Live Q&A with Miika Mahonen

124

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  • Kartik Gada
    Kartik Gada Super User
    Miika Mahonen said:
    Lazysince1995 said:
    Hello team,

    Thanks a ton for this opportunity to communicate directly with designer of new Nokia phones.

    I'm Nokia 6.1 plus user which having similar glass at back like new 7.2 & 6.2 having. In terms of design, curv and durability is awesome and can't be compared with phones of other brands. But only one small problem I felt is the glass at back is too sleepery. Why don't team think about some changes with existing design?

    And why Nokia is still stucked on 30fps and 60fps slow motion? And that too with poor quality of video. This must need to look for upcoming phones. 

    Hi @Lazysince1995  

    Glass is non-conductive which means it is good for antenna performance. Also glass is more scratch resistant compared to current plastics and aluminum. In Nokia 7.2 we introduce new satin glass finish which will reduce visible fingerprints and feels great too. We are currently developing new material technologies to improve experiences even more. As always we welcome all the feedback and take it into consideration in new design projects :)  

    By the way, have you thought about getting a Nokia case, this could improve the grip even more and also protect your phone?

    You reminded me of accessories. I am struggling to find good cases for Nokia 7.2. Please design some attractive but also rugged cases for Nokia phones. 

    Also, are you planning more accessories like speakers, power banks, etc? 
  • Miika Mahonen
    Miika Mahonen Staff member
    singhnsk said:
    Nokia Logo: I have my concerns about the technology/process used to imprint the Nokia logo. Both on front and the back. The logo isn't the same great quality as I see on my Nokia 8.1, maybe due to me not having a preference for that dual-material stuff used to crave the logo . Are you trying something different there? The front logo is also a bit extra visible versus that seen on the 8.1 and it can interfere during media consumption.

    One more thing, is the back logo underneath the glass? Or is it outside or is it somewhere in the mid? Rubbing my fingers over the logo area gives a slightly different (smoother) feel as compared to the rest.
    The Nokia 6.2 and Nokia 7.2 logo uses same manufacturing method as in Nokia 8.1. For example in Nokia 7.2 the logo colours are matched to be same silver colour as in the silver diamond cut metal ring used in the rear camera. All the details are matched to be the same colour to look consistent and balanced.

    The logo mirror silver material is under the glass (being protected by the Gorilla glass). But the logo area is left polished to give that unified premium look we have in our other devices also.
  • Kartik Gada
    Kartik Gada Super User
    Do something experimental and exciting. How about a phone with some unique frame with built in LED's that light up as disco lighta. May be a cool feature phone. 😉

    It feels nice to see you reply to everyone. Thanks for joining us all on the community. My wish of having members from the design team communicating with the forum members is now complete. Thank you so much for coming here and interacting with us. 😊

    Do check out the Ideas section where you will find lots of interesting and qwirky ideas. 😁
  • Miika Mahonen
    Miika Mahonen Staff member
    abrahamp said:
    I have some questions, hope you could answer them all. About the polymer frame, so is it polycarbonate or aluminium, or is it hybrid? And, what inspired you to give the phones a circular camera module? Was it the Lumia 1020 and 830? And why no dedicated shutter button? Just intrigued by the fact that none of your phones have any

    Hi @abrahamp

    Polymer composite means it is a mixture of polymer thermoplastic together with fiber, making it a composite. Interior chassis is made out of aluminum. And polymer composite frame is mold directly around the metal chassis, you could say in its way it is a hybrid.

    Miika: Nokia 6.2 and Nokia 7.2 are a bit inspired by Lumia designs, keeping the Nokia design heritage alive :) Also the round format was perfect fit for our triple camera set-up keeping it simple and refined.

  • Miika Mahonen
    Miika Mahonen Staff member
    edited October 2019
    madbilly said:
    Hi Miika,
    I see that you are also the designer of the 800 Tough and 2720 4G Flip, nice work ;)
    Out of the three designs (6.2/7.2, 800 and 2720) which was your favourite? And which one are you most happy with the end result?
    Cheers :)


    Hi @madbilly

    Besides Nokia 6.2 and Nokia 7.2 I was involved with Nokia 800 Tough and Nokia 105. Nokia 2720 Flip was designed by our industrial designer Jonathan Lister. I’m very happy you like our new designs :)  Has been a very exciting year for us with all the new products.


    Its very hard to pick my favourite from these projects as they are very different. I am very happy with all the designs. In Nokia 105 we modernized our most entry level classic phone and introduced two new trendy colors that definitely stand out on the market.


    Nokia 800 Tough was a long and challenging project. How to create the most durable phone and still keep good usability and Nokia identity. We are very proud of the outcome as it is very unique and functional. Super tough structure took a long time to develop.


