HMD may have struck gold with the Skyline: the phone’s design combines nostalgia for the Nokia N9 with a striking neon pink color, and its repairability (although not unique) certainly scores points.
The phone is surprisingly capable – the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 is by far the most powerful chip in an HMD phone. Granted, it has competition from the Snapdragon 695 and some Unisocs, but we’re happy to see HMD finally stepping up to better chips. The phone’s 6.55-inch display is a 144Hz OLED (FHD+) and houses a 50MP selfie camera on the top. Around the back, there’s a 108MP main camera (OIS), a 50MP 2x telephoto shooter, and a 13MP ultra-wide shooter.
The 4,600mAh battery is user-replaceable, but you will need tools. It supports both 33W wired and 15W wireless charging. And keep in mind that it supports Qi2 charging (using magnets, like Apple’s MagSafe), which is unheard of in Android land. Speaking of tools, with the tools and guides from iFixit, you should be able to replace the screen at home in just 10 minutes. The only downside remains software support: HMD only promises 2 years of OS updates and 3 years of security patches. That’s at least a year less than we’d like to see from a €550 phone.
For €50 less, you can get the Realme GT 6. It has a better, bigger screen – a 6.78-inch 1264p+ LTPO panel running at 120Hz and up to 6,000 nits. It’s protected with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 rather than GG3 like the HMD. Its dust and water resistance rating is better, too, at IP65 (vs. IP54). And you get a more powerful Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset, albeit without the microSD slot. The 5,500mAh battery is 900mAh larger and it supports 120W fast charging (no wireless, though).
The 50MP main camera has a large 1/1.4” sensor, and the 50MP 2x portrait camera is similar, as is an 8MP ultra-wide angle. There’s also a 32MP selfie camera. Realme promises 3 years of OS updates and 4 years of security patches, but it doesn’t focus much on repairability.
There’s also the Realme GT 6T for €100 less than the GT 6 (and €150 less than the HMD). It still has a better chipset – Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 – and a big, speedy 5,500mAh battery with 120W charging. However, it loses the telephoto camera and the sensor in the 50MP main camera is smaller. It’s also on its way to 3 OS updates and 4 years of patches.
For a little more than the Skyline, you can get the Nothing Phone (2). It has a 6.7” LTPO display (120Hz), but the resolution is lower than the Realmes (FHD+). It is powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and a 4,700mAh battery with 45W wired and 15W wireless (original Qi, so no magnets).
It has a 50MP main and a 50MP ultra-wide camera, plus a 32MP selfie camera, but no telephoto lens. Like Realme, Nothing promises 3 OS updates and 4 years of patches, but note that this is a 2023 model, so subtract one of those numbers.
The Nothing Phone (2a) doesn’t have an LTPO panel, instead keeping the screen at 6.7” FHD+ 120Hz. It has the same 50+50MP rear camera and 32MP front-facing camera (but 4K video recording caps out at 30fps instead of 60fps).
The 2a uses the Dimensity 7200 Pro chipset, which beats the Skyline chipset in graphics tests. The 5,000mAh battery only supports 45W wired charging, no wireless charging. The update schedule for the 2a is the same as the Phone (2), but as a 2024 model this one started with Android 14, so it has an edge.
For today’s final phone, we picked something a bit cheaper. The Realme Note 50 is a €100 phone running Android 13 on the fairly fast Unisoc T712 chipset. The 6.74-inch IPS LCD display is large but short on pixels with HD+ resolution (it has a 90Hz refresh rate). The 5000mAh battery is large but charges slowly at just 10W. We won’t mention the camera, as it’s not worth mentioning. The microSD slot and 3.5mm headphone jack are nice to see though.
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