Nokia 5.1 Plus (Nokia X5) smartphone - advantages and disadvantages

2018 turned out to be rich in new items in the world of mobile devices. Nokia also did not stand aside - for those who remain true to their habits, but want to purchase a fresh, productive and nimble smartphone in 2018, it released the Nokia 5.1 Plus model, or, as it is also called, Nokia X5. Taking it in hand, you will certainly experience déjà vu, and what it is connected with, as well as much more - we will tell you in our review of the Nokia 5.1 Plus (Nokia X5) smartphone - advantages and disadvantages, technical characteristics, average price are presented in the article.

The presentation of the device took place on July 11, 2018 in China, while in Russia the device was announced quite recently - on August 21, 2018. Therefore, if you are not asking questions “how to choose a device”, “which company is better to take” or “which model is better to buy”, and also clearly aimed at Nokia X5 - our review will be very useful to you.

Technical parameters of Nokia X5

The device comes with Android 8.0 operating system out of the box. True, there are rumors about Android 8.1 Oreo with a further update to Android P.

The body of the smartphone is made of aluminum and glass. The device weighs only 162 grams, and its dimensions are 71.98 * 149.51 * 8.096 mm, the aspect ratio is 19: 9. At the same time, the diagonal of the IPS screen is quite large - 5.86 inches.

The resolution of stars from the sky is not enough, but quite decent - 1520 * 720 mm. The smartphone screen practically does not glare in the sun, it has a sufficient supply of brightness.

The smartphone supports dual sim technology - the ability to install 2 SIM cards that will work alternately.

As for the filling, it is represented by the MediaTek Helio P60 processor with 8 cores with a frequency of 1.8 MHz. It is assumed that with such indicators, the performance will be relatively high and the smartphone is quite suitable for active games. The processor will be complemented by an ARM Mali-G72 MP3 GPU video accelerator.

Moreover, despite the budget, the manufacturer positions the device as a gaming one. This is possible thanks to the processor, which was created as a competitor to the gaming Snapdragon 660.

What the sound will be in the device remains a mystery today. But, the smartphone will accurately support the FM radio module.

Three different configurations of the device's RAM and internal memory will also be presented:

• 3/32 GB;
• 4/64 GB;
• 6/64 GB.

These are quite good figures for a budget smartphone, although I would like to have more internal memory in the latest version with 6 GB of RAM.

On the plus side, it is worth noting the possibility of installing a built-in storage, up to 400 GB.
The main camera has a resolution of 13 + 5 million pixels, aperture F / 2, autofocus is present. The maximum image size is 4128 * 3096. The selfie camera has 8 million pixels and an aperture of F / 2.2, the pictures will be taken with a resolution of 3264 * 2448.

In case you plan to use the X5 for photography, information on how this unit takes pictures will be useful to you.

An example of a photo taken during the day can be seen below:

How he photographs at night is well illustrated in the following shots:

Unfortunately, here we can note the complete professional unsuitability of the camera for night shooting and shooting in low light conditions. Focusing often misses and the central subject is blurred, sharpness is also insufficient.

The main camera does a good job of blurring the background, creating a bokeh effect. At first glance, portraits look professional enough, as if they were taken with a professional camera. However, if you take a closer look, it becomes obvious that the transition from the outline of the object to the background remains blurred, important details are blurred.

However, it is really a sin to complain. The manufacturer should be grateful for the introduction of this technology, since this function does not work perfectly in the Apple iPhone X, but it costs ten times more. By the way, the design of Nokia X5 is extremely close to the flagship from Apple and in appearance, which is one back panel and a monobrow.

The smartphone shoots video in 4K format, with a resolution of 1080 Full-HD, classic 30 frames per second. The video format is 1920 * 1080. It turns out to be quite decent, if, again, we are not talking about shooting in poor lighting.

The rechargeable battery is a bit weak, 3060 mAh, but how it will show itself in practice will be seen later. In the meantime, autonomy is questionable for Nokia users. Charging will be done via a modern standard USB Type-C connector.

The smartphone supports all modern communication standards 3G, 4G LTE, as well as Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2 and GPS / GLONASS.

Summing up, we can say that the functionality and indicators are more or less normal, especially for a state employee.

For convenience, below will be a summary table with all the main technical characteristics of the Nokia 5.1 Plus smartphone:

Smartphone appearance

The device will be available in three basic colors - black, blue and white. All three cases will be matte.

The smartphone looks quite stylish, confident and modern in places. But there are also a number of rough edges, which is obviously due to the low price.

