I admire great smartphones that push the boundaries of what’s possible and sensible. Sometimes these gambles become triumphs, and those devices become the cornerstones of future innovations. We saw plenty of this in the late 2010s when companies weren’t afraid to experiment. While it has its fair share of critics, one of my favorite examples was the camera-crazy Nokia 9 PureView.
It was lying forgotten in my obsolete tech drawer until I dusted it off, charged it up, and popped it in my pocket for a recent road trip. I wanted to see if this old Nokia Android phone was still worth using in 2025, and I’m so glad I had it with me.