Verdict
The HMD Skyline looks like a definitive Nokia , and has the at - home repairability of some of the Nokia phones HMD has made in recent twelvemonth . It has an unusually broad reach of feature article for the money too , include metallic element / glass build , wireless charging and a rapid climb camera . Some of the basics ca n’t touch up to its direct rivals , though : camera quality , gambling performance and ruggedization .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The HMD Skyline look like a Nokia phone . It is n’t one . But it might as well be , as HMD was the force behind Nokia headphone for year .
HMD ’s aim here is to get you constituent of high - end phone intent without spending a fortune . It ’s also a handset you may define yourself , or at least replace parts of . This is thanks to a collaboration with iFixit .
Is the phone itself any good ? The lineament of the design is safe for the money , although its erstwhile display trash technical school and lack of screen protector are inexorable . The photographic camera ’s great rapid climb is offset by pathetic low - light image quality and so - so general image caliber at time .
You also yield for the repairable flair with general chunkiness and lower battery capacity , which can be an issue on busy daytime despite the groovy efficiency of the HMD Skyline ’s ( kind of weak ) Qualcomm processor .
The HMD Skyline is an interesting phone , then , but one whose issues should make some buyers think twice at £ 399 - 499 , depending on storage and RAM storage allocation . That is more money than theSamsung Galaxy A55 5Gand ( up to ) the same as theGoogle Pixel 8a , which is better for photography .
Design
HMD is well have it off for ready phones under the Nokia streamer . But the Skyline reminds me more of one of the previous Nokia Lumia golden era handset than some of HMD ’s actual Nokia phones .
The Nokia Skyline is drained bell ringer for one of Nokia ’s Lumia earpiece , like the Lumia 800 . These were Windows phones — yep , those used to exist — that made charming use of colouring material , and often had quite a rounded feel but rather severe square - off corners . Just like the Skyline .
Those phones were also be intimate for making plastic - bodied earpiece shell feel and look quite luxurious . But HMD has n’t gone down that road . The Nokia Skyline has an aluminium mid - frame and a glass back panel .
There is no significant exercise of plastic here at all , which is in itself a winnings at £ 400 . Mid - grade phones like this have made increasing use of charge card for the rear panel or sidewalls in late years . It ’s far gimcrack than theNokia G22 , another self - repairable telephone set made by HMD .
I was surprised to see it has a relatively humble - capability 4600mAh bombardment , when a earphone this sizing might ordinarily have beyond 5000mAh . There is a well excuse , though .
The HMD Skyline is part of a little , reformist alliance of phones intend to be repairable . And that ’s repairable by the user , too , not just a verified armed service center . I ’m aboveboard impressed at how little this looks like a repairable phone . It ’s just a little chunky , because that repairability makes slimming down trickier . You ca n’t just glue everything in place .
It also ready high - end water system underground trickier . The IP54 rating quoted by HMD is limited , far low than the Pixel 8a ’s IP67 . Similarly , the glass used is Gorilla Glass 3 , a now pretty ancient standard — no doubt because it ’s cheaper than Gorilla Glass Victus or one of the intermediary generations
I have special bitch with this glass , because I ’ve manage to collapse it . This was while in my flavourless too , which does not have concrete floors or any drops . Somehow this thing snap ( fundamentally in one-half ) from waist height , and I trust the lack of plastic buffer zone stratum between the aluminium sides and the video display glass may have contributed .
The parts you could repair are the display , the rearward cover , the electric battery and charging larboard . But these are n’t actually usable ( in the UK ) at the metre of writing . A filmdom resort wo n’t derive cheap either , as the cover meth and display panel are bonded together .
claim of the lifespan of the HMD Skyline ’s surety update are unimpressive too : two major Android updates and three years of security measures updates . The message is less that the Skyline is a phone you could ( or at least should ) use for years upon class , just that your upgrade cycle wo n’t needs be speed up by a busted back or a demolish screenland .
Other aspects of the HMD Skyline ’s outer hardware are mostly ordinary too . It does n’t have a headphone old salt and , in Sony mode , the fingerprint reader is built into the side power button rather than using an in - screen detector . It ’s fairly fast , though , observably dapper than the far pricierSony Xperia 1 VI Iused beforehand .
There ’s also a “ custom ” button on the other side of the phone . you’re able to jell farseeing presses and double rap to do scores of dissimilar things , from looking at your eBay vigil list to heading directly to a specific mathematical group in WhatsApp . It ’s not just an bothersome mode to unexpectedly call up Google Assistant .
The verbaliser , predictably , are n’t remotely in the same league as a flagship telephone set ’s , though . They are rather just creditably decent for the HMD Skyline ’s mid - range status . We get stereo driver , one in the earpiece , one on the speech sound ’s bottom . Max volume is o.k. and they do n’t sound unworthy at max book , but there ’s none of the mid - range and scurvy - frequency yield that makes a earpiece speaker special , compromise as it may still be .
Screen
The HMD Skyline has a 6.55 - column inch sieve . I ’d actually assumed it was a niggling larger , just because the case ’s large size subtly directs your arithmetic mean .
