Review: HMD Skyline

The number one Android smartphone feature I’ve been looking forward to in 2024 is Qi2. This is the new wireless charging standard that enables a MagSafe-like magnetic charging system, much like what’s available on modern iPhones. It allows you to magnetically pop on a battery pack, or magnetically stick your phone to a Qi2 charger for perfect alignment and faster wireless charging speeds. It even opens up other accessories, like magnetic tripods, camera accessories, and my favorites: magnetic car docks and bike mounts.

You might then understand my frustration when every Android phone announced this year has yet to feature the new charging standard. Even the recently announced Google Pixel 9 series still uses the older Qi standard. The exception? HMD’s Skyline, a new device from the company that previously only made Nokia-branded phones. It’s the world’s first Qi2-certified Android phone on the market, but that’s not the only thing that makes it unique—it’s also user-repairable and comes in a hot neon-pink color (!).

Magnetic Android

The first thing I did after setting up the Skyline was pop it on a MagSafe wireless charger I had lying around. It attached magnetically! Hooray! Except it didn’t charge. Weird. I then took it to a normal wireless charger and had no luck. I tried it on more than five wireless chargers, some a mix of Qi and others MagSafe-certified, and the phone didn’t recharge on any of them. Cue my disappointment.

The Qi2 standard is supposed to be backward compatible with Qi, meaning your older wireless chargers should still be able to recharge Qi2 phones. So what gives? Well, it turns out the magnetic wireless charging coils may not line up with all Qi chargers, MagSafe or not. Some Qi chargers will work (HMD shared a preliminary list of several), but more likely than not, you may have to buy a Qi2 charger. I asked Nomad to send me its new Qi2 Stand and the Skyline started recharging instantly when I plopped it on. I don’t love this limitation but at least there’s a solution.

All is not rosy. Even if the Skyline magnetically sticks to this Qi2 wireless charging stand, the strength of the magnetic connection isn’t great. The phone started tilting to the side and, on its own, rotated horizontally because it’s slightly top-heavy. Compare this to my Pixel 8 Pro with a Peak Design MagSafe case, which stays perfectly still on the same charger because the magnets in the case are much stronger.

This makes me concerned about when I’d want to attach other magnetic accessories to the Skyline—will they just fall off that much easier? I’m happy that I finally get the magnetic benefits of Qi2 in an Android phone, but I hope this is just a lackluster implementation and not a sign of things to come.

Standard Android

The Skyline is an otherwise perfectly fine Android phone. I like its rectangular design, hard flat edges and all. The neon pink is especially fun, and I’m glad HMD is bold enough to offer loud and proud colors. The whole thing is a bit slippery though. There’s no headphone jack, but HMD does offer a microSD card slot to go with 256 GB of internal storage.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu