The primary appeal of the $499.99 HMD Skyline is the ability to replace the back cover, the battery, and the screen yourself through a partnership with iFixit. The phone also offers long battery life, speedy charging, and decent performance. It isn’t without downsides, however, such as its unappealing design, so-so cameras, and limited software support. Ultimately, the Editors’ Choice-winning Pixel 8a is a better value at the same price, thanks to its faster processor, sleeker looks, better image quality, and lengthy support commitment from Google. Design: Blocky, With an Inset DisplayThe HMD Skyline measures 6.29 by 2.98 by 0.35 inches (HWD) and weighs 7.39 ounces. It’s heavier than both the similarly sized $549.99 Motorola Edge (6.28 by 2.83 by 0.31 inches, 6.14 ounces) and the smaller Google Pixel 8a (5.99 by 2.86 by 0.35 inches, 6.63 ounces). The extra weight of the phone’s chunky metal casing is noticeable when you hold it.
(Credit: Sarah Lord)
The 6.5-inch display has a resolution of 2,400 by 1,080 pixels, a 144Hz adaptive refresh rate, and a peak brightness of 1,000 nits. The Motorola Edge has a 6.6-inch panel with the same resolution and adaptive refresh rate, but it’s brighter at 1,200 nits. Meanwhile, the Pixel 8a’s 6.1-inch screen matches the resolution of the other phones, tops out at 120Hz, and provides up to 2,000 nits of brightness. Though the Skyline’s display is dimmer than either, I didn’t have any trouble seeing or using it. It looked crisp indoors and was readable outside under the summer sun.
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(Credit: Sarah Lord)
A thin bezel surrounds the screen’s rounded corners, and a selfie camera is centered at the top. Rather than keep the frame tight around the screen, HMD opts for a square metal shell around everything. Those who know their Nokia history will see the phone’s passing resemblance to old Lumia devices, such as the Lumia 1020. Also, the replaceable display and back cover partially necessitate this design. Unfortunately, it makes it difficult to comfortably fit in a pocket.
(Credit: Sarah Lord)
The phone is available in two colors: Neon Pink or Twisted Black. I tested the pink version, which arrived with a matching wallpaper and black-and-white app icons. The bottom of the device hides a tray for nano SIM/microSD cards, a USB-C 2.0 port, and a speaker grille, while the right side houses a volume rocker and a power button with a built-in fingerprint sensor.
(Credit: Sarah Lord)
A customizable button is on the left side of the frame. By default, a press-and-hold gesture mutes the phone, while pressing it twice quickly turns on the flashlight. You can customize what happens when you press the power button twice, such as launching the camera app.
(Credit: Sarah Lord)
Both the power button and the user-programmable button are textured, but they can still be a little difficult to find since they are flush against the side of the phone. The volume rocker, on the other hand, is easy to locate because it protrudes from the side edge. All of the buttons feel sturdy and emit a satisfying click when you press them.
(Credit: Sarah Lord)
The phone offers a face unlock feature in addition to the aforementioned fingerprint sensor for biometric security. I found I had to enter my passcode several times as backup when attempting to use the face unlock method. Fingerprint sensors are a more secure way to unlock your phone, and the Skyline’s worked well in testing.The Skyline has an IP54 rating for protection against dust and sprays of water from any direction. The front is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 panel. The Motorola Edge has a much better IP68 rating, while the Pixel 8a isn’t far behind with an IP67 rating. Both phones can be submerged in water for a short time; the Skyline cannot.One note about the phone’s marketed repairability: Partner iFixit has published the repair guides on its website, but as of this writing, none of the replacement parts are available. HMD was not able to say when the parts would reach iFixit’s web store. If the rear panel, battery, or display breaks soon after purchase, you may have to go through HMD to find replacements.Performance: Smooth, But Not Top-Notch The Skyline has a Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. HMD also plans to sell 8GB/128GB and 12GB/256GB models, though neither is available yet. The good news is that you can add up to 512GB of extra space via the microSD card slot. I didn’t encounter any performance issues in day-to-day use; multitasking was seamless, and gestures felt responsive.
