Nokia 5.4 Price in India, Review, Specifications - Everything You Need

The Nokia 5.4 is a new mid-range smartphone from HMD Global for the Indian market, promising to deliver a clean and bloatware-free experience.

Being a part of Google’s Android One program, the brand promises 2 years of operating system updates  and a 3 years of monthly security updates. However, those advantages come at a cost of the hardware specs. However, HMD Global has done a good job at balancing between the two aspects. Let’s see if the handset can compete against the offerings from Xiaomi, Realme, and Samsung.

Nokia 5.4: Price in India & Availability

The Nokia 5.4 price in India is Rs. 13,999 for the base 4GB + 64GB option. You can get more RAM with the 6GB + 64GB model for Rs. 15,499. The device comes in Polar Night and Dusk color variants, but the former is only available for the 4GB RAM option.

Nokia 5.4: Design & Display

HMD Global still continues to use a fairly simple design on its affordable and mid-range product lines in comparison to the Xiaomi or Realme offerings. However, I actually prefer the minimalistic design on this phone. On the front, you will quickly see a thick chin at the bottom with the familiar Nokia branding. At the back, the company uses a gradient finish on the glossy plastic panel. It looks pretty nice, but the back is quite prone to fingerprints so you might need to use a case if you want to keep your phone clean.

The device is equipped with a 6.39” display that is bright enough even for outdoor usage. However, you might struggle when using the phone in direct sunlight. Another downside of this phone in this regard is the HD+ resolution. I mean in this price range, we didn’t expect to see a smartphone with an HD+ display at all. This is a direct hit to the media consumption as the video quality is limited to 720p.

Nokia 5.4: Performance

Until now, entry-level Nokia phones haven’t been known for having a good performance for the price. It seems like HMD Global has finally released the issue and equipped the Nokia 5.4 with a Snapdragon 662 chipset, which is the same chipset used on the POCO M3. While it is a big upgrade over its predecessor, it isn’t as smooth as I would expect for a smartphone at the price point.

Switching between apps or swiping through the homescreen doesn’t feel snappy, which is quite disappointing since the phone runs on a stock version of Android. Having 4GB of RAM should be enough, so I might be the matter of poor optimization from HMD Global.

The Snapdragon 662 actually performs quite well in benchmarks. I was quite surprised by the fact that the Nokia 5.4 actually performs slightly better than the POCO M3 despite the two phones having the same chipset. I didn’t have any issue running light-weight games like Ninja Arashi 2 on the handset. However, when running Call of Duty: Mobile, I could notice the phone getting hot quickly, but it was still playable. 

Nokia 5.4: Cameras

The camera setup of the Nokia 5.4 includes a 48MP main sensor, a 5MP ultra-wide-angle camera, and two 2MP lenses for portrait and macro shots. As for quality, the photos look just okay-ish. The device captured a good amount of detail if there is enough light, but the colors aren’t as rich and natural as they should be. Overall, the outcomes are decent in daylight, but I had a higher expectation at the start.

By default, the 48MP primary camera takes shots in 12MP with pixel binning and the photos actually look good if you can get a good lighting condition. As for macro shots, the device struggled at focusing on the object. The outcomes are barely usable and the camera might get colors wrong on some occasions. The 5MP ultra-wide-angle camera isn’t that useful as the image quality is quite bad even in the day. 

In low-light conditions, the phone sadly failed pretty badly. Photos look grainy in the dark and Night mode did brighten the photo up a little bit, but it also increased noise as well. Around the front, the selfie camera took mediocre photos during the day and okay-ish ones when it got dark.

One thing we were not happy about the Nokia 5.3 was the lack of video stabilization, but the brand has now fixed that issue on the Nokia 5.4. Overall, I don’t think this is the image quality I would  expect from a smartphone in the price range.

Nokia 5.4: Battery life

With a 4,000 mAh battery, the phone surprisingly could last for one day despite my medium usage while its performance in our HD video battery loop test was below average, which is 9 hours and 20 minutes. On top of that, HMD Global only bundles a standard 10W charger with this smartphone, so I could only get around 55 percent of battery after an hour of charging.

Nokia 5.4 price: around Rs. 12,000

Nokia 5.4 price in India: Rs. 13,999

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