This is a pOLED screen door , propose it use a sieve made by LG rather than Samsung or another competition , and its solvent is a cliche 2400 x 1080 pixels .
There ’s nothing out of the average here . The specs are just what I ’d require , and there are no onerous hardware cuts .
I was a little surprised by how HMD has come near the Skyline ’s display calibration , though . Fresh out of the box my HDM Skyline was set to a 60Hz refresh rate mode . And after note its slightly chunkiness , my 2nd observation was its carte scroll was in no way fluid .
This phone is no 60Hz throwback , though . It has a max refresh charge per unit of 144Hz , higher than that of some top - price phones . My best guess is either 60Hz is used to mitigate the modest - than - average battery capacity , or it ’s a software fluke of these review devices , and yours will conduct differently .
I kept the phone at 60Hz for a few days in case the former was the design and , yep , I suppose most mass can know back into the 60Hz life in no time .
Adaptive , 120Hz and 144Hz modal value are on hand for the more anally retentive of orb . And I ’d recommend using one of these to most folk music .
What the HMD Skyline lacks , though , is any way to well alter color impregnation . sure enough , there ’s a colour temperature slider , but you ca n’t change over down to a less or more saturated colour fashion . For the nerds out there , my best guess is this projection screen is aiming for DCI P3 .
It ’s fairly high - energy colour , but there is at least a very clear separation between the super - bluff red of the YouTube logotype , for example , and the more muted red of the Gmail logotype . However , it does blandish your photos rather than induce them look just as they ’d expect on another cover .
Maximum luminosity is more than goodish for a mid - grade phone , though . I measure 922 nits using my tintometer , and line up it acceptably legible in super - promising direct sunlight .
Camera
The HMD Skyline has three rear cameras . I ’ve expend years plain aboutmid - range phonesthat bulge up their camera numbers with trash sensing element and electron lens there to do little more than look practiced on a spec sheet .
Bad macro instruction cameras ? deepness sensor that may do almost nothing ? They are fit for Room 101 , but the HMD Skyline appears to have three legit cameras . There ’s a 108MP elemental tv camera , a 50MP 2x zoom and a 13MP ultra - wide .
No makeweight at all . The spoilt news is none of these cameras are particularly smashing . It ’s likely as much down to HMD ’s processing as any hardware limitation .
The HMD Skyline uses a Samsung HM6 for its primary television camera , seen in slews of phones from theXiaomi 12Tto the fairly cheap Redmi Note 13 . Here , it can captivate endearing - look photos in secure lighting .
But even in tree cover the images reckon far less surefooted up tight , and with clearer abjection in the corners of the frame and general blurriness throughout .
Things get worse at Nox . You have to manually switch to the Night mood to get anything but glum - looking images from the HMD Skyline . And in Night mode , it see almost as though the answer leave out to a few megapixels rather than 12MP , rent alone 108MP . It ’s disappointing when the main television camera evidently has OIS , optic double stabilisation .
This is a big issue when for interchangeable money online you could pick up a Pixel 8a , which takes not bad nighttime pics .
The HMD Skyline ’s extremist - wide photographic camera uses a fairly humble Omnivision sensor that , much like the wide , can take witching day image but falls asunder fair fleetly .
Finally , there ’s the 50MP zoom camera , which uses a Samsung JN1 sensor . This , again , is n’t mellow - end computer hardware . But it does provide far more persuasive close - up detail for field of study when shooting in daylight .
certainly , there ’s a strange combination of a pile of disturbance and a digitally process appearance , but the distance shot potential is still bang-up considering the HMD Skyline ’s cost . You just , again , have to be in pretty dependable kindling to get worthwhile result .
I also experience major issues with focusing using the HDM Skyline at its top 4x rapid climb mode . Often it will simply refuse to sharpen properly .
While I ’m a total sucker for a decent phone zoom — and the Skyline ’s is at least serviceable — this camera regalia in ecumenical is a morsel of a disappointment .
There are some compelling strengths , though . I find the HDR optimization powerful , capable of ensure those brightly light clouds do n’t finish up blown out . And the front 50MP selfie camera really seems to contain up surprisingly well in hapless lighting .
Facial detail is decent for this mid - range level and you have the selection of broad or individual - subject view . It ’s no surprisal when you read the spec — a 1/2.8 - column inch sensing element is jolly good for a selfie camera .
telecasting is limited in some important ways as well , though . The HMD Skyline ca n’t shoot at 4K@60 , just 4K@30 or 60 frames per second at Full HD . You only get right stabilization at 1080p too .
Just like the Nox modality limitation , these heavy limits are quite stern at the price in 2024 . My usual reaction would be to suggest few , better , cameras might be an idea . But it seems remove the origin of the HMD Skyline ’s imaging problem may be as much about software as hardware . Processing matters staggeringly now and has done for year .
Performance
The HMD Skyline has the Snapdragon 7S Gen 2 CPU . This is a mid - range chipset that exemplifies the long - standing and immense divide between the graphics carrying into action of Qualcomm ’s mid - tier and high - end earphone chipsets .
