a repairable and reliable Android phone

It’s been a busy year or so for HMD, with the brand emerging to take on big names like Samsung, Google Pixel, Xiaomi, and more in the Android cell phone arena. The latest from the company is the HMD Skyline, a mid-ranger with an emphasis on repairability, a selling point that others have steered clear of in the past, and Detox Mode, which makes the iPhone’s Do Not Disturb mode look almost basic in comparison.

However, the mid-range Android market is a congested space, with plenty of competition from the $500 cell phones we’ve already seen this year and new ones arriving all the time. Does the HMD Skyline have what it takes to stand out from the devices in our guide to the best mid-range phones? Or, is there still work to do before we see this brand make an impact on the wider industry? There’s only one way to find out, so let’s get into it.

Price and availability

The HMD Skyline starts at $499.99 / £399.99, and you can pick it up via the official HMD store or other online retailers. In terms of colorways, it’s available in Neon Pink, Twisted Black, or Blue Topaz, with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Or, if you’re in Europe, you can choose between 128GB+8GB and 256GB+12GB variants. For this review, we tried out the Blue Topaz model.

Specs

Here are the HMD Skyline’s specs:

Features and software

The HMD Skyline ships with Android 14, offering a similar software experience to previous Android users. There’s a bit of HMD customization with the software, like the colorless icons, but for the most part, it’s similar to what you’d get from a Google Pixel or Motorola device. There’s not a bunch of bloatware to deal with, either, though you should still be prepared to delete the usual suspects, such as Facebook and Booking.com, if you don’t use them.

The HMD Skyline boasts two relatively unique features that help it stand out from the crowd. The first is repairability. This device received a rare 9/10 from the esteemed iFixit on its repairability scale, and that’s a big deal. Personally, I’m not the type to mess around with a screwdriver unless I have to, and my review unit isn’t broken, so I wasn’t going to take that chance. Still, it’s a great option to have if you’re sick of getting rid of phones when their batteries die or screens smash, and it’s easy enough to pick up new parts online via the iFixit store.

The Skyline’s second selling point feature is Detox Mode. With Detox Mode, you can disable certain apps and mute contacts, keeping your phone free of notifications when you need to get away from it all. If you find yourself working too much on weekends or wasting time on social media, you can schedule Detox Mode to kick in at a certain time. As someone who spends far too much time doom-scrolling on social media, I can get behind this concept, and it makes the phone a perfect option for parents looking to get their children using smart devices without the concern of them spending all day on Instagram.

However, there’s a bit of a software caveat with the Skyline in that it only supports two Android software upgrades, carrying you through until Android 16. The problem here is that Android 15 just arrived, and there are rumors that 16 could launch much earlier than usual next year, which would mean this relatively new phone could be on its last update within 12 months. This isn’t a deal breaker, but it’s a little peculiar that HMD has put such an emphasis on hardware repairability when its software could be outdated within two years.

Design

The HMD Skyline’s design is interesting and, for me, feels slightly like a crossover of the Samsung Galaxy S24 and Microsoft’s ill-fated Lumia series. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, I had a real soft spot for the Lumia, but the completely flat top and bottom and rounded sides can look a little at odds with each other. Aesthetics are, of course, subjective, but for me, especially when it comes to the Topaz Blue and Neon Pink colorways, I like how striking the Skyline is, and it’s a relatively comfortable form factor for everyday use, too.

Outside of its funky design, the Skyline boasts an extra button on its chassis that acts like the iPhone 15 and 16’s Action button. Essentially, you can decide what to use it for, whether it be opening the camera, bringing up your Google Wallet, or playing your music. It’s only a little thing, but it’s incredibly useful, and that’s a hallmark of smart cell phone design.

However, while the Skyline looks nice, its IP54 rating is a little disappointing. For those who don’t know, an IP rating details how dustproof and waterproof a phone is, and the golden standard these days is around IP68. Put simply, a phone with an IP68 rating can survive an accidental dunking; a phone with an IP54 rating might not. In fairness, this low IP rating is potentially due to HMD’s emphasis on making the Skyline repairable, but that in turn makes the repairability a bit of a double-edged sword.

Display

The HMD Skyline’s display is one of the phone’s highlights. It’s a massive 144Hz P-OLED display, marrying super smooth visuals with vivid onscreen colors. If you spend a lot of time streaming video content on your phone, it’s ideal. The bezels are a little chunky, but not as prominent as those on the competitor Google Pixel 8a, so you’ve got plenty of screen retail estate to play with.

Unfortunately, the story of the Skyline’s display is a little different if you’re using it outside, especially in direct sunlight. The phone’s peak brightness of 1,000 nits lags behind that of a lot of phones at the same price point, as well as some cheaper options, meaning it can be a little difficult to discern if the sun is blaring in the sky. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s just a bit disappointing given that everything else about this phone’s display is so impressive.

