Nokia G21 Full Review Part-I | Charging Speed, Display, and Unboxing
Introduction:
The Nokia G21, which arrives in early 2022, is a digit behind the times, seeking to give a cheap all-around package focusing on battery life. It’s never easy to compete with Xiaomi and Realme at their own game. Samsung has been bringing out aggressive entry-level offers for individuals who are still sceptical of the traditional Chinese manufacturers. So, at roughly €170, we’re here to see how competitive Nokia can be.
The G21’s primary target is endurance, with Nokia claiming a three-day battery life in their real-world’ simulation of 5 hours of active general use every day. Given the 5,050mAh battery capacity, unassuming Unisoc SoC, and moderate screen resolution and refresh rate, that’s not impossible, but we’ll get to battery testing soon enough.
The 6.5-inch 720p LCD with a 90Hz refresh rate isn’t out of place on the phone at this price bracket, though OLEDs are also available, putting it at a disadvantage.
Similarly, in this particular version, the 50MP primary camera on the G21 makes sense for the money, even if somewhat better hardware is available elsewhere. The exclusion of an ultrawide camera, any ultrawide camera, which has become a standard even among inexpensive phones in recent years, is even more shocking.
The Nokia contains basic features like a dedicated microSD card and a headphone jack, and an FM radio receiver built-in – it’s not quite as good as a flagship for having all of these. Still, it’ll be a seamless adjustment for someone from simpler times.
Nokia G21: A Quick Look at Space
- Body: 164.6×75.9×8.5mm, 190g; Glass front, plastic frame, and plastic back
- 6.50 inch display “IPS LCD, 90Hz, 400 nits (typ), 720x1600px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 270ppi, IPS LCD, 90Hz, 400 nits (typ), 720x1600px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 270ppi
- Octa-core (2×1.6 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6×1.6 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G57 MP1. Chipset: Unisoc T606 (12 nm):
- Memory: eMMC 5.1; microSDXC; 64GB 3GB RAM, 64GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 4GB RAM (dedicated slot).
- Android 11 is the operating system and software.
- Wide (main) camera: 50 MP, f/1.8, 28mm, 1/2.76 “, 0.64m, PDAF; Macro: 2 MP; Depth: 2 MP; Macro: 2 MP; Depth: 2 MP
- 8 MP, f/2.0, front camera (wide).
- Video capture: 1080p@30fps for the rear camera; 1080p@30fps for the front camera.
- 5050mAh battery; 18W fast charging, USB Power Delivery 3.0
- Miscellaneous: Fingerprint reader (on the side); FM radio with RDS; 3.5mm jack
Unboxing of the Nokia G21:
Unboxing the G21 isn’t a long process because the cardboard box doesn’t include anything. You’ll also receive a charger and a USB cord in addition to the phone.
The adapter is also a basic 10W one, far less than the phone’s supported charging capacity of 18W. Almost all competitors include more powerful chargers, and some even outperform the phones that come with them (the Redmi 10 and its 22.5W adapter vs 18W charging support).
Design:
The Nokia G21 is a breath of fresh air of simplicity in a world dominated by designs that try to stand out, such as the Samsung A series’ array of colours the Realms ‘Dare to leap’ insignias. With the overly-accented camera islands (Xiaomi and Realme, again), the Nokia G21 is a fresh air of simplicity in a world dominated by designs that try to stand out for the sake.
The phone comes in two hues that aren’t particularly stunning. Our review unit is in the ‘Nordic Blue’ hue, a dark blue-green with more personality than the other two. The ‘Dusk’ choice ranges from black to dark grey, with a tinge of brown thrown in. Both have a subtle grace about them.
The Plastic Rear Panel:
The plastic rear panel is textured in what appears to be a delicate striped pattern, but closer scrutiny reveals it to be concentric large-radius arcs, regardless of hue. What distinguishes it from most phones on the market, whether luxury or affordable, is virtually always glossy or matte but rarely textured.
We’d want to argue that the texture makes the back panel extra gripping, but that isn’t the case. Because of the limited contact area with your skin, the surface may be more slippery depending on whose fingertips are touching it. It does collect up fingerprints, textured or not, but they’re easy to wash away.
The G21’s camera island has a similar minimalist design, with three modules lined up in a tight configuration in the top left corner. The gadget is raised enough (and appears to be soft enough) to get scratched very readily – we had a few scuffs from just the standard review procedure, and real-life will almost certainly be rougher on its finish.
The G21’s polycarbonate frame features a smooth finish and is less likely to collect fingerprints. There are no complaints about the flat sides, which provide plenty of grips.
A capacitive fingerprint sensor:
A capacitive fingerprint sensor is located in the power button on the right side of the G21. It’s well-positioned for unlocking with either a left index finger or a right thumb, and it doesn’t care which one you use.
One potential issue is that there is no option to need a press to engage, which means you’re too likely to be shut out of fingerprint authentication due to failed inadvertent attempts detected while simply handling the phone. The volume rocker is on the right side, a touch too high for use without a slight grip modification, but it’s not a dealbreaker.
A Google Assistant key is located on the left side of the G21 and serves as an always-on shortcut to the function. We want to be able to remap it to anything else or turn it off entirely. Still, that option isn’t available – even turning off Google Assistant doesn’t disable the key, and tapping it instead prompts you to re-enable Assistant.
