Unboxing of the Nokia Media Streamer

With the growing popularity of the OTT segment and the convenience of viewing popular shows and movies on demand, there has been an uptake in the adoption of streaming devices. Apart from the Nokia smart TVs, a natural step for Flipkart must have been to offer something for the value shoppers who wish to turn their non-smart TVs into smart TVs, and that is where the Nokia Media Streamer came into the picture. It was launched about a month ago and is currently available at a discounted rate of ₹ 3199 (€37, $43).

Thanks to Flipkart, as they were kind enough to give us the Nokia Media Streamer for a review. Moving ahead with the purpose of this article, let me take you through the unboxing of the Nokia Media Streamer.

Appearance of the Box

The front of the box showcases the Nokia Media Streamer and its remote control, alongside the Nokia branding, product branding, and the Google Assistant logo. It has a similar appearance to the recently revamped box that you get for your phones from Nokia Mobile (HMD Global) or for your audio products from Nokia (RichGo Technology). It could mean that the brand licensees of Nokia need to follow a similar design for their retail boxes.

Anyway, to the left, you will find a brief ‘What’s in the box?’ list, and to the right, the highlights of the main features of the streaming device. The backside mentions the steps to set up your Nokia Media Streamer. The top has all the manufacturing, customer care, and pricing details, while the bottom is left blank.

Opening the Box

The box opens from the top. On breaking the Nokia printed seal, you will find three separate and removable compartments, which are packed quite tightly, thus leaving almost no space to get them out. Also, to get the first look at the Nokia Media Streamer, I had to remove the other two boxes as I could not get my grip on the section carrying the device on the first try at all. Inside all the three white compartments, you will find most of the contents in black color.

Nokia Media Streamer – First Sight

Starting with the section that holds the Nokia Media Streamer. It is a hard sponge-like case with a cardboard as the base, and has a cut out in the middle where it holds the media streamer. The Nokia Media Streamer comes only in the black color and weighs about 39 g. Overall, it has a smooth matte touch with the Nokia logo embossed on the top and the product label at the bottom. The device is thicker at the center than it is at the edges. It has curvature on all fronts. What I intend to say is that it is curved at the top, the bottom, the edges, and the sides as well. It roughly measures about 6 cm in length and width, while just over 1 cm in depth. The Nokia Media Streamer hosts two ports, i.e., the micro-USB cable goes in at one end while the HDMI cable connects in from the opposite end. The HDMI port has the company of the power indicator to its left and the reset to its right. Also, a double-sided adhesive tape is included in the box, which will prove useful to stick the Nokia Media Streamer to your TV in case the HDMI cable falls short of the tabletop.

The Nokia Media Streamer is powered by Android TV 9.0 and comes with a full HD resolution of 1920*1080 (HDR) at 60 frames per second. It packs in a 1.2 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor, a Mali 450 GPU, 1 GB of RAM (DDR), and 8 GB of ROM (eMMC). It also provides dual-band WiFi support for 2.4 GHz/5 GHz with 2*2 MIMO (multi I/O) antennas for better reception. It comes with a built-in Bluetooth 4.2 and Dolby Digital Audio, even for the non-Dolby enabled TVs. The built-in Chromecast will help you stream the content directly from your smartphone, tablet, or laptop.

Remote Control

Moving to the next section, which carries the voice-controlled remote control and two AAA batteries (1.5 V each). The remote control has non-rubber buttons and does not complicate things much as it avoids having too many buttons. At the top, you will find the power button and the Google Assistant button with the mic and the power indicator placed vertically in between the buttons. Next comes the OK and the navigation buttons arranged concentrically, followed by the back/exit, home, and apps button in the next row. Subsequently, you will find the volume button and the Netflix and ZEE5 hotkeys in the next rows. The last button is for muting the audio. Also, there is a Nokia branding at the end.

With an easy slide over the case at the back, you will find the space for inserting two AAA batteries. The remote control is 15 cm long and over 3.5 cm wide. The base is not flat but curved, which gives a firm grip on the remote control, but it also means that when placed on a smooth surface, the ceiling fan is enough to rotate the remote control. Even the media streamer device has this ability if it is placed upside down, but that should not be a thing to worry about since the connection cables will not allow it to do so.

Power Adapter and Cables

The third section packs the power adapter, HDMI cable, and the micro-USB + IR receiver cable. The power adapter has an output of 5 W and is narrower at the cable insertion end. The HDMI cable is about 25 cm in length, and the pins have translucent protective covers around them. The micro-USB pin has two ends, of which one goes to the power adapter while the other end has an IR receiver. Both the ends can extend up to 1.5 m.

User Manual

Lastly, you will find a user manual that will probably make the setup of the media streamer easy or difficult, whichever you like. The user manual starts with the safety instructions and takes you through all the information regarding the connection, setup, settings, features, troubleshooting, and ends with the warranty terms and conditions. The Nokia Media Streamer comes with a warranty period of one year, commencing from the date of purchase.

Full Box Contents

That is all from the unboxing part. I will explore the Nokia Media Streamer in the coming weeks and will try to test it on all fronts. However, if you have anything in particular that you would want me to test on the media streamer, feel free to drop in your comment below.