 6.2-inch HD+ IPS LCD, with a thin chin showcasing Nokia’s branding. The front camera on 2.3 is housed inside a dew-drop notch, but the display doesn’t have that ‘all-screen’ feel to it, owing to its underwhelming 80.7% screen-to-body ratio.
Nestled inside the twin-camera setup of 2.3 by Nokia are a 13-megapixel primary lens and a 2-megapixel depth sensor, while the selfie camera on the front maxes out at a modest 5 MP. The rear shell is offered in Cyan Green, Sand, and Charcoal hues.
Under the hood, you get a MediaTek Helio A22 chipset, paired with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of onboard storage. If you find the storage lacking, you can expand it up to 400 GB, thanks to dedicated microSD card support. A 4,000 mAh battery powers the hardware, but it doesn’t support fast-charging.
Nokia 2.3 failed to include a fingerprint reader, so you’ll have to rely on ‘biometric face unlocking.’ Speaking of dated features, you’re looking at a micro USB port instead of a Type-C. But it does bring a dedicated Google Assistant button, not to mention AI-augmentations for better photos and battery performance.
As of now, the phone runs on Android Pie (9.0), but it is scheduled for an Android 10 upgrade soon. HMD confirmed that the phone would be eligible for software updates for the next two years, in addition to critical security patches. The phone will be available in the market starting from December 20, 2019, and will retail at a starting Nokia price of 16,999 PKR.
