Nokia thinks the new Nokia 8.3 5G solves the 3 biggest problems with 5G

There are three major reasons why people don’t switch to 5G, according to Nokia – which, of course, it thinks it has solved with its new Nokia 8.3 5G handset.

At the handset’s unveiling this week, HMD Global’s chief product officer, Juho Sarvikas, claimed that the three biggest reasons people aren’t upgrading to 5G at the moment are the cost, the lack of coverage, and whether faster data speeds are necessary.

So does the Nokia 8.3 5G really answer these questions?

Cost

Nokia thinks the prohibitive cost of 5G is the main factor putting most people off.

Some handsets are just ludicrously expensive – take the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra starting at £1199, for instance – and the vast majority of 5G phones at this stage are still true flagships.

But the Nokia 8.3 5G is surprisingly affordable, with a far more reasonable starting price of €599 (~£550), so that’s a definite win for the brand and will allow more consumers to try it out.

Though, sorry Nokia, Xiaomi actually got there first with its €599 Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G last year.

Coverage

The second problem is a lack of coverage.

On the one hand that’s more of an issue with networks that haven’t yet rolled out 5G to all areas of the country, or even uniformly in cities where it as been introduced. But on the other side of the coin is devices that do not cater for the full spectrum of 5G radio bands.

In response to this issue, Sarvikas announced that “the Nokia 8.3 5G also features the highest number of 5G New Radio bands from 600MHz all the way up to 3.8GHz – meaning it is a truly global and future-proof device”.

This is a very promising step, especially from a mid-range device.

Convenience

The final problem is that consumers are asking themselves whether this new standard of mobile data is actually worth the fuss − in other words, whether the speed will actually change their day-to-day lives.

Frankly, the only solution to this is for users to try it out for themselves, and to see first-hand whether the near-instantaneous download speeds and extra features like AR will make a meaningful change to their lives.

But put together with the previous two points, the Nokia 8.3 clearly makes 5G more accessible than it was previously, and gives more consumers a greater opportunity to get to grips with it and be able to try it out for themselves.

Overall, the Nokia 8.3 5G does go some way to redressing the balance and could help push 5G to becoming even more popular in this crucial year where we expect to see it spread far further than ever before.