The card slot is located above that helpful (or aggravating, depending on your mood) button. The tray can hold two nano SIMs and a microSD card, and all three can be used simultaneously.
The perimeter tour continues on the bottom, where a loudspeaker and a mic pinhole flank the USB-C port. A 3.5mm headphone jack is connected to another mic pinhole on the top.
The G21’s business end features:
The G21’s business end features a 6.5-inch display surrounded by modest bezels on the sides and top but a more prominent chin. This appears to be the usual in the low market sector, although the one on the Nokia is noticeably stronger. It’s a non-issue in the larger scheme of things, and it could be advantageous to handling for those who insist on meatier bezels to help with that.
The selfie camera is housed in a small waterdrop-shaped cutout in the top edge of the display, which is another standard design element. The earpiece above it serves only as an earpiece, not as a second speaker.
The G21’s dimensions are 164.6×75.9×8.5mm, making it too big for a 6.5-inch phone in its class. The Galaxy A22 and Realme 8 are slightly more compact (by a noticeable 2mm narrower and 5mm shorter, respectively), thanks to smaller screens and thinner bezels. However, the Realme 10’s footprint is similar to that of the Nokia G21. The G21 is the heaviest of the three, weighing 190 grams, though the difference between it and the lightest, the Realme, isn’t significant.
The 6.5-inch display is adequate:
Given the affordability, the Nokia G21 has a 6.5-inch display with a 1600x720px resolution, which is an understandable compromise in pixel count. It still results in a pixel density of 270ppi, which is adequate.
It’s an LCD, which isn’t surprising for the price. However, Samsung does include a Super AMOLED display with the A22. They are, however, manufactured by Samsung, and the A22 is slightly more expensive.
Refresh Rate:
The refresh rate was prioritized in the G21’s budget, and the 90Hz capacity is welcome. Regarding user experience, we believe the shift from 60Hz to 90Hz is more noticeable than the rise from 90 to 120Hz, and 90Hz is also more frugal than higher RR. We’re not suggesting that 120Hz is terrible; we’re just saying that 90Hz is sufficient for the G21’s goals.
Nokia claims a maximum brightness of 400nits for the G21, but we found it to be higher. Still, 437nits isn’t a lot for an LCD, and with only a slight improvement in bright light, you might struggle in direct sunlight. The nicely high contrast – as high as LCDs go – will be appreciated in less demanding ambient situations.
Colour Management:
When it comes to colour management, there aren’t any colour modes (although there is a colour temperature slider), and the phone doesn’t claim to cover a vast colour range. And, when examining sRGB colour swatches in their default condition, it’s average in terms of general accuracy, but there’s a notable chilly shift (dE2000 for white is 10). When we push the temperature slider to the warmest setting, the blue tint vanishes, and we achieve an average dE2000 of 2.9 for the set of sRGB patterns – a decent performance for the class, but it comes at the cost of 60nits of maximum brightness.
The Nokia G21 does not support HDR:
The G21 offers two refresh rate options: Standard limits things to 60Hz, while Adaptive allows it to go up to 90Hz with a simple activity-based logic that reverts to 60Hz after a few seconds if you don’t touch the screen. It’s a practical and straightforward approach, albeit we’ve found minimal difference in battery life between 60Hz and 90Hz modes on most phones with 90Hz LCDs in the past. Adaptive conduct, in any event, couldn’t hurt.
Battery life of the Nokia G21:
Nokia claims that the G21 has a 3-day battery life, based on 5 hours of actual usage (‘gaming, video streaming, calling, sending SMS, browsing, and utilizing apps such as social media, news, navigation, and music’) in an indoor environment with ‘standard’ settings. While our testing differs, we’ll acknowledge that the phone has a marathon runner’s makings, a modest CPU at the helm, a 720p display, and a massive, 5050mAh battery within. That’s very much what we found in our tests.
In its Adaptive refresh rate setting, the G21 lasted nearly 20 hours of web browsing, with 1-2s spikes to 90Hz on page loading (every 10s) and 60Hz. Video playback was a touch more taxing, though the 16 hours we clocked aren’t bad. Also, over 37 hours of voice calls is a lot.
The Nokia G21’s overall endurance rating was then calculated to be 136 hours.
The Charging Speed:
The Nokia G21 can charge up to 18W through USB Power Delivery, although it only comes with a 10W adaptor. We measured a total charge time of 2:49h with this bundled device, with the battery indicator displaying 22 per cent at the 30-minute point. That’s slow even for a budget phone, and comparable Samsungs aren’t much better. In any case, overnight charging with the in-box charger appears to be your best bet.
If you have a PD-capable adapter, you might obtain better results. We tried a third-party unit that can deliver 18W, which brought us 37 per cent in half an hour and cut the 0-100 per cent duration by 40 minutes. It’s one of the better results outside of the chart-topping artists’ unique charging technology.
Test of the speaker:
The Nokia G21 has a single bottom-firing loudspeaker. At this price point, stereo speakers are more or less expected, but stereo speakers can be purchased for the same price – take the Redmi 10, for example.
The Nokia’s single speaker isn’t particularly loud. It scored in the ‘Below Average’ category in our testing – on pace with the Galaxy A22, although the Realme 8 is somewhat more boisterous and the Redmi 10 substantially louder. Despite the lacklustre volume, the Nokia sounds surprisingly good for such a small device – it’s better balanced than the Galaxy’s bathroom-like sound and the Realme’s too high-forward sound.
