Android Authority praises HMD for updates, bashes the Nokia 9 PureView

A pretty balanced stack of info coming from Android Authority the last two days. Starting with a brighter note, Android Authority posted an article ranking Android OEMs in terms of delivering Android Pie updates. We all know that Nokia Mobile’s Android Pie rollout hasn’t been pushed smoothly for all Nokia devices, but most Nokia smartphones did receive the update, including the 2-year old Nokia 5 and Nokia 6.

Android Authority ranked HMD Global as the No.1 OEM in terms of updates, mentioning that they were not first to push Pie to their devices, but the speed of release and volume of devices already running Pie is something that sets HMD apart. I know some users would prefer a custom ROM over a new version of Android, but HMD’s strategy is a different one, and for better or worse, they are the only OEM for those wanting Android One experience and Nokia hardware.

You can check AA’s Update tracker here.

Nokia 9 PureView review by Android Authority was released this week, and it’s pretty bad for the device. The reviewer mentions stability problems on a system level, unusable fingerprint sensor and with a camera that gives photos that are “often spectacular, and yet also not”, which is explained in the review.

To us personally the note that AA received a unit with pre-release software was quite surprising, because pre-release software was a reason why review units aren’t given to the press, as we were told.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The author also said that he almost broke the glass of the device’s screen by pressing the fingerprint sensor.

The positive things about the phone are the design, display and Android One, per review. You can check the review in detail here. It’s also hilarious, at least to me but I do have an odd sense of humor, that the whole article can be summed up in one (or two) familiar question – “Will and when a software update be available?” – because software updates were invoked a few times in the review. AA will revisit the review if updates fix things, which is fair.

On a serious note, we were told by an HMD engineer that doing factory reset after (bigger) updates is a recommended thing to do. So if an MR (maintenance release) update didn’t fix some issues you had with your phone, factory reset might help. Don’t know why and I know we heard that long time ago and that it is a frustrating thing to do.

HMD’s CPO Juho Sarvikas responed to the review, thanking for the feedback and stating that HMD will respond to the issues. It’s also good to see HMD’s CPO interacting with the public via social media, something most companies leave to official accounts and PR agencies. We will see what actions will follow.

 

Thank you for the feedback. Few notes:
– With more users out there, we’ve seen a few camera crashes due to battery voltage drop when charge is low. We will address this
– Under the display FP sensor has limitations. We will improve the experience. We also have face unlock

— Juho Sarvikas (@sarvikas) March 13, 2019

Anyways, we can’t really say much about the 9 because it’s not available here, but if you do have a Nokia 9, tell us down below what you think about the device, the review and how overall are you satisfied with it at this early stage of 9’s release? 🙂