Nokia Smart TV 4300A review

Nokia is one of few companies that went through such a huge transformation. The Finns were making paper, bullets, rubber products, tires, networking equipment, smartphones, and once also TVs in their long history. Nokia is still remembered as a TV brand in Europe, and now the brand is back again on this popular electronic device. Austrian company StreamView brought Nokia back on Android-powered smart LED TVs, and they are offering it in various sizes. Their first product, Android Streaming Box is a complete success, so we asked for a TV, and they have sent us a Nokia 4300A, or 43-inch 4K LED TV for a test.

Plus

• Simple design
• Price
• 4K UHD resolution
• good audio
• Android Smart TV built-in
• Numerous connection ports

Minus

• Black color reproduction
• Small viewing angles

Basic specs

• Name: Nokia Smart TV 4300A
• Size: 964x611x64 mm (with a stand)
• Mass: 7.5 kg
• Display: 840 x 2160 LED (4K UHD); HDR10; Dolby Vision; DTS sound support
• Audio: 2x 10 W; Dolby Digital Plus,dts
• Processor: ARM CA55 Quad-Core
• GPU: Mali470 MP3
• SDRAM: DDR3: 1.5 GB
• Memory: eMMC: 8 GB
• Connectivity: 4x HDMI; 2x USB 2.0; Digital audio (optical); Audio/Video IN (3.5 mm); VGA; Headphones; Ethernet LAN; CI+
• Extra: Triple tuner for live TV (DVB-T2; DVB-S2; DVB-C), BT 4.2, WiFi, Chromecast, backlit remote
• OS: Android TV (Android 9)
• Color: Black
• Price: €499

Unboxing

Nokia 4300A is a 43-inch LED TV, which means that although it is not thick, it is still a rather large product with 108 cm screen in diagonal, so naturally the box is large too. But you don’t need to worry about just how your mailman will deliver it to you since StreamView is using the best couriers like DHL or UPS to deliver it across the EU. The TV box was delivered by DHL to my home address, and the unboxing process was rather smooth. With a help of a knife, you can easily open the box, but I do suggest you open it on the top side since all the paperwork and a simple unboxing instruction are there.

After you take the TV out, you’ll need to screw the stand to it and place rubber buttons to keep the TV firm on your TV stand. The installation process is not that hard and can be done in less than 30 minutes. Just be careful with how you are handling the TV because the screen is a bit sensitive and can be damaged if pressed harder. Do check out the unboxing post for more detailed photos and instructions, or check the unboxing video below.

In the box you are also getting a backlit remote, two AAA batteries to power the remote and that is it.

Design

All the modern LED TVs are now coming with pretty much thin bezels and that is the case with Nokia. All Nokia TVs are coming in black, and with rather thin bezels, so you should pay attention to how you grab the TV. You should use the bottom part which has a plastic rim but avoid pressing the LED with a thumb.
The TV is elegantly done with small bezels on the top part of the TV, and a bit of a plastic frame at the bottom that holds the Nokia logo. The panel side is not that thick, and the TV won’t take a lot of space even when mounted on a wall.

On the bottom part of the screen, just below the Nokia logo, you can find the notification light and the only physical button that puts the TV to sleep or turns the display off. Since this is a smart TV, turning it completely off means you’ll need to wait till the TV reboots, with the Nokia logo showing up and the Android TV logo doing gifs…

On the bottom parts are situated the pretty good speakers, which are not made by some known audio manufacturer, but will provide you with a loud and clear sound.
On the back of the TV, you’ll find a place for mounting a standard 100×100 wall mount, and on the left side a place with numerous ports. There are four HDMI ports, two USB 2.0 ports, one optical digital audio port, a 3.5 mm Audio/Video IN, an RGB connector, Ethernet LAN, and a Common Interface port. This is going to be sufficient to connect numerous sources to your TV.
The power cord can also be found on the back of the TV but unfortunately, you can not detach it. But, there is a plastic rim that can be reused to fold the cable while moving the TV.
The provided TV stand is a classic one, fixed in place and it supports the TV well. I would like it to be adjustable so the TV could turn in a different direction, but maybe that is for the upper-class range TVs.

Usability

Before this Nokia 4K UHD LED TV, I was using a trusty 36-inch LG 1080p LCD TV from 2009 that just wouldn’t break. Since I arrange the space on the wall surrounding that TV, the new 43-inch bezelles Nokia TV fitted the same space just perfectly. The size of this new TV was the same as the old LG from 2009, but with larger display size.

Upon turning it on, you are welcomed with a Nokia logo and nice music that will be there till you do the initial setup. After that, you can play with classic Android TV, install streaming apps and some simple games, or you can change the source and connect to your cable TV router and watch provided programs. The switch is fast and with a press of a button the TV automatically changes the available sources. This works if you have just two sources connected, but if you connect the third source, you’ll have to choose the desired one from the source list.

