HMD Skyline Evaluation: Nokia Lumia by One other Title – Uplaza

In a nutshell

The HMD Skyline is a $500 cellphone by Finnish firm HMD with a robust resemblance to the Nokia Lumia design—which was based mostly on the Nokia N9, earlier than the 17 MeeGo & SailfishOS followers remark that. Completely different from the plastic constructed previously, although, the cellphone has an aluminum body with a tempered glass panel on the again.

The show is a 6.55-inch 1080p+ pOLED panel with a 120 Hz refresh fee. And the Skyline is powered by a RB26DETT mid-range Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chip. Reminiscence choices embody 8 or 12 GB of RAM, and 128 and 256 GB storage choices.

HMD touts a “Gen 2” repairable design for the cellphone, with not solely simpler steps to exchange the primary parts, but in addition a nifty “crankshaft” screw to dislodge the glass again. Higher nonetheless, the corporate guarantees seven years of components availability by iFixIt, with all the required restore guides.
 

Can we are saying “retro design”?

The Skyline has a contemporary design, regardless of the aforementioned N9/Lumia appears. The black space within the entrance is nicely suited to the present smartphone designs, with the 6.55-inch OLED panel utilizing a lot of the out there space.

Execs:

• The Nokia N9 design remains to be updated.
• Repairable design.
• Customizable facet button.

Cons:

Across the cellphone, we discover the standard quantity rocker and energy button on the correct—with the latter integrating the fingerprint reader. The highest solely has a microphone, whereas the left includes a texturized customizable shortcut button.

On the underside, there’s a twin SIM card tray suitable with as much as a 512 GB microSD card, a USB-C port, a speaker and a single screw. It is a T3 torx screw that can be utilized to power the again glass panel up, with out forcing your manner with a suction cup and a warmth gun to unglue the again panel.

For repairs, the one cellphone we will do not forget that has a better process to exchange damaged components was the Fairphone 5, which prices €200 extra. The T3 requirement makes it straightforward sufficient to open the cellphone, with out making it too straightforward to do it accidentally, we guess.

Again to the Skyline, regardless of the relative ease of opening the cellphone for repairs, HMD charges the cellphone as IP54 for water splashes and dirt safety. At 209 grams, the cellphone is surprisingly heavy for its dimension, and whereas it feels well-built, the sharp angles on the corners make it look extra fragile to drops, one thing we had been unable to check.

The entrance is dominated by the black glass, however there may be nonetheless a border inside across the precise 6.55-inch show. In typical OLED trend, colours pop and there aren’t any points with viewing angles. Brightness, nonetheless, was a bit decrease than the 2024 crop of telephones, however the cellphone had no points with out of doors utilization.

By default, HMD units the cellphone at a conservative 60 Hz refresh fee, however there are alternatives for an adaptive mode topping at 120 Hz, and stuck settings for both 120 or 144 Hz. I’m not younger sufficient to note a distinction between 120 and 144 Hz, so until famous, the cellphone was examined with the adaptive setting.

Clear & bloatware-free Android

HMD makes use of a comparatively clear Android set up on the Skyline, with solely 5 third-party apps pre-installed, but in addition solely 18 GB of used storage after a clear set up. Sadly, the replace coverage for the HMD Skyline tops at a slightly disappointing three years of safety updates.

Execs:

• Clear Android set up.
• Good customization choices for the shortcut button.

Cons:

As for Android updates, HMD guarantees two years of function upgrades, which is under the guarantees from Samsung and Google for the worth vary (4 and 7, respectively). That additionally takes away among the advantages of getting seven years of substitute components out there, as an HMD Skyline repaired 4 years sooner or later received’t be receiving safety updates anymore…

The Skyline comes with a black-and-white icon set that appeared good out of the field, however the consistency was gone the minute we began putting in apps.

Different HMD touches will be discovered within the Settings app, with a customized About cellphone menu that appears higher organized and extra informative than the inventory one. The menu for the customized button lets you set two totally different shortcuts, lengthy press and double press, and likewise change the conduct of double-pressing the ability button.

HMD advertises a Detox mode to have fewer notifications on the cellphone, however the function is scheduled to come back with a future software program replace.

The Digicam app additionally bought some modifications from the inventory one, with larger buttons, choices to set a personalized watermark, a spotlight peaking (just like system cameras) choice that highlights the centered areas. It additionally bought a welcome eye-tracking autofocus, which sadly solely works with the entrance digital camera.

Efficiency & SoC

Powered by the mid-range Snapdragon 7s Gen 2, the HMD Skyline is much from flagship efficiency however delivers a adequate expertise in apps and video games. The Skyline carried out equally to different telephones we examined with the identical chip however under equally priced rivals.

Execs:

• Adequate efficiency in apps and video games.

Cons:

• Decrease efficiency than telephones in the identical worth vary.

Interface navigation, web shopping, and digital camera utilization labored snappily, helped by the massive sufficient 8 GB of RAM and 120 Hz refresh fee (after turning on the elective Adaptive mode).

In benchmark assessments, the HMD Skyline was on par with the Poco X6 we reviewed a couple of weeks in the past, powered by the identical chip. The one distinction was a extra steady efficiency within the 3DMark stress check, which didn’t throttle again efficiency, however the cellphone was barely scorching to the contact.

