Friends+Design
- The Nokia 3.1 is immediately appealing because of its build quality and size - the lightly grippy flat plastic back is handsome, and the curved glass on the front running into the sides is classy for a budget phone - getting a nicely coated metal frame is also treat, and it really gives the feeling of a phone that's built to sell for twice the price - in sheer style, there is not much competition for the Nokia 3.1 in this price bracket
- The phone is also very compact - and it's just the right size for anyone who wants to be able to use their phone in one hand
- No fingerprint sensor
Display
- Good quality screen, for this price bracket - it's a 5.2-inch 18:9 display with good viewing angles and decent brightness levels
- A 5.2 inch display is definitely on the small side though, in today's world
Software
- Being an Android One device, the software is clean and simple stock Android, and will get guaranteed updates for a long time to come
Performance
- The main achilles' heel of the phone is performance - with a Mediatek MT6750 (similar to a Snapdragon 425) and 2GB of RAM at the core, you shouldn't expect very smooth performance or quick switching between apps - app opening times will be significant, and multi-tasking will be laggy - the phone will test your patience
Camera
- Average cameras - as you would expect in this price bracket - you can get ok photos in good daylight and with a steady hand, but you shouldn't expect anything more
- The cameras are also frustratingly slow at times
Audio
- Decent loudspeaker
Battery
- Decent battery life - the simple software and relatively small display ensure that you should go through a full day of use with 20% or more battery remaining
More
- The 16GB of internal storage quickly gets limiting, so you will need to use a microSD card (the saving grace is that the Nokia 3.1's SD card slot, like all modern Android phones, offers the option of adoptable storage to let you integrate that card into the system as an indistinguishable part of the internal storage)
- On the whole, while the Nokia 3.1 is a reasonably well-done phone, especially in terms of styling, battery and software - but it is let down by the performance - so if you are a heavy user with high expectations of performance, you want to look elsewhere
