HMD Crest, Crest Max launched with easy repairability, but no Android updates

HMD recently launched the HMD Crest and HMD Crest Max in India, the brand’s first smartphones in the country since leaving the ‘Nokia’ branding behind. The new phones do things a little differently, and this makes them, well, interesting.

Here’s everything you need to know about the two new Android phones, what they do and do not offer, and more.

HMD Crest, Crest Max: What’s new?

While Nokia phones have evolved over a legacy of being unbreakable, the selling point of the new HMD Crest phones is actually the fact that they come apart rather easily (when you want them to).

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Designed for easy repairs, both the HMD Crest and Crest Max are easy to open up, making replacements of components like the screen and battery a breeze. This is great if you prefer taking the phones to a local repairman when in a pinch, or, if you have the technical know-how, pull out your own pliers and screwdrivers.

Apart from this, the HDM Crest phones sport the Unisoc T760 chip, 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. Both phones come with a 6.67-inch AMOLED display, a 5,000mAh battery and 33w wired charging. 

The only difference between the Crest and Crest Max is the camera setup. The HMD Crest comes with a 50MP rear camera along with a 2MP secondary sensor, while the Crest Max sports a 64MP main camera, a 5MP ultrawide camera and a tertiary 2MP sensor. Both phones, however, offer a 50MP front camera for selfies and video calls as well.

Other features include a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, dual-SIM support and expandable storage support. The HMD Crest phones start at Rs 14,499.

HMD Crest, Crest Max: No Android updates, yet

While the HMD Crest and HMD Crest Max have some decent specifications for the price, the phones come with Android 14 out of the box.

That isn’t a point of concern. In fact, even recent premium launches like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 and Galaxy Z Flip6 come with Android 14. The problem is software updates.

In an era where brands like Google and Samsung boast of seven years of Android updates, while Apple has built a reputation for five years of iOS updates for iPhones, HMD is offering no promises for software updates on the Crest devices, settling for just two years of security patches.

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This is a problem because Android phones around the same price bracket offer at least one or two Android updates, even if when these phones get these updates is up in the air. However, not promising any updates basically binds the Crest phones to Android 14 for life.

For a phone that comes with easy repairability, a longer usage period is a given, but that takes a backseat if the phone will not get up-to-date software to back it up. Hopefully, HMD figures out its software situation before getting some flak from potential buyers.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for devices without any software compromises in this bracket, you can consider the Realme 12x 5G or the Vivo T3x 5G. If you spend a little more, you can also get your hands on Nothing’s CMF Phone 1, which not only gets Android updates, but also an easy-to-repair design and some cool modular attachments for the back panel.