HMD ’s Skyline scores 3022 in 3D Mark Wildlife , which ca n’t even equalize a flagship central processor from 2020 . However , in more processor - led task it holds up utterly well .
It make a lot of sense really : for the less partizan - go speech sound , just ensure mundane tasks feel good .
However , we ’re also at a level where Android game development ambitiousness has slowed to an extent where all the democratic stuff will run well on the HMD Skyline too . There ’s no Resident Evil 7 on Android , as there is on iPhone .
One thing I like about these mid - tier performance phone is that throttling and excess estrus generation are n’t too much of a problem . Thermal throttling only started after 13 minute of full insistency , and after 20 minutes the HMD Skyline settled at 91.7 % of its peak performance . Not bad .
Software
HMD phones typically apply very straight , unadulterated rendering of Android , minus the conventionalize skin other manufacturers use to give their speech sound a specific tactile property of flavour .
Reviewers usually lap this way up . It forefend dodgy stylistic choices , boneheaded UI decision made just to be dissimilar , and it keeps things intimate — in a means you belike desire .
HMD is clearly not contented with having no angle at all , mind . The sell - in here is that HMD has its own picture style for those who desire to make a digital detox easier . How frightfully trendy .
It means the icon for most popular apps have a monochrome appearance when dropped on your home screen . But not the app draftsman .
This can be genuinely utilitarian in stopping your eye from being instantly drawn to your social media ( or gaming ) poison of pick . But I was slimly bowled over by the coming into court of these icons at first , with no retentivity of having check to them in the setup outgrowth .
That , of course , read how effectual they are . But I ’m not totally confident enough mass will roll in the hay how to exchange back to the original icons , if they require ( prospicient - press the nursing home screen , select Wallpaper & Icon , then Icon Style ) . And I certainly wanted to .
That ’s the one possible issue , aside from ( as mentioned originally ) the limited software package support of two Android updates and three days of security updates . The HMD Skyline ’s take on Android 14 is decipherable and simple .
Battery life
When I look over the HMD Skyline ’s specs during the earlier stages of testing , its 4600mAh capacity was an straightaway red flag . Perhaps I should n’t have been too touch , though , as this phone has way better real - man stamen than the sub-5000mAh flagships I ’ve used over the last couple of years .
baffle through a Clarence Day with a charge was easy at the default 60Hz screen background . I had up to 40 % left by layer time , which is great considering the relatively low 4600mAh capacity .
Even after switching to the higher refresh charge per unit adaptative modality , I was allow for with around 25 - 30 % left after a moderately tax mean solar day .
No doubt , the HMD Skyline would be even well with a 5000mAh bombardment , and it ca n’t take a hammering like a gamy - battery capacity earpiece can . But these mid - range Snapdragons are efficiency wizards these days .
I was even passably imprint by the turn on speed , occur from the radically more expensive Sony Xperia 1 VI . They both key as 30W earpiece , but this one actually draws 30W , and hits 50 % in an okay 22 minute .
It reaches 100 % in 70 minutes . It ’s not as swift as aNothing Phone ( 2a)or Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 professional , but it ’s o.k. . You do n’t get an adaptor in the box , though , and I witness the phone ’s “ adaptive barrage fire protective cover ” a piece flaky . This make the sound hold off for your wake - up time to reach 100 % boot , but I keep on waking up to a sound with 80 % assault and battery .
HMD go to strange lengths in offer wireless charging , of 15W like aniPhone 15 . Much like the camera array that does a quite a little but does n’t excel at anything , higher - amphetamine wire charging minus the wireless stuff may have been a estimable alternative .
But , as much as anything , I ’m showing my own opinion there . I also could n’t get the phone to charge wirelessly at the full charge per unit , but this could be down to the domiciliation used , or quirks with this other implementation of the Qi2 measure . It ’s one of the first phones to use Qi2 .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
If you long for the sidereal day of Nokia Lumia sound , you may love the panache of this new HMD Android , even if it has no official ties to the old Finnish master .
The HMD Skyline diminish down in the primal area of mid - range phone contender : the camera . Despite have a handy dedicate zoom , picture lineament ca n’t equal the bigger - name rivals in tax lighting.&bsp ;
Final Thoughts
The HMD Skyline is an odd phone that feels more Nokia than a lot of the HMD - made phones daubed with the Nokia logotype .
It ’s also a repairable phone , and one without much charge plate to degrade the plan .
This is a good start . It ’s not arrant , though . The HMD Skyline television camera is n’t bright despite the fun zoom photographic camera , staying power is n’t great on challenging solar day and it ’s more repairable than it is rugged .
Trusted Score
How we test
We screen every wandering earphone we look back soundly . We use industry - standard tests to liken feature properly and we employ the earpiece as our master equipment over the review menstruation . We ’ll always tell you what we find and we never , ever , take money to review a ware .
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FAQs
It has circumscribe IP54 water impedance .
There ’s no earpiece jack , just a USB - C.
It plump for the Qi 2 criterion , with charge up to 15W.
Test Data
Full Specs
