During the Kenyan unveiling of the latest Nokia-branded devices, the Nokia 3, 5, 6 and the remake of the iconic 3310 last week, HMD Global executives were all over the place touting the device’s leg up against the competition where it mattered the most, at least to some users like your truly: updates. That Nokia-branded devices from HMD Global not only ship with the latest version of Android and the latest security update but that that will always be the case.
A quick look at the devices on offer confirmed this assertion.
Both the Nokia 5 and the Nokia 6 run on Android 7.1.1, the latest software available on most non-Google-made smartphones (because 7.1.2 has existed since April and doesn’t bring much to the table other than some fixes for issues users of Google’s Nexus and Pixel devices experienced with the release of the 7.1.1 update). The two devices also had the latest Android security patch updates (for July). Need I say they ran a clean, uncluttered version of Android?
However, as you may have noticed, one device is missing: the Nokia 3. This is because it runs on Android 7.0 and, unlike its two senior siblings, has the April patch update. Not quite the “always up to date” billing its makers are touting, is it?
According to Juho Sarvikas, the Chief Product Officer of HMD Global, the makers of the Nokia 3, things will have changed by the end of the month. “Got a few questions on this so wanted to confirm that #Nokia3 will receive 7.1.1 update by end of August,” Mr Sarvikas wrote on his Twitter page yesterday.
Pressed for further comment by user @NokianChetan, he confirmed that the update’s release will be global. That means that anyone buying the device in Kenya can expect to get the update at the end of August, just like everyone else since in our case we don’t have the aggressive policing of software updates to cater for modifications that is so common with mobile network operators in other countries/markets.
According to Google, Android 7.1.1, besides fixing the bugs found on 7.0, introduces some of the features exclusive to Googl’s Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones, which were the first to arrive running it, to other Android devices.
The Nokia 3 (see specs) is easily one of the no-brainer recommendations I would make without flinching or thinking twice. An unadulterated Android experience? Timely updates? For just Kshs 15,000? And it’s a Nokia? Sign me up!
