HMD Skyline review: Android smartphone with replaceable parts
Costing a fraction of an iPhone, its battery lasts two days on one charge and you can fix it yourself too - but how good is it?
These products are hand-picked by our team to help make shopping easier. We may receive payments from third parties for sharing this content and when you purchase through links in this article. Product prices and offer details are not assured, and should be confirmed independently with the retailer. Learn more
On paper, the HMD Skyline sounds too good to be true. It costs just $899, yet boasts a trio of highly specced cameras on the back, promises 48 hours of battery life and is the first Android phone to support the Qi2 wireless charging standard in Australia.
Plus, it’s designed in a way that if you crack the screen, or you need to replace the battery, you can fix it yourself.
The phone over-promises in some areas, but it also manages to deliver solid performance across the board while costing a fraction of the price of an iPhone or premium Galaxy S24 smartphone.
1-MINUTE REVIEW: HMD SKYLINE
HMD Skyline, $899 at Amazon Australia
What You Need To Know
HMD has been making Nokia branded phones for years, but it was only early in 2024 that it launched devices under its own brand. Its major point of differentiation is that all of its phones are repairable by the user.
The HMD Skyline is its most premium smartphone to date, with Qi2 wireless charging support, a high-end camera system and a FHD+ display with a 144Hz refresh rate.
In the box you get the phone and a USB-C to USB-C charging cable, but no charger, along with the manual and warranty paperwork.
HOW WE TESTED THE HMD SKYLINE
I used the HMD Skyline as my primary smartphone for a period of two weeks, using it as my main device for scrolling through social media, taking photos and making and receiving phone calls.
OUR REVIEW OF THE HMD SKYLINE
The HMD Skyline is a mid-range phone that also happens to be the first Android phone to support the new Qi2 wireless charging standard. Qi2 effectively brings Apple’s MagSafe magnetic wireless charging to Android devices, which allows for faster charging speeds.
Outside the title of the world’s first Qi2 Android phone, the HMD Skyline is a reasonable mid-range device, which sacrifices some level of processing power to deliver impressive 48-hour battery life and mixed camera performance.
Priced to sit alongside Samsung’s Galaxy A55 and devices like the Nothing Phone (2), the Skyline has enough individual style to make it worth consideration as your next smartphone.
Design
The HMD Skyline comes in three colours that couldn’t be further apart. “Twisted Black”, which is just black, “Blue Topaz” and “Neon Pink”, which is precisely how it sounds.
The coloured frame wraps around to the front of the phone, encasing the four rounded corners of the 6.55-inch pOLED display. The phone itself features squared corners, though, so the inset of the screen looks odd at first glance.
It makes sense when you realise that it is part of HMD’s repairability design ethos. If you look at the bottom of the phone, you see a tiny T3 Torx screw alongside the USB-C charging port and the SIM card slot.
If you crack the screen or the rear cover, or if the charging port breaks or even if your battery stops working, you can order a replacement from HMD. It comes with an iFixIt repair kit and instructions so you can fix the phone yourself.
Other than its Qi2 charging and repairability, the HMD Skyline has a couple of other noteworthy design elements. As well as the volume rocker and fingerprint-scanning power button on the right-hand side of the device, there’s also a shortcut button on the left-hand side.
By default, a long press cycles through sound modes and a double press activates the torch, but you can customise this in the settings.
The phone features an eSIM in addition to the nano SIM card slot at the bottom of the phone, which makes the entire setup process so much easier. You can quickly migrate your apps, photos, and messages from your old device.
But it’s important to remember that this is a mid-range device, despite its initial appearance. The screen is only a 1080 x 2400 FHD+ resolution. The processor is a middle of the road Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2, which is also found in the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion.
Features
As the first Android phone to arrive that was certified to work with the Qi2 wireless charging standard, I was pretty excited to see how it performed.
MagSafe is one of my favourite features on Apple phones, particularly when you pair it with the Standby functionality, so unlocking similar features on Android makes a lot of sense.
The good news is that the wireless charging works. Popping a Belkin Qi2 portable magnetic power bank on the back of the phone saw the phone start to charge quickly and effortlessly.
But there are a lot of first gen issues here. For a start, there’s the placement of the magnets on the phone.
When you attach the Belkin charger, it overhangs below the bottom of the phone by about a centimetre. It’s enough to make it more difficult to use. You can’t easily slip the phone and charger combo into your pocket, for example.
