Nokia 7 plus review

Competition

It's the full package, this Nokia 7 plus - it's got all the right bits and pieces for someone looking to get as much as possible of the flagship experience, without shelling out flagship money.

There are a few of those on the market, though. The Honor View 10 quickly springs to mind. It's a bit more expensive, but Huawei's put its high-end chipset in it, as well as the 20MP black and white camera from the top tier models.

The Xperia XA2 Ultra goes for about the same price as the Nokia 7 plus but comes with a single camera and a slower chipset. The Xperia's old-school 16:9 6-inch display offers more screen estate than the 18:9 7 plus and, actually, the Ultra has better battery life despite that. It's heavy though.

If there's one trend the Nokia 7 plus is behind on, it's notches. Well, the Oppo R15 can satisfy that craving of yours, for a few extra bills. No 2x zoom on the R15, however, and ColorOS is diametrically opposed to the 7 plus' pure Android.

You could say the same about Samsung's Experience on the Galaxy A8 (2018), but it remains a fine phone. It's got a smaller display, but it is AMOLED, and battery life is better than on the Nokia despite the smaller battery. Only a single camera sits on the A8's back, but the phone is IP68-rated, unlike the Nokia.

Huawei Honor View 10 • Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra • Oppo R15 • Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)

Verdict

The Nokia 7 plus leaves the office much like it entered it - without much fuss. We found no issues with it, it cruised through the tests, it delivered in all key areas.

Pros

• Solidly built and good-looking, has the Nokia badge
• Latest OS version as soon as Google puts it out
• Dependable battery life, quick top-ups
• All-round good camera, usable 2x zoom

Cons

• For all its timely updates, vanilla Android is quite barebones
• Display could be brighter

Some phones stand out for all the wrong reasons, others have one or two defining features, but not much else about them. The Nokia 7 plus is a third type - one of those quietly good all-rounders that don't get us all hyped-up and excited, but are the ones we recommend to a friend as the sensible option. The world needs those too.