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    5G support, Snapdragon 735 SoC & more: Nokia 8.2 could be this year's last premium smartphone

    Synopsis

    HMD is yet to reveal the exact specs and pricing of the new Nokia 8.2.

    Truth be told, we're tired of all the me-too smartphone designs in the market. Which is why some of the new launches from the Mobile World Congress came as such a breath of fresh air. Karan Bajaj rounds up some of his favourites from the show.
    The Nokia 8.2, which was initially rumoured to come in two variants – 4G and 5G –, may ditch the older network standard entirely according to a scoop by NokiaPowerUser (NPU), the fan website. It is likely to be powered by the Snapdragon 735 SoC, and is expected to launch at the Mobile World Congress 2020, which is slated to happen in February. It was earlier reported that the Nokia 8.2 would be released in December 2019.

    The earlier generation Nokia 8.1 was unveiled in December last year, fueling speculation that the next iteration would follow a similar update timeline. NPU had initially claimed that a 4G model would be the first to hit the market, followed by the 5G variant.

    In many markets, including India, the government is still laying the groundwork for the rollout of 5G telephony, meaning that prospective buyers will have to wait to utilize the optimal performance of their new handsets.

    HMD Global, the maker of Nokia phones, is also a major player in telecom hardware, and is at the vanguard of conducting 5G trials in many countries. It confirmed plans to launch an affordable 5G smartphone in early 2020. The Nokia 8 series has been one of the premium phones in HMD’s portfolio, sitting one notch below the Nokia 9 Pureview on the totem pole.

    With other handset manufacturers offering 5G on their flagship models, it is only natural that the Nokia 8.1’s successor will get 5G support. However, many loyalists will be confounded if HMD did indeed scrap a 4G variant of the Nokia 8.2 that would have a marginally lower sticker price.

    Commercial trials of 5G in India might still be far away, given that cash-strapped telecom operators are grappling with payouts over thorny issues like higher levies on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) and interconnect usage charge (IUC).

    There are only a few countries where 5G has been rolled out – Germany, Finland, China, the United States and South Korea. But 5G is backwards compatible, meaning that users of 5G-compatible devices will be able to connect to networks running on the earlier standard.

    HMD is yet to reveal the exact specs and pricing of the new Nokia 8.2, so it remains to be seen if a 4G variant could’ve helped position it in the sub-Rs. 30,000 space. But contrary rumours are also circulating, most notably by tech tipster NokiaAnew, which claim that an early launch is possible, and that HMD is waiting for Qualcomm to formally announce the chipset to be used in the Nokia 8.2 at its Snapdragon Summit in the first week of December.


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