(Credit: GeekBench/GFXBench/PCMag)
On Geekbench 6, which measures processor performance, the Skyline scored 1,031 on the single-core test and 2,919 on the multi-core test. The Motorola Edge, which also uses the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2, posted similar scores of 1,018 and 2,934. The Pixel 8a, which uses a Google Tensor G3 chip, got much higher scores of 1,545 and 4,208.The Skyline ran at 13 frames per second (fps) on the GFXBench Aztec Ruins 1440p GPU test, which matches the Moto Edge’s score. However, the Pixel 8a outpaced both at 38fps when tested under the same conditions, meaning it produces smoother gameplay.Geshin Impact was fun to play on the Skyline. It stuttered only a couple of times during a 30-minute gaming session. The phone did start to get warm after about 25 minutes, but not to the point of discomfort. Less intensive games, such as Alto’s Odyssey, don’t pose a problem, even over extended sessions.Battery Life: Long EnoughThe Skyline comes with a user-replaceable 4,600mAh battery that lasted 14 hours and 18 minutes in our rundown test, which involves streaming a 1080p video over Wi-Fi with the screen at full brightness. In the same test, the Pixel 8a’s 4,492mAh battery performed worse (12 hours, 15 minutes), while the Moto Edge’s 5,000mAh battery did better (15 hours, 31 minutes).
(Credit: Sarah Lord)
The Skyline supports 33W fast wired charging, 15W wireless charging, and 5W reverse wireless charging. You don’t get a charging adapter in the box. The Moto Edge supports 68W wired and 15W wireless charging, while the Pixel 8a tops out at just 18W wired and 7.5W wirelessly. The Skyline took 2 hours and 6 minutes to charge from 0 to 100% over a rapid wired connection. The Moto Edge (1 hour, 56 minutes) and Pixel 8a (1 hour, 50 minutes) were a bit faster to recharge.Connectivity and Calls: Solid 5GThe Skyline supports sub-6GHz 5G (including C-band) on all major US carriers but not high-speed mmWave 5G. The Edge also lacks the latter, though the Pixel 8a supports it. You can get the Skyline unlocked on HMD’s website, and it will soon be available on Amazon and other national retailers. The phone supports eSIM, but I used a physical T-Mobile SIM card for testing. Despite somewhat weak T-Mobile service in my area, the Skyline reached peak download speeds of 136Mbps and upload speeds of 68.2Mbps. When tested on the same network in the same location, an iPhone 14 Pro reached 85.1Mbps down and 69.5Mbps up.
(Credit: Sarah Lord)
The Skyline supports the newer Wi-Fi 6E standard, though I used a Wi-Fi 6 router to test Wi-Fi performance. From a close distance to the router, the phone managed blistering download speeds of 518Mbps and average upload speeds of 22.6Mbps. The iPhone 14 Pro hit 398Mbps down and 22.8Mbps up from the same location. When I moved the Skyline to the edge of my Wi-Fi network, the download and upload speeds dropped to 8.23Mbps and 2.57Mbps, respectively—much worse than the iPhone 14’s results of 47.3Mbps and 15.9Mbps.Call quality is good. I could hear people clearly, and people could hear me just fine, even when I was walking on a noisy road. The earpiece reached 79.8dB, while the speakerphone reached 101.8dB, so both are plenty loud. The phone does a good job of bringing out the low-end in our bass test track, The Knife’s “Silent Shout.” Not only could I distinguish the bass line of the opening sections, but I could feel the back of the phone vibrate slightly. The speakers get loud enough to fill a small room, though you should still use wireless headphones via the phone’s Bluetooth 5.2 connection to get the best sound. There is no 3.5mm headphone jack.NFC support for mobile payments is available.Camera: About AverageThe Skyline comes with a 108MP main camera with electrical and optical image stabilization (EIS, OIS), a 13MP ultra-wide camera, and a 50MP telephoto camera with 4x hybrid zoom. Meanwhile, the 50MP front camera can track your eyes for focusing and quickly cycle from 0.5x to 4x zoom for well-framed selfies. Photos from the main, telephoto, and selfie cameras all use pixel-binning, though you can opt for full-resolution shots via the settings if you wish.Photo quality is just average. The main camera does a decent job of capturing photos when there’s adequate light, but it struggles with backlight. When I took pictures on an overcast day, for example, the camera had difficulty with the cloudy (but bright) sky. The photo of the tree below looks hazy, and the lack of detail in the branches is apparent.