So, the screen frames turned out to be too thick for a modern smartphone in 2019. After deducting these, the display takes up only 84% of the screen. But, budget devices are also budget ones in order to suffer from flaws.

The Nokia logo is localized in the lower field of the display. At the top, there is an excessively wide, but already traditional monobrow. It contains a front camera, various sensors and an earpiece.

The screen is made of tempered glass - Gorilla Glass 3, with a 2.5D rounding around the edges.

The back panel is also made of glass. Why this was done is not very clear, because because of this, the phone is no longer so reliable, rather rather fragile. Usually, glass back technology is applied if the smartphone has wireless charging function. Which, alas, are still deprived of inexpensive devices and, in particular, Nokia 5.1 Plus.

On the back cover there is a protruding dual module, oriented vertically, it houses a rear camera and a two-color LED flash.

Below is a fingerprint scanner and a vertical Nokia logo.

It should be noted that the smartphone also has another function - face recognition - Face Unlock, which is very cool for an inexpensive model.

The edges of the smartphone are rounded. There are additional buttons on the sides. On the right is the volume rocker, on the left is the SIM card tray. By the way, the tray for SIM cards is combined - a memory card is also installed there.

In a word, the Nokia 5.1 Plus (Nokia X5) smartphone turned out to be specific and not everyone will like it. Therefore, if you plan to order such a device on the Internet, do not be lazy and first go to test and hold the X5 in your hands in a regular hardware store.

The cost of Nokia 5.1 Plus

The price announced at the presentation in China was $ 120-150, however, when the smartphone went on sale, it turned out to be slightly higher. However, not essential - $ 150-210, depending on the amount of memory. It is quite obvious that the smartphone will fulfill this cost in full, because the devices from Nokia are distinguished by their reliability and quality.

While the smartphone is not on sale, it is difficult to say something definite about the price in Russia. Right now, you can go to the Yandex.Market service, type in the name of the model and subscribe, which will allow you to be one of the first to find out how much a smartphone costs - when it goes on sale.

The service will allow you to profitably purchase a novelty, because all prices from stores are collected there. But, be careful, and, be sure, check out the reviews and ratings of the sellers. This will avoid misunderstandings in case you want to return the smartphone due to breakage or some other reason.

If you don't want to wait, you can already find a rating of high-quality Nokia smartphones, where the most popular models will be presented, and choose something from them. The manufacturer produces many devices in different price segments, there really is plenty to choose from.

Device complete set

In addition to the Nokia 5.1 Plus smartphone itself (Nokia X5), in a standard colorful branded box, you will find in the kit:

• 10 W charger;
• USB cable (Type-C), cord length - medium;
• Headphones (standard jack, 3.5 mm);
• Key to the tray for SIM-cards;
• Documentation.

User reviews

Our review is based on the videos of foreign video bloggers specializing in the topic of mobile devices, since reviews of Russian owners simply do not exist yet.
However, the information received is enough to get a full picture of the device and highlight its specific pros and cons.

Advantages:

• Affordable price;
• Large selection of configurations in terms of RAM and built-in memory;
• You can expand the amount of memory using removable media;
• Modern "hardware" in the filling of the phone;
• Nice rear view due to glass cover;
• Bright screen with rich colors;
• Excellent viewing angles;
• Simple and intuitive interface;
• Convenient size due to correct aspect ratio;
• Smoothly switches between running applications and does not slow down;
• You can install two SIM cards;
• Budget gaming smartphone;
• Face recognition;
• Thanks to the dual camera, high quality daytime photos are obtained;
• The front camera can blur the background and connect various interesting features thanks to artificial intelligence.

Disadvantages:

• “Skinny battery” - its capacity will obviously be lacking, especially if you use the device for heavy games;
• Slightly outdated design;
• The back panel can easily break, while this design solution does not carry a semantic load;
• The glass panel is highly susceptible to fingerprints, so it looks almost constantly stained;
• Wireless charging not supported;
• The camera shoots poorly in limited lighting conditions;
• The combined tray for SIM cards and memory cards is not very convenient.

The smartphone is perfect for everyone, whatever the selection criteria. There are only one condition - you should not be confused by its somewhat ill-conceived and outdated appearance. This goes for the front panel - a large monobrow and wide edges.Paradoxically, once it was Nokia that dictated the fashion of mobile devices.

Otherwise, if you want to use it for games, calls, for watching videos and surfing the Internet, for non-professional photos - you can safely take it and you are guaranteed not to regret this purchase.

The popularity of Nokia models among users is beyond doubt, because this brand has always been and remains a guarantee of quality.