Nokia 8 Sirocco launched in China, available from April 3

HMD Global has today announced the pricing and availability date of its most premium Nokia phone till date - the Nokia 8 Sirocco in the Chinese market. First announced alongside the Nokia Android Oreo go edition and a few other Nokia phones at the MwC, the Nokia 8 Sirocco price in China has been pegged at 4,699 yuan, with the company already accepting pre-orders via JD.com, while the device will start shipping from April 3.

The Nokia 8 Sirocco is encased in a chassis made of a stainless-steel frame and two pieces of Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on both either sides. The device is IP67 water-resistant certified, and that means the device should have no issue when submerged in up to 1 metre of water for up to 30 minutes.

The Nokia 8 Sirocco comes fitted with a 5.5-inch pOLED display (2560 x 1440) and is powered by last year's Qualcomm’s 835 processor, coupled with 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. HMD has opted for a dual-camera system at the flip side featuring a 12-megapixel primary camera, ZEISS optics, and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with wide-angle (84-degree) lens for selfies, with support for HMD’s “bothie” mode to take a photo using both the front and rear cameras simultaneously. The Sirocco comes with a nonremovable 3,260mAh battery which you can charge wirelessly, via the glass back.

Interestingly, the Nokia 8 sirocco boots the Android Oreo software -- the Android One version, an undiluted version of Google's mobile OS with no trace of the manufacturer tweaks, like you'll find on most top-end handsets. So it is safe to say the Nokia 8 Siricco is the most advanced Android one powered-smartphone till date.