We ran a couple of rounds of Name of Responsibility Cellular and the efficiency was surprisingly clean and steady at Excessive graphical settings and the “Very high” body fee choice. The HMD Skyline is much from a gaming cellphone, however most mainstream video games ought to run high-quality.

One facet notice that doesn’t fairly match anyplace else is that the NFC efficiency was disappointing. Though we managed to make use of it for funds, it took many tries (and indignant appears from folks in line on the grocery store). Equally, we couldn’t use it to learn an NFC tag on an AirTag or for headphone pairing, which labored high-quality with one other cellphone.

True triple digital camera setup on a mid-ranger

With correct ultra-wide and telephoto cameras, the HMD Skyline presents a digital camera selection often not present in its market section. The primary sensor presents 108 megapixels, whereas the 2x telephoto tops at 50 MP, and the ultra-wide at 13 MP.

Execs:

• Versatile digital camera setup.
• Good daylight photos typically.
• Helpful eye-tracking focus for selfies.

Cons:

It’s all the time welcome to see a real triple digital camera package with a telephoto lens as an alternative of ineffective macro or depth sensors. HMD opted to have a 2x zoom, which on paper limits choices a bit however in follow resulted in good photos.

Daylight photos had been good when it comes to particulars and sharpness from all cameras, however colours had been barely inconsistent between them and customarily a bit of muted.

The Digicam app presents as much as 20x digital zoom, however outcomes are very mushy as anticipated, even the 4x digital zoom was not likely helpful, apparently being a straight crop from the primary digital camera based mostly on the colour replica and output decision.

Evening photos—or slightly nightfall—present the bounds of the small auxiliary cameras, with blurry particulars and pale colours. The primary digital camera, nonetheless, nonetheless managed to seize good images, even with out resorting to the evening mode.

HMD apparently invested extra effort into the selfie digital camera, not solely through the use of a 50-megapixel sensor, however with changes that appeared extra pleasing when it got here to paint replica. Not solely had been the colours extra vibrant typically, however the selfie cam options an eye-detection function that mechanically focuses on folks within the foreground.

Portrait mode on the selfie digital camera additionally carried out higher than on the primary cameras, with good separation between in-focus topics and the background. Utilizing the again digital camera to {photograph} our canine Toni resulted in a bizarre blurred space in entrance of its face.

Battery Life & Charging

Whereas the battery capability on the HMD Skyline is barely common at 4600 mAh, charging is likely one of the highlights of the cellphone. No, not the slightly gradual 33W wired charging however the wi-fi one, which is Qi2 licensed.

Execs:

Cons:

Battery life with the default 60 Hz refresh fee setting was greater than sufficient for a full-day utilization. Extra frugal customers will in all probability be capable of attain two days of sunshine use.

On the PC Mark battery check which counts the time the battery went from 80 to twenty% cost below a simulated workload, the HMD Skyline bought 16h46min of runtime within the default 60 Hz display mode. Utilizing the adaptive refresh fee choice had a smaller affect than we anticipated with a great 16h10 end result.

It’s value noting that the efficiency degree on these assessments had been significantly decrease than the Poco X6 with the identical chip, which scored a slightly low 11h23. So it appears that evidently the Skyline was throttling efficiency again to attain higher runtime.

Our overview unit got here with a charging cable color-matched with the cellphone however no charger. Utilizing a 65W USB-PD adapter from Anker, we bought 61% cost in half-hour, 95% in a single hour, and a full cost at round 1h15min.

As for wi-fi charging, the Skyline labored with all of the MagSafe-compatible stands, chargers, and energy banks we had on the workplace.

The magnet (and charging coil, presumably) placement was off-center, which takes a while to get used to. And there doesn’t appear to be the additional backside magnet for alignment, so an influence financial institution received’t mechanically keep flush with the cellphone. 

Nitpicks apart, the magnets had been sturdy sufficient to maintain the cellphone on all of the stands we examined, the Anker MagGo charger, and even held the other way up by an influence financial institution.

HMD Skyline technical specs

Last verdict

There’s a lot to love in regards to the HMD Skyline, however on the identical time, it’s difficult to suggest it. HMD have to be praised for adopting a correct repair-friendly design on the Skyline—earlier makes an attempt with the Nokia G22 had been repairable, however not that a lot totally different from different entry-level telephones.

Plus, the Skyline looks like a extra premium cellphone, with a pleasant design and construct high quality, an sincere triple-camera setup, and a bloatware-free set up. Even the small touches added to the software program had been achieved in a well-integrated manner (contrasting to the modifications corporations corresponding to Sony and Motorola do over inventory Android).

Nonetheless, making the cellphone repairable and promising seven years of availability for restore components doesn’t assist if the HMD Skyline will cease receiving essential safety updates in three years. That’s much less time than telephones such because the Pixel 8a and Galaxy A55 shall be up to date, and the Google cellphone is promised to have components out there (additionally by iFixIt) for a similar seven years it should have safety updates.

The Skyline looks as if a great (re)begin for the HMD model, however the cellphone doesn’t actually excel in any of its sturdy factors, aside from Qi2 certification. Even its repairable design is bested by Fairphone’s, which has a wonderful monitor document for offering safety updates on high of that, however prices significantly extra…

After a batch of unremarkable Nokia telephones, the Skyline reveals that the corporate at the least is attempting to distinguish itself. We weren’t completely satisfied this time however are already wanting ahead to what comes subsequent.