HMD Global unveils the €99 Nokia 2 with Snapdragon 212 and 4100mAh battery

HMD Global unveiled the Nokia 8 a few months ago and more recently the Nokia 7, but the Finnish manufacturer is once again turning its attention to the entry-level segment with the Nokia 2. The Nokia 2 is positioned below the Nokia 3, and is the most affordable Android-based handset rolled out by HMD yet.

The phone will be available in global markets starting mid-November for an average selling price of €99.

Before we get started with the device, a quick look at HMD Global's journey: after licensing the Nokia brand eleven months ago, HMD released eleven phones globally (including five feature phones), and the brand is active in over 80 countries.

Coming to the Indian market, HMD is assembling devices locally thanks to its partnership with Foxconn. By the end of the year, HMD is looking to get its phones into 100,000 stores. That's an ambitious goal, but one that should be achievable given Nokia's brand cachet in the country.

HMD Global's focus has been predominantly in the budget segment, a category the manufacturer feels is underserved. That's the premise of the Nokia 2 — a phone with Nokia's unique design language backed by a huge battery that promises two-battery life.

Nokia 2

The Nokia 2 is the first Android phone to be powered by the Snapdragon 212 platform. The chipset is built on the 28nm node, and offers four 1.3GHz Cortex A7 cores. Qualcomm says that there are two billion feature phone in the world, with the Snapdragon 212 aimed at those looking to make the switch to a smartphone for the first time.

The Nokia 2 doesn't look particularly strong when it comes to the specs, offering just 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. That said, HMD Global has shown that it is great at optimizing its budget devices, so we'll reserve judgement until we use the Nokia 2 for an extended duration of time.

Other details include a massive 4100mAh battery, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, and dual SIM connectivity along with LTE and VoLTE.

While the Nokia 2 doesn't have a lot going for it in terms of raw hardware, the design is a cut above what you'd normally find in this segment. The phone is milled out of 6000 series aluminum, just like its costlier siblings. HMD says that the 5-inch 720p panel is the best in this category.

On the software front, the Nokia 2 is running Android 7.1.2 Nougat, and HMD says Oreo will be rolling out to the device "shortly."

What do you guys think of the Nokia 2?

Harish Jonnalagadda
Senior Editor - Asia

Harish Jonnalagadda is a Senior Editor overseeing Asia at Android Central. He leads the site's coverage of Chinese phone brands, contributing to reviews, features, and buying guides. He also writes about storage servers, audio products, and the semiconductor industry. Contact him on Twitter at @chunkynerd.

12 Comments
  • "The Nokia 2 is the first device to be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 212 platform." It's not actually the first device with that soc, lumia 650 had it. Maybe you mean android device?
  • Yeah that's what I was going for. Updated the article.
  • Why would anyone possible pay 7k for a phone with 1gig or RAM when u have so many alternatives from MI and Lenovo
  • I'm more worried about 8GB of ROM - when all system apps get updated there will be no storage space for anything. Can you use SD card for app storage on Nougat and Oreo? On Andorid 6 it didn't work well nor help much...
  • Yes. You have adaptive storage on the Nokia phones. It's still a bad idea to get a 8GB phone though. When it gets 8.0 it'll pretty much require the phone to be completely wiped out.
  • I weep for my lumias. Best hardware, squandered by a nitwit, who has no clue about mobile.
  • Nokia/HMD seems to be making the same mistake Nokia did during the Windows Phone era: Too many devices at the same time. There's no way it can keep the pace with support and software upgrades. The Nokia brand is not strong enough to compete that way.
  • Err? Are you for real? Nokia, who made 3 OS by themselves, cannot provide basic driver support to Android??? In addition, when did that ever stop anyone else. 99% of Android devices can't either.
  • So this is the original Moto G 2013 edition with 2017 spec? Lol
  • I was thinking the same thing. It pretty much matches that old Moto G spec for spec. Though I do have fond memories of my old G. Was my first Smart phone and served me well for about a year.
  • 8GB ROM???? In today's day and age when 8GB RAM is easily available in mid range devices, 8GB Rom even fire a budget device, is a disgrace.
  • Your comment is a disgrace but you're still allowed to make it.