Besides numerous ports, there is a substantial amount of wireless connectivity solutions that Nokia TV is featuring. There is a BT 4.2 which is used for remote and can be used for seamless connectivity with the audio accessories. I had no trouble connecting my Nokia Power earbuds to it, or Sony CH500.
TV also supports dual-band WiFi which means you can connect it over Nokia Beacon and stream content from your phone over Chromecast. While I find that way of sharing data good for browsing through photos, it is not the best for videos or playing BrawlStars on your phone and share the picture on Nokia TV.

Display

I was astounded by the brightness of the display. It was just too bright for me and I needed to lower the brightness and backlight by 50%. Even now I still find it bright, but I got used to it with time. I don’t like the representation of the black color, which is a little bit pale, but generally, the colors are nicely saturated. There is a loss of color saturation when you are watching the TV from a higher viewing angle, which is something Steamview could improve. But all of the eventual issues are the disadvantages of the LED panels which you can adjust in the settings, except the viewing angles. There is a huge number of adjustments you can take to make the picture quality closer to your likings. These are my currently used settings: backlight at 45, color at 65, and all the rest at 50. Anyway, for the price of €499, I find this TV to be rather great for what it is offering.
The videos can be watched in 4K and those are super sharp, but 1080p is looking also great. The picture is not unnaturally sharp, as sometimes can be on some other more known brands, which is something I prefer.
I tried using Nokia TV with my laptop and the graphic quality is just superb. I was using the max resolution and everything is super crisp, nicely broadcasted over the HDMI cable. If you have an older laptop, you can also use the VGA port for the picture and the 3.5 mm jack for the sound.

Sound

While Nokia TVs in the Indian market are coming with a JBL or Onkyo sound system, the TVs for the European market are not. But, don’ let that discourage you from purchasing it since the sound quality is astonishingly good for the price range. This is mostly because TV supports Dolby Digital Plus and dts.
I watched a different kind of videos, movies, a Sci-Fi TV series and I was really enjoying the sound it produced. There could be a bit deeper sounds, but I don’t find it troubling even when listening to some house music or various other types of music where bass tones are necessary to fully enjoy it.

Software

Nokia TV 4300A is a smart TV based on Android TV software. Unlike Nokia Streaming Box, Nokia TV is running Android 9 which not performing as fast as the Android 10 on the TV box. Also, the hardware is slightly newer and powerful in the TV box than in the TV. Here we have a Quad-Core ARM CA55 processor paired with the Mali470 MP3 and 1.5 GB of DDR3 RAM. There is also 8GB of eMMC internal storage which is enough for all the apps and occasional file downloads (if anyone is doing that on the TV). The hardware might be slightly weaker than the one on Nokia Streaming Box, but it is powerful enough to run the Nokia TV without any hiccups.
There should be an Android 10 update coming, and that is Google doing for the StreamView, but the exact date is still not known. It remains to see how the TV will work with a newer version of the Android TV which is quite fluid on the Streaming Box.

There is a lot of apps that you can download from the Google Play TV and use on the TV, but I tried Netflix, Deezer, Stremio, Popcorn, and YouTube. If you are using some apps that need to download the content before playing it, 8GB of the internal memory does make a problem for higher quality videos. But, if you are using some streaming app, there won’t be any trouble running it, and Nokia TV is doing a great job.
I even installed a mouse and keyboard on it, and that made it run like a Chromebook, but Android 9 for TVs can pose some issues with online video so I’m looking forward to seeing the OS update which might sort all the problems out.
If you are picking up this TV for a place where the internet connectivity is not the best, or your carrier can’t reach you, you can still watch some live TV. Nokia TV supports a triple tuner for live TV via the terrestrial antenna (DVB-T2), satellite (DVB-S2), or cable (DVB-C).

Remote

The remote of the Nokia TV is the same size as the remote for Nokia Streaming Box, but with some buttons preprogrammed for different apps and functions. There is a button for Netflix and Youtube, as well s for the Google Assistant. You’ll find a numerated keypad at the top, but you’ll mostly be avoiding it and use the bottom part of the remote to control the smarter part of the TV. The remote is backlit, which is useful at night, but for some reason, the light stopped working. I still haven’t figured out what seems to be the problem, which is something I’ll need to do since the remote of Streaming Box has the same issue.

Final Thoughts

Nokia brand is once again back on TVs, and the Austrian company Streaming View that brought it back in the EU did a nice job. There is a huge variety of display sizes to choose from, and no matter which one you order, the 4K UHD LED will do a good job. The Nokia Smart TV can easily be connected to multiple sources, but you can also connect it on the internet over WiFi or even an ethernet cable. The TV supports BT which means you can easily connect a BT audio headset to it and enjoy listening to the music of watching your favorite TV series over a streaming app.
Since this TV is running Android 9 inside, it will be like you are using a smartphone, but with a different user interface.
There is a place for things could be improved in the future. For example, the black color is not as black as on the OLED TVs, and the viewing angles could be a bit better, but the ratio between the price and the quality is on the side of the buyer.
We tested the 43-inch TV set which was delivered in 5 days over DHL and that went just fine. The TV is firmly and securely boxed, so you can rest assured that it will be delivered without any damage.
If you do go for the Nokia 4300A smart TV, do check out StreamView pages where you can order it over their webshop.
We appreciate StreamingView for sending us a review unit of the TV.