    Nokia 7.2 with new satin finished glass and simplified Nordic design really shows our efforts and hard work that we have done during the past year.
  • petrus
    petrus ✭✭✭✭
    @Miika Mahonen 
    Thank you for your time and answers to our questions.
  • madbilly
    madbilly Super User
    @HMDLaura there's plenty I don't notice, too much in fact, it's what keeps me coming back :smiley:
  • madbilly
    madbilly Super User
    Hi @Miika Mahonen, just in case you do pass by again to look at follow-up questions and comments, here are some from me ;)
    Miika Mahonen said:
    nitin kachare said:
    How much difference between construction of Nokia 6.2 and Nokia 7.2 Back Design Mat Finish Glass compared to Nokia 8.1?
    Hi @nitin kachare

    Nokia 6.2 and Nokia 7.2 belong to the same product family. They have similar mechanical structure, with composite frame and glass covers. Where Nokia 8.1 uses CNC machined aluminum structure. Nokia 6.2 and Nokia 7.2 have internal aluminum chassis and polymer composite frame molded around it.

    We selected polymer composite to create a design that is solid and feels great in your hand. A material that would help to join everything together seamlessly and support our beautiful Nordic minimalistic design style. Goal was to deliver fantastically durable and smart devices.

    Is there any particular any difference in the glass on the back of the 7.2 vs the 8.1? Or is is basically the same glass but the 7.2 has this light frosting effect?
    Cheers :)
  • madbilly
    madbilly Super User
    Miika Mahonen said:
    The polymer composite is more rigid and stronger that basic plastics and together with internal aluminum chassis it makes a very light and rigid structure. Now in Nokia 6.2 and Nokia 7.2 we have integrated glass covers directly in to the frame, the basic structure is now very simplified having only 3 parts, glass/frame/glass. Looks great and also feels good in your hand.
    This is cool, lighter is good, but is it both lighter and stronger than a 100% aluminium frame? Or does the composite frame require more material, therefore it takes up more space in the overall volume of the phone?
    Does "simplified" structure mean the 6.2/7.2 is simpler than the 8.1 and other glass-sandwich designs? Is it easier to repair? (please tell me you use less glue than on the 9PV that JerryRigEverything classed as a fail...!).
    Cheers :)
  • madbilly
    madbilly Super User
    Miika Mahonen said:
    Miko N. said:
    Just why bigger phone size? At this moment its not possible buy small mid-range phone. I am happy with my Nokia 7.1. And why alu frame anymore? I dont understand this trend...
    Hi @Miko N.

    We listen to consumers while designing our phones – for us that is always the starting point. Consumers across many markets want a large display size as the phone is their primary medium for content consumption – they read, watch, share information via their smartphone.

    There are still many customers who want a smaller smartphone, so please listen to those customers too :)
  • madbilly
    madbilly Super User
    Miika Mahonen said:
    Arcadiy Kalugin said:
    Why did you use glass as the material of the back cover? As the crash tests of a smartphone on Youtube showed, one not-so-high drop is enough that it crashed to smithereens.
    Hi @Arcadiy Kalugin

    The benefit of using glass is that it is non-conductive material. This helps us too improve the performance of the  antennas. From design point of view glass is a great material as it is clean and has high surface hardness. In 7.2 we use our new satin glass which even helps to prevent fingerprints. Glass material feels good and natural in your hand, not cold or industrial.
    Yes glass is harder than aluminium or plastic (of various types) but it is not tougher, which is why glass is more prone to breaking when dropped than metal or plastic. If aluminium is not preferred because of antenna performance, then why not use a "premium" plastic for the back, like more polycarbonate composite?
    Cheers :)
  • madbilly
    madbilly Super User
    Miika Mahonen said:
    madbilly said:
    I've read that the Google Assistant button can't be remapped which seems strange when HMD seems to pride itself on giving users what they want. Please can you explain this odd choice?
    Cheers :)
    Hi @madbilly

    The Button is specifically designed to support the Google Assistant experience on Nokia phone. To make sure that it works the most optimum way offering an engaging experience for the user the software and hardware is dedicated only for the Google assistant.
    I think is a case of giving the customer what Google wants, not what the customer wants :neutral:

  • madbilly
    madbilly Super User
    Miika Mahonen said:
    madbilly said:
    I don't understand the reluctance of HMD to provide mid and high-range phones with removable batteries, and the 6.2 and 7.2 continue this trend. If the battery was user-replaceable we'd be able to buy two batteries and be able to use our phones to the full, not try and run them economically in case we forget to charge them overnight. Please can you explain this strange design decision?
    Cheers :)
    So, as can be seen on the market not many smartphones with removable rear covers exist anymore these days. This type of structure would create limitations for the structural design and materials. Making the rear cover not removable gives as that extra strength to make the structure very solid, a true Nokia device.

