Nokia 3 owners in India are starting to receive a new update for their smartphones, bringing the March Android security patch to the handset. However, it is worth noting the update is heading out in stages in select regions, so some users will receive the patch now and others at a later date.
Users who don’t see the update now should receive the March Android security rollout OTA over the next days and weeks. HMD Global is also sending this update out around the world to Nokia 3 owners in other regions.
While the Nokia 3 was launched back in 2017, it is still receiving monthly Android patches, and getting them extremely quickly. Firstly, it is good to see a modestly spec’d and affordable phone still receive updates two years after release, which is rare. Secondly, the benefits of running a Stock Android experience are obvious when it comes to updates.
Stock Android is Google’s platform as the company intends it to be, free of the bloatware and software tweaks OEMs like to make. Nokia is among the most faithful companies to the Stock Android UI and that allows security patches and fixes to be sent out rapidly. Google releases a security patch each month to its Pixel smartphones and the Nokia 3 is typically only a few weeks behind.
For example, the Nokia 3 was updated to Android 8.1 Oreo in December 2018 and HMD Global says Android Pie will come to the Nokia 3 sometime during this quarter. This is excellent support for what is just a budget device, although we will be surprised if the handset ever receives the upcoming Android Q platform.
Looking at the March Android security update, Indian users will see the update weighs 100.1MB, which suggests this all about patching security and making system tweaks. In other words, no new features are part of the update.
The Nokia 3 remains a solid device for the Indian market. It boasts a quality 5-inch HD display and under the hood there is a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek 6737 SoC coupled with 2GB of RAM. On-board storage is modest at 16GB, but users can expand their data space through a microSD card (up to 128GB). In terms of cameras, the Nokia 3 has an 8-megapixel lens on both the front and the back of the device. Finally, a 2,650mAh battery provides the juice.