Main camera (Credit: Sarah Lord)
The wide-angle camera did better in the shot below and produced more even lighting. The leaves look bright and green, though some of the grass looks blurry and pixelated.
Ultra-wide camera (Credit: Sarah Lord )
Backlighting caused significant issues when I zoomed in. The below images show results at 1x and 2x.
Main camera (1x) (Credit: Sarah Lord)
Telephoto camera (2x) (Credit: Sarah Lord)
Image quality is best at .5x, 1x, and 2x. It only gets worse the further you zoom.
Telephoto camera (3x) (Credit: Sarah Lord )
The main camera did a good job of capturing the flower below. All of the edges are clearly defined.
Main camera (Credit: Sarah Lord)
The selfie camera did a fine job of capturing my dog under lamplight, and it also works well for video calls. One neat feature is that you can take a selfie just by flashing a peace sign. You just need to put your fingers directly in front of your face to trigger the countdown.
Selfie camera (Credit: Sarah Lord )
As for video, the camera can capture 4K and HD clips at 30fps, which are fine for casual use. Recordings show a fair amount of grain, especially in darker scenes. The phone offers access to Google’s AI Blur tool, but that’s it as far as advanced editing is concerned. If you’re interested in smartphone photography, the Pixel 8a has better hardware and more AI software features.Software: A Useful Detox ModeThe Skyline runs a fairly clean install of Android 14. HMD says it will provide two years of OS upgrades and three years of security patches for the phone. Motorola offers the same support for the Edge, but Google promises seven years of software and security updates for the Pixel 8a. The limited software support is at odds with the very idea of user-replaceable parts, which are intended to help keep the device in working order for a longer period of time.The phone comes with a few popular apps, such as Amazon, Booking.com, Facebook, and Fitbit, along with a few weird ones, like a discount shopping app called Kindred. You can remove all of these.
(Credit: HMD/PCMag)
The Skyline doesn’t have access to many AI enhancements other than the aforementioned blur tool, but you can completely mute apps in its Detox mode. Simply choose which apps you want to silence and then activate the Detox Mode to block them on your phone indefinitely or on a schedule. The apps still appear on the home screen, though you won’t be able to access them. I found this feature useful and dependable, especially when I was trying to get work done. The HMD Skyline lets you replace several parts on your own (once they become available), has a useful focus mode, and offers above-average battery performance, but it’s not especially powerful or adept at taking photos. We also find its blocky, heavy design unappealing. Overall, the Skyline has some appeal if you prioritize repairability, sustainability, and fast charging, though most people are better off with the Google Pixel 8a because of its better build quality, broader 5G support, more advanced imaging tech, and seven-year support window.
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About Sarah Lord
Analyst, Mobile
I’m a Mobile Analyst at PCMag, which means I cover wireless phones, plans, tablets, ereaders, and a whole lot more. I’ve always loved technology and have been forming opinions on consumer electronics since childhood. Prior to joining PCMag, I covered TVs and home entertainment at CNET, served as the tech and electronics reviews fellow at Insider, and began my career by writing laptop reviews as an intern at Tom’s Hardware. I am also a professional actor with credits in theater, film, and television.
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