Friends+Design
- Fantastic design, with high-end detailing - like Nokia's other recent phones, it look extremely classy in an understated, minimalist way - it also feels smooth in the hand and is all curves and soft aluminium - and the colours aren’t reflective and shiny: they’re matte anodised and stylish - Nokia’s sense of minimalist design is up there with the best - in fact, many would find this a nicer looking handset than many more much pricier handsets
- As well as looking like a high-end smartphone, the Nokia 5.1 feels comfortable in the hand thanks to curved edges, and the 18:9 aspect ratio provides a larger display without being too unwieldy
- The fingerprint scanner on the rear of the smartphone is very quick to unlock
- The tall 18:9 Gorilla Glass 3-coated screen is pretty nice IPS panel, with a decent contrast ratio, decent sunlight legibility, and high resolution
Software
- The key draw of the Nokia 5.1 of course is that it's part of the Android One series - that means you get pure stock Android, along with a promise of updates for 2 years
Performance
- Not the best performing phone in this price bracket - the Helio P18 is similar to the Snapdragon 450 - and therefore slightly better than last year’s Nokia 5, which was powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 - but not as powerful as the fastest phones in this price bracket - while daily performance is just fine, heavy games will definitely tend to struggle
Camera
- Decent rear camera - takes decent snaps with good details - colours tend to be a bit off though - and its not quite as good as the rear camera of the Moto G6
- Low light performance is pretty ordinary - pictures come out dark, and details are soft
- The front camera too is rather average
Battery
- Battery life could have been better - its a downgrade from the Nokia 5 - and while it will usually last you the day with moderate use, there are definitely phones in this price bracket with much better battery life
More
- Overall, as it turns out, the beauty of the Nokia 5.1 is somewhat skin deep - both performance and battery life are a bit of a letdown - unless you really value the design above all else, you may be better off looking at other devices in this price bracket
