Video: Android 11 Review on Nokia 8.3 5G

8.3 5G now with Android 11
8.3 5G now with Android 11

Update season is amongst us Nokia fans, with the Nokia 8.3 5G leading the charge for Android 11 (Finally!). In this video, I wanted to talk about the new and improved features in comparison with Android 10 (On the Nokia 5.4), as well as how my experience has been after almost a month of usage. You can check out the video showcasing the differences below:

Improvements

  • New animations for notification bar and app drawer
  • Notifications are more clearly separated (conversations, silent, etc) with better reply functions
  • Notification history in case you swiped on an important one (needs to be enabled from settings)
  • Chat bubbles
  • Quick access buttons now 2 rows vs 3
  • Music player controls remain at the top
  • New icons for the settings menu + darker night mode for settings
  • Bigger windows in multitasking view + new animation (annoying)
  • Screenshot option in multitasking view
  • Screenshots prompt action to share immediately
  • New screen for long-press in lock screen for switching the phone off, restart, and emergency. Also includes google pay and smart home functions
  • Native screen recorder
  • Privacy permissions have been auto reset, and you can now grant one-time access only

 

Issues

  • More stability issues than before
  • Phone app takes a few seconds to recognize contact name when receiving a call
  • Apps crash when the phone is in power-saving mode
  • The call screen sometimes get stuck on a blank page

 

Conclusion

While the new features are useful and add much-needed missing functionality to the stock android experience, they are minimal in the grand scheme of things, as has been the case with the last many… Errr.. few new Android updates. On the Nokia 8.3, the update has introduced a number of new bugs which I fully expect to be fixed soon, so the overall impression is a bit of a mixed bag. Every new update usually takes a few weeks to be ironed out, and once that is settled, this is a decent update. It won’t turn your android into a MeeGo device, but it does make things that tiny bit better as a part of the wheel of evolution.