Nokia 5.4 review: Striking design, clutter-free UI the only saving grace

 

Nokia is one of the last few brands that are still selling smartphones based on Android One platform in India. For the uninitiated, Android One is a family of Android smartphones powered by stock versions of Android with a focus on Google services. That said, the Nokia smartphones often come with an up-to-date Android operating system that has advertisement-free vanilla user interface and no pre-installed bloatware.

The Nokia 5.4, a new midrange smartphone from Finnish technology start-up HMD Global, which owns the Nokia brand, is banking on the Android One and select creator-centric imaging features. Priced Rs 13,999 onwards, the smartphone, however, seems to lag peers in price-to-specifications ratio. But how does it work out in real-life usage? Let’s find out:

Design and Display

The Nokia 5.4 has a striking design, with Nordic colour-themed (polar night – review unit) curved back cover. Made of plastic, the back cover has a glossy gradient profile. It looks good but easily gets smudges and fingerprint marks, and is prone to scratches. Thankfully, the phone comes with a transparent TPU cover, which makes the phone look bulky but protects the back cover from unwanted smudges, fingerprint marks and scratches. Speaking of size, the phone is neither big nor small. It has comfortable ergonomics with lightweight build for ease of use. The phone has a camera bump on the back but it does not protrude much from the frame. Therefore, the camera bump mixes well with the phone’s design language and looks like a part of the overall package. Besides the camera module, the phone’s rear side houses a capacitive fingerprint sensor, which is quick to unlock the phone and works better compared to in-screen fingerprint sensors that are common in other midrange phones.

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