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Android 10 (Go Edition) comes to the entry-level Nokia 1
The update should rollout completely by July 12
Released back in 2018 for the low, low price of just $85, the Nokia 1 has been one of the most affordable Android options on the market. In our review, we found that it maybe made a bit too many compromises to reach that price point, but one area that Nokia didn't compromise on is software updates. Despite being a sub-$100 phone from over two years ago, the Nokia 1 is now receiving an upgrade to Android 10.
Nokia adds 3 more devices to its Android 10 upgrade plans (Updated)
Some late releases hop onto the list
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- With Android 10 Go edition made official, Juho Sarvikas has clarified Nokia's plans for its Go devices. The newer 1 Plus will get it first in Q1 2020, while the older 2.1 and 1 will receive their updates in Q2 2020.
Quick to promise software upgrades when Android 10 was announced, HMD Global has since revised its update roadmap for its Nokia smartphones with more of them expected to make the jump than initially claimed last fall.
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HMD is keeping its word when it comes to Android updates. The company had committed to two years of software upgrades for its devices and has made sure that promise holds true, regardless of price and positioning. Today, the last hold-out in the line-up, the Nokia 1, is receiving its own slice of Pie, just in time before the end of Q2. And HMD can finally say that its entire portfolio of smartphones is running Android 9.
Slowly but surely, HMD Global has been rolling out Android 9 Pie to its Nokia-branded phones. The Nokia 7 Plus, 6.1, 6.1 Plus, 5.1, 5.1 Plus, 8, and 8 Sirocco have all received Pie by now. If your Nokia device still doesn't have Pie, don't fret — HMD has laid out its update timeline for all remaining phones.
Over the past year or two, HMD Global has ushered a revival of the Nokia brand with stock Android software under the hood. But perhaps none of the smartphones it has released has been more reminiscent of the Nokia of yore than this Nokia 1 — a device that looks like it took a time machine from Espoo in 2011 to 2018, with a quick detour in Mountain View for a fresh coat of Android 8.1 paint.
HMD Global has a stellar track record of releasing timely Android firmware updates and its good form continues today. Nokia 3 owners can expect Android 8.0 Oreo to start rolling out to their devices shortly. At the same time, a new page has appeared on the Nokia website providing kernel source code for the Nokia 1 and 6.
Android Go was first introduced by Google at I/O in May 2017, so it's been a long wait for real devices running the slimmed-down Oreo experience. We hoped Mobile World Congress in Barcelona would be when OEMs began launching Android Go phones, and this was confirmed by Google last week.
The Nokia phone brand has been on quite a journey since its heyday in the late nineties and early two-thousands (or aughts, as David would have me write it). After Nokia's smartphone business was sold to Microsoft and became the Windows Phone flagbearer while that was still a thing, the baton has now been passed to HMD Global. HMD has been releasing Android phones under the Nokia name for just over a year now, and it's fair to say the brand is stronger than it has been for a very long time.
HMD Global had a good first year making Nokia-branded phones. In 2017, the Finnish company sold 70 million devices across its portfolio of six different Android smartphones and other low-cost feature phones such as the throwback Nokia 3310. HMD is confident of an even better 2018, starting with the launch of four new (well, mostly new) Android phones at MWC in Barcelona.
Under the stewardship of HMD Global, the revival of Nokia-branded phones continues apace. The company seems intent on filling out its Android lineup with every number one through ten, and the next devices rumored to be joining the ranks are the Nokia 7+ and the Nokia 1. Thanks to serial leaker Evan Blass, we now know what they're going to look like.