Old Nokia vs. New Nokia Phone Quality : HMD Global Explains and Clarifies

Ever since Finnish Giant Nokia announced its return to the mobile industry back in May 2016 and disclosed that it will no longer manufacture its own devices and will instead work with HMD Global to license out its name, many long-time Nokia fans and tech enthusiasts - including myself - had been wondering and worrying whether new Nokia-branded handsets would still exude the qualities that they loved on Nokia models of the past.

It's a common concern that had been expressed to me by my friends and readers who've owned old Nokia releases and are now thinking about purchasing new Nokia-branded products made by a Chinese OEM.

"Sir Mark, will these new Nokia phones under HMD Global still be durable?"

"Do you think HMD Global will still focus on making Nokia devices that are as tough as nails or will they sacrifice quality for more profit?"

"Mark, I remember dropping my old Nokia 3310 numerous times on concrete and still worked. Can the new Nokia 3310 do that?"

These are only some of the questions that they had asked me following the announcement of new Nokia-branded devices at MWC 2017 earlier this year.

So last June 8, 2017, during the landmark launch of HMD Global's new Nokia-branded handsets here in the Philippines - held at The Fort in Taguig City, I took it upon myself to ask a related question to our friends at HMD Global as a way to get reassurance that their products would reflect what we have come to love about the Nokia of old.

I recorded the entire conversation on video and you can watch it here:

Here's what Mr. James Rutherford, Vice President of HMD Global Asia Pacific told me:

"I'd like you to invite you and your readers to come and look at the devices, to feel them. And I think you will see for yourself when you look at the quality of [the products], you will get an idea of how 'very Nokia' these phones are. And as I've said previously, we are not approaching this from a 'we know everything' [mentality]. We are approaching this from listening to customers, understanding what are the pain-points, what are the desires of customers, and then, designing phones accordingly. So at the heart of everything is the Nokia Brand. Like many others have presented today, in almost every single one of our presentations, we talked about the quality; We talked about the trust and all those things. [...] The Nokia Brand is at the center of everything we do so [that means we focus on attributes like] quality, durability, and those things. That's the starting point."

Based on his answer, it's clear that HMD Global knows what Nokia - as a phone brand - represents and this knowledge is at the heart of their efforts to come up with new products that exude that the Finnish Giant is all about. The process involves listening to consumers, which is always a good thing, and focusing on quality above all else. Is HMD Global successful in doing this? I guess we'll all just have to experience their upcoming Nokia-branded handsets to know for sure.