A luxury Nokia flagship you might actually want to buy.

[ad_1] Andrew Hoyle/CNET The Nokia 8 may have been a decent all-rounder, but it didn’t have the visual pizzazz that a flagship needs. With the 8 Sirocco, Nokia seems to have learned its lesson. This new flagship may share the same numeral as its predecessor, but it’s a more visually exciting creature. The 5.5-inch display […]

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Andrew Hoyle/CNET

The Nokia 8 may have been a decent all-rounder, but it didn’t have the visual pizzazz that a flagship needs. With the 8 Sirocco, Nokia seems to have learned its lesson.

This new flagship may share the same numeral as its predecessor, but it’s a more visually exciting creature. The 5.5-inch display stretches to all sides of the phone, curving gently at the edges to meet a stainless steel frame. The glass back curves too. Sure, it makes it look a bit like a Galaxy S8, but that’s no bad thing. The Sirocco looks and feels like the premium device the Nokia 8 should have been all along.

It’s not just the design that’s worth your attention. The display has a 2K resolution. It’s also running a powerful Qualcomm 835 processor and comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. There’s wireless charging too, and it’s waterproof to a depth of 1 metre for up to 30 minutes.

There’s two cameras on the back: A regular 12-megapixel one and a telephoto 13-megapixel one for zoomed-in shots. The front camera might only be 5 megapixels, but Nokia says that the sensor is physically much larger, so those megapixels can take in much more light, resulting in better-looking photos overall. We’ll be putting that to the test soon.

It runs Android Oreo software — specifically, the Android One version,a clean version of the software that has none of the manufacturer tweaks you’ll find on most top-end handsets.

Overall, the Sirocco is shaping up to be an exciting flagship phone, but it remains to be seen whether it’s worth the steep 749 euro price tag (that’s around £660 or $925. It’ll officially sell for AU$1,199 in Australia). It’s due to hit stores in Europe this April. US availability is yet to be announced.