    Also luckily many options of extra portable batteries exist on the market. We also have our own small portable battery the “Nokia Portable Wireless Charger”which is a great accessory to extend use time.
    I thought the trend for non-removable batteries was started by Apple to increase the revenue they get from service centres replacing batteries wasn't it ;)
    Portable battery packs are nice, but the cable is a pain and unfortunately the only HMD phones which support wireless charging are the Sirocco and 9PV.
    I appreciate the desire to make the phone solid, because all customers appreciate durability, but if you make the rear cover from glass which is more prone to breaking than a removable plastic cover then that defeats the point of making the cover fixed, doesn't it? Surely the only sensible material to make a fixed rear cover from is metal, as it won't break as easily and still adds to the strength as well as being nice to hold (in some opinions), but as you say this will reduce antenna performance, so we end up with plastic as the preferred material, in which case we might as well have a removable cover.
    I can see that there's no easy answer to this, no perfect solution. However please recognise that not everyone wants the same thing and sometimes doing things differently from your competitors might actually get you more sales from the part of the market that appreciates what you are doing, rather than fighting your competitors for a share of the market they are already entrenched in.
    Cheers :)
  • madbilly
    madbilly Super User
    Miika Mahonen said:
    madbilly said:
    Do the 6.2 and 7.2 support exFAT on microSD cards greater than 32GB in capacity, as required by the SD association? https://www.sdcard.org/developers/overview/capacity/
    Cheers :)

    Nokia 6.2 and Nokia 7.2 MicroSD card slot support up to 512 GB memory cards.

    You unfortunately missed my point. This is quite a technical question related to the filesystem used for the SD cards. I know that HMD phones support memory cards with very large capacities (SDXC range) but so far HMD phones have used the FAT32 filesystem rather than the exFAT filesystem which is the one approved for use by the SD association. Using FAT32 is actually not compliant with the standard. Many people have had problems with their SD cards in HMD's phone (including me, which is probably why I'm aware of this issue) and the performance of FAT32 compared to exFAT is poor, so poor that it can actually cause some cards to not meet the performance specs stated by their manufacturer. FAT32 can also only store files up to 4GB in size, so we can't film 4K videos for very long. Free space management for large SD cards is also very poor with FAT32, which may in fact be the cause of the problems I and others experience.
    I hope that for the 6.2 and 7.2 you fixed this, or is the problem that HMD don't want to pay the licence fee for exFAT because HMD? ;)
  • madbilly
    madbilly Super User
    Miika Mahonen said:
    We work on material and colour design nonstop, we started the development of Cyan Green more than a year ago and Cyan Green is a result of our new material and colour design style. A colour that has been a part of Finnish design, architecture fashion for decades, Cyan Green was an obvious choice for us. Not just a basic green but a tone that creates a very powerful colour experience together with advanced materials and technologies we use. We target to design memorable experiences as part of our Nordic premium design. Like you mentioned the Cyan Green is beautiful and fits Nokia 7.2 perfectly. We are glad you like it :)
    That's cool, I didn't realise that this colour was associated with Finnish design, please excuse my ignorance :) To me it reminds me a lot of the sea.
    I'm very interested in the fact you started work on the colour a year ago. What does into the development of a colour, what do you have to do except get the pantone chart out and pick one? I presume you have to test the colour on the different materials you are thinking of using, and confirm that the manufacturing methods to get that colour are not cost-prohibitive and meet other quality criteria? What kind of criteria do they need to meet?
    Cheers :)
  • SirFaceFone
    SirFaceFone ✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2019
    I love this Q&A idea. I agree with others about having a Q&A with members from other teams at HMD. I hope this becomes a regular thing!

    Thanks for the time <3

  • madbilly
    madbilly Super User
    Miika Mahonen said:

    We experimented with lots of colours and styles when designing Nokia 7.2 and Nokia 6.2. Our colours take a lot of inspiration of Finland. We are also very sensitive on colours and decide them carefully to have something that is timeless and not just seasonal. When we are selecting colour options for a new mobile phone, it must fit  the design and material technologies perfectly but also look consistent as a family.

    I wish I could show you more of all the cool things we are working on now but we need to keep future designs as a secret and a surprise ;)  In the future you can see our new designs on our upcoming phone models ;)

    A video of a prototype 6.2 in copper colours was posted on Youtube I think. Personally I think that colour didn't work too well, it was a a little brash, but that may have been the colour saturation in the video. The polished copper models from 2017 were stunning, but the fingerprints were an issue... although personally one I could live with :smiley: I think @Kartik Gada is right that metallic colours and the matte finish will work well - after all, the orange N8 was almost copper-looking, so a matte copper finish would be great!
    Cheers :)
    PS - you don't need to keep future design a complete surprise... you can show us some teasers to gauge our reaction before putting them into mass production ;)
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