After the budget friendly HMD Pulse series, HMD finally launched the Skyline(internally known as Tomcat). The Skyline or at least parts of it was teased in February this year and we finally get to see what HMD has been crafting behind the scene. After more than a year of hiatus from Nokia X30, we finally get to experience premium midrange device once again.
Skyline
I believe that this could be the highest offering from HMD this year as I can’t think of a name topping Skyline. And rightfully, the Skyline packs all the necessary ingredients to be the right device for the masses. At this point of time, the Skyline comes in Neon Pink and Twisted Black but we have seen the Topaz Blue renders as well from Amazon Germany.
When it comes to the design, there couldn’t be a much better design than what HMD has to offer with the Skyline. The next version of fabula is unique and iconic to Nokia and it is fine tuned by HMD for easy repairability. This clever design and mechanism means you get to experience premium device which is easily repairable. The aluminum frame is sandwiched by a toughened glass over the rear and a P-OLED display on the front. The sides are curved, and the top and bottom are flat. So, they are comfortable in the hands, yet offering a good grip.
The toughened back panel can be easily be removed with just a simple turn of the screw which gives you easy access to replace the battery, take it a step further and remove a few more screws inside here, and you get access to remove the display. All this can be done by the end users with just a simple guide.
The P-OLED display is the brightest on a HMD device till dates, with up to 1000 nits of brightness which is more than adequate. The FHD+ display is capable of a smooth and buttery 144Hz refresh rate which you can set to either 120Hz , 60Hz or adaptive, up to your preference. The display is HDR 10 certified and it does support 4K playback at 60fps from YouTube though for some reason it does not playback in HDR mode. Next to the Galaxy S23 Ultra with one of the finest display in the industry, the HMD Skyline easily matches in terms of brightness and vibrance.
The glass back panel allows for wireless and reverse wireless charging and the Skyline supports magnetic wireless charging using the Qi 2 standards that is similar to the ones on Apple phones. The finger print scanner returns to the power button but this is a calculated move by HMD as to keep the display price lower for replacement in future. HMD Skyline has a dedicated custom button and you can also further customize the power button according to your preference that easily increases productivity and accessibility.
Speaker is loud, clear and thanks to OZO playback, the output is further tuned to give you the best listening experience. Unfortunately, this seems to be only applicable to the device speaker and can’t be extended to the earbuds or headphones. And if you are ever stuck having conversations in a loud environment, the Skyline also has an Audio boost feature that increases the output volume beyond the usual limit.
The Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 with 8GB RAM handles task with ease , so the Android experience is smooth with no lags or crashes. I had briefly tested highly demanding games like Genshin Impact on high settings, which is playable but it does has drop in frames and the device gets hotter than any other HMD devices I had used before.
Imaging is one key aspect of HMD Skyline and the triple camera setup is powerful with new and improved camera algorithm. I will be doing a dedicated imaging test shortly but do take note that there are still minor bugs on the Skyline and this will be fixed in the coming August update.
Here is my unboxing and initial review of Skyline
Here is a look at how HMD Skyline performs in gaming
In the days and weeks to come, I will be sharing more on the Skyline so, follow me on X to stay updated https://x.com/theoriginal086