Cameras

As far as mid-range cameras go, the HMD Skyline’s triple camera set-up is decent enough. It’s not up there with other mid-rangers like the Honor 200, but it does a solid enough job, and that applies to the 108MP main wide lens, 50MP telephoto, and 13MP ultrawide. As ever, I’ve used my dog, Floyd, as a model to get an idea of the main camera’s quality, as you can see below.

In less-than-ideal lighting scenarios, the Skyline can still achieve decent results, capturing Floyd’s fur with an impressive level of detail. However, if you look a little closer, it feels like it’s missing a bit of definition, which may be in part due to the overcast weather at the time of taking the picture. I took some more pictures in my garden, and though they’d be fine enough for social media, I have seen more defined images of this particular foliage using other phones. Ultimately, the Skyline’s camera feels very lighting-dependent.

Outside of the cameras themselves, the HMD is a little lacking in terms of editing features. Admittedly, I might be a bit spoiled by my experience using Google Pixel and Apple devices, with those brands offering some of the best photo editing tools on the market, but all you have here is Google’s AI Blur. I’d like to see at least a Magic Eraser equivalent, as I’ve become more and more reliant on that bit of software since Google first introduced it.

The Skyline’s 50MP selfie camera is probably its most impressive, partially due to the fact a lot of other mid-rangers are slightly disappointing in this area. It captures high-quality shots, and you even have the option to use portrait mode when taking selfies, applying a nice and subtle bokeh effect to the background. There’s also the option to activate the selfie camera’s timer by throwing up a thumbs up, peace sign, or love heart, which is a cute little gimmick and another reason, as well as Detox Mode, that this phone might be ideal for younger users.

Performance

One of my biggest complaints surrounding the HMD Pulse Pro was its sub-par performance, but I’m glad to report things are much better with this model. It’s still not going to blow you away; after all, its Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset is already a little outdated at this point, but it’s plenty capable of all the everyday stuff, like social media scrolling, video recording, and calls, as well a bit of gaming.

In casual games like Candy Crush and Marvel Snap, the Skyline has no issues whatsoever, performing as you might expect from a roughly $500 device. It gets a bit trickier with more demanding titles like Honkai Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero, with a noticeable lag during the gameplay, but it’s by no means unplayable. Just be prepared to lower the in-game settings if you want to avoid the phone struggling to keep up.

In terms of temperature, I felt the phone heat up a little after around 45 minutes of Honkai Star Rail, but it never got so hot that I felt like I had to put it down. This is about what I’d expect of a mid-ranger that doesn’t boast incredible gaming capabilities, and I’ve had the same issue with much more expensive devices, so I won’t be docking any points. It’s just something to be aware of.

Battery

The HMD Skyline’s battery is decent, easily lasting a full day of around 14 hours even with relatively regular use and a bit of mobile gaming. It’s not going to get you through two full days of use, though, unless you spend more than half of that time with the phone locked and in standby mode, so be prepared to stick it on charge before bed or first thing in the morning.

In terms of charging speed, this Android isn’t the quickest, despite the promise of 33W fast charging. We managed a full charge from flat in around two hours. That’s not horrendous, but it’s nowhere near as quick as what some of the Chinese Android brands are offering, and we recorded much quicker speeds while testing devices like the OnePlus 12R and Xiaomi 14T. It does, however, offer 15W Qi2 wireless charging, which is a nice bonus.

Should you buy the HMD Skyline?

Ultimately, the HMD Skyline is probably HMD’s best phone yet, with a sleek design, impressive display, and a repairability factor that few can match. That isn’t to mention Detox Mode, which could be a real game-changer for anyone who struggles to ween themselves away from their screen, which, let’s be fair, is a lot of us these days. Compared to a lot of other Android brands, HMD is still finding its footing in the industry, but the Skyline feels very much like a step in the right direction, and I’d certainly recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a capable mid-ranger.

However, I have to be fair and admit this isn’t a perfect phone. The IP54 rating is lower than I’d like, especially from something in the mid-range price bracket, and I’m not sure if the repairability factor is worth it if this is the sacrifice needed to make it possible. There’s also the fact that you only get two Android updates, one of which should be rolling out any day now, and the middling cameras. Still, almost all mid-range devices have their drawbacks, so it’s up to you what you most value in a new cell phone.

Alternatives

If our HMD Skyline review hasn’t sold you, check out some suggestions for alternatives below.

OnePlus 12R

While the Skyline beats out the OnePlus 12R in terms of repairability, and there’s little to separate them camera-wise, this might be the better pick if you’re looking for something better equipped for mobile gaming. For more in-depth details, check out our OnePlus 12R review.

Google Pixel 8a

The Google Pixel 8a is a bit more understated and compact than the HMD Skyline but benefits from seven years of OS and security updates. That’s an extra five years compared to the HMD, so if you’re looking to pick something up you don’t have to worry about until 2030, the Pixel is a great call. For more details, check out our full Google Pixel 8a review.