Nokia finally begins Android 11 rollout with the Nokia 8.3 5G

It's been some time coming, but Nokia has begun rolling out the Android 11 update to its phones, starting with the Nokia 8.3 5G. The Finnish company seems to be significantly behind its schedule, as the original roadmap stated that the update would begin rolling out in the fourth quarter of 2020, and we're almost halfway into the first quarter of 2021.

Android 11 is naturally a significant update, like most Android version updates. Since Nokia phones run fairly vanilla builds of Android, the news in this update boils down to the same updates announced by Google. The update brings a new Conversations section in the notification dropdown, app bubbles (similar to Facebook Messenger's "chat heads" but for more apps), a built-in screen recorder, smart home controls in the power menu, and more.

As for who can get the update, it's a typical Nokia affair. The rollout is being done in waves starting with a few select markets, which are the following:

Even in these markets, the rollout is being done gradually. 10% of users in these markets should see the update today, and that should increase to 50% of users by Friday, February 5. It will be available to everyone in these markets on February 7.

With the Android 11 rollout now underway, Nokia has some catching up to do. At least eight other phones were initially planned to get the update in the first quarter of the year, which might be a challenge at this point.