Nokia 3 review: The Nokia 3 is cheap and you'll know it

The Nokia 3 is the lowest-end of Nokia's new line of Android phones. It's on sale in the UK for £120, but you will have to make sacrifices for that price. That converts to $156 or AU$200, although Nokia has no plans to bring the phone to the US.

6.4

Nokia 3

$249 at Amazon

The Good

The Android-based Nokia 3 is dirt-cheap, looks good and is comfortable to hold in one hand.

The Bad

Its lack of power makes using the phone sluggish and frustrating.

The Bottom Line

The Nokia 3 sacrifices too much processing power to achieve its low price. You’re better off spending a bit more on the Motorola Moto G5.

The biggest problems are in the processor performance. The quad-core chip struggles to run even the stock version of Android Nougat, making swiping around the interface sluggish and stuttery. There's a noticeable delay when opening apps, too, and some apps -- including the Google Play store -- forced quit on several occasions. I found it regularly frustrating.

The design of the phone is lovely, though, with a slim body and narrow bezel, making it compact enough to hold in one hand. The 5-inch display's 720p resolution is sufficient to clearly showcase the essentials, although it's neither bright nor bold, so don't buy this phone hoping to show off your holiday snaps at their best.

Speaking of snaps, the 8-megapixel camera is fine for some quick photos in the park on a bright day, but it lacks the vibrant colours or exposure balance of pricier camera phones. The HDR mode does a decent job of lightening up some of the shadows, but even then you won't get results you'll want to do more with than simply slap on Facebook. It's very grainy in low-light, although the 8-megapixel front-facing camera takes some crisp selfies.

The battery lasted about 10 hours on our rundown test, which is distinctly average. That said, if you're only using the basics of Whatsapp and email throughout the day, then you shouldn't struggle to get a day of use out of it. Keep the screen brightness down and Wi-Fi turned off if you want to eke out the hours.

Don't buy the Nokia 3 if you're a regular smartphone user wanting to play games and take Instagram-worthy photos throughout the day. You'd be better off splashing a bit more cash and going for the excellent Moto G5.

Do buy the Nokia 3 if you want the basics of email, phone calls and a spot of Whatsapp and don't want to drain much of your bank account to get it.