Compare that to the same Belkin charger on the back of the iPhone 15 Pro, and it aligns perfectly, with no overhanging bits and a sleek fit.
I expect that the Belkin Qi2 charger was likely designed to fit the iPhone specifically, so it’s not necessarily a poor reflection on the Skyline.
To further test the wireless charging, I tried attaching the Skyline to a MagSafe Belkin BoostCharge Pro, and instead of staying firmly attached in the same position in the way the iPhone does, the Skyline slowly rotates until it sits upside down.
It seems like the placement of the magnets and charger in the Skyline sits a bit too low, so the phone doesn’t sit comfortably on a magnetic charger.
I also found that it wouldn’t charge on a few of my old first generation Qi wireless chargers. It did work with some, though, and the ones I struggled with had a longer charging pad design.
The phone promises a digital detox mode for the HMD Skyline, as a way for users to help manage their online presence more easily. It’s due to arrive via a software update later this year, and I wasn’t able to test it for this review.
HMD has committed to two years of software updates and three years of security updates for the Skyline, which isn’t a huge amount given it ships with Android 14 and Android 15 has just been released. Compared to the seven years on offer from Google and Samsung, two years feels restrictive.
Cameras
It’s quite unusual to see a triple-lens camera array in a phone under $1000, let alone one with a 108-megapixel main lens. There’s also a 13 megapixel ultra-wide lens and a 50 megapixel telephoto lens.
Image quality is solid in sunlight, though it can’t compete with the quality on offer from flagships from Samsung, Google, or Apple.
Colours are vibrant and images offer plenty of detail. I did find that the phone did stutter a bit when cycling through shooting modes and moving the phone about to change subjects, which highlights some limitations of the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 processor.
Lower light images also come out a bit grainy, which is the perfect example of why megapixels aren’t everything when it comes to picture quality.
There’s a dedicated handheld astrophotography mode on board, which lets you take pictures of the night sky without a tripod.
On the front of the phone is a 50 megapixel selfie camera, which offers gesture control to activate the shutter. Throw up a peace sign and the camera will count down to the shot.
Battery life
The Skyline promises 48 hours of battery life, despite housing a smaller battery than many other devices at this price point.
Obviously, battery life varies dramatically depending on how you use your phone, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the phone at seven per cent battery after 48 hours off the charger.
It’s pretty quick to charge normally. It supports 33W fast charging, but be aware that there’s no wall charger in the box.
Price: How much does the HMD Skyline cost?
The HMD Skyline is available now from Amazon in either pink or black colours, for RRP$899.
Verdict: Should you buy the HMD Skyline?
The cost of living crisis has been felt everywhere, but it has also helped push the asking price of flagship smartphones beyond the means of many Australians.
Devices like the HMD Skyline offer a solid alternative, balancing brute processing power with cool features like Qi2 charging and solid cameras.
Repairability is a nice feature to have, but you’re not going to buy a phone on the off chance something breaks, and you want to fix it yourself.
The Skyline is a good phone for anyone not able to justify the expense of a flagship Android device, but still wanting better than average performance. At $899 it’s priced a bit beyond the best cheap phones in Australia, but it delivers enough to keep you happy.
It’s unlikely to sway any diehard iPhone or Samsung fans, but if you aren’t so fussy with your phone’s branding, this is a solid mid-range device.
Nick Broughall
Nick has been reviewing the latest technology and gadgets for over two decades. He’s edited leading Australian technology publications like Gizmodo, TechRadar and Finder; was a co-founder of gadget site EFTM and currently runs BTTR.reviews. He is a regular finalist in the Australian IT Journalism awards, and won the Best Reviewer award in 2016. These days, he tries to balance his gadget addictions with board games and bushwalking.
Looking for more great bargains? Sign up to our news.com.au checkout shopping newsletter to be kept in the loop about great products and upcoming sales.
You can also explore news.com.au Coupons for unbeatable deals on laptops from leading brands such as HP, Apple, Dell, and more.
‘Blew my mind’: New iPhone 16 feature wows
Apple’s latest iPhone 16 range finally comes with a long-awaited feature. But is it worth upgrading?
Big change to iPhone that’s hard to miss
Apple’s new iPhone 16 series is now available to the Australian public — and there’s a big change that’s hard to miss.
‘Yes, Google has finally done it’
People have been waiting for a foldable phone that they can actually use in every day life — and Google may have finally done it.
Where to get your hands on the latest iPhone 16
Apple’s latest tech launch has taken AI and convenience to a whole new level. Here’s where you can buy it.