The Nokia G21 is a latest funds smartphone from HMD International. It guarantees a three-day battery life and Android OS upgrades for the following two years. The G21 additionally contains a excessive refresh charge show that’s slowly changing into widespread within the sub Rs. 15,000 worth phase. The competitors is heating up on this house with manufacturers reminiscent of Redmi, Realme, and Samsung consistently making an attempt to outdo one another. The Nokia G21 is banking exhausting on its Android One roots and large battery capability to enchantment to purists. So, must you take into account the Nokia G21 for those who’re on a decent funds? Here is my assessment.
Nokia G21 worth in India
The Nokia G21 is priced at Rs. 12,999 in India for the bottom variant with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The opposite variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage is priced at Rs. 14,999. HMD International provides the Nokia G21 in two finishes, Nordic Blue and Nightfall, which is brown.
Nokia G21 design
Whereas most smartphones within the funds phase are inclined to sport shiny again panels with gradient patterns, the Nokia G21 feels a bit old-school. It has a textured again panel that’s made out of plastic, identical to the remainder of the cellphone. This texture helps hold fingerprints away. HMD International additionally features a case within the field. The again of the Nokia G21 homes an oblong digicam module Within the high left nook which does not protrude a lot.
The dewdrop notch on the Nokia G21 is pretty widespread in smartphones at this worth vary.
In tune with the present design traits, the edges of the Nokia G21 are utterly flat. The corners are rounded, so they will not dig into your palm if you maintain the smartphone. HMD International has gone for a side-mounted fingerprint scanner that is built-in within the energy button. The quantity buttons sit barely greater up on the identical aspect however are inside attain when utilizing the cellphone single-handedly.
On the opposite aspect, the Nokia G21 has a devoted Google Assistant button and the SIM tray. The three.5mm audio jack is current on the highest, whereas the USB Sort-C port is on the backside together with the speaker.
The Nokia G21 sports activities a 6.5-inch show with a 20:9 facet ratio and an HD+ decision. It has the dewdrop notch on the high which remains to be widespread in telephones at this worth vary. The show additionally has a thick backside chin. General, the Nokia G21 feels well-built and durable.
Nokia G21 specs and software program
The Nokia G21 has modest specs. It’s powered by a Unisoc T606 SoC which is an entry-level, octa-core 4G SoC with two ARM Cortex-A75 efficiency cores, and 6 ARM Cortex-A55 effectivity cores, all clocked at 1.6GHz. The Nokia G21 has an HD+ show with a 90Hz refresh charge and a most brightness of 400 nits. Storage enlargement is feasible by way of a devoted slot for a microSD card.
There’s assist for Bluetooth 5, dual-band Wi-Fi ac, NFC, and three satellite tv for pc navigation techniques. The cellphone packs a 5,050mAh battery with assist for as much as 18W quick charging, nonetheless HMD International bundles a 10W charger within the field.
The side-mounted fingerprint scanner is fast to unlock the Nokia G21
The Nokia G21 runs Android 11 and is part of the Android One program which implies you get inventory Android and a promise of two years of Android OS upgrades. It is nonetheless a bit disappointing to not have Android 12 out of the gate, which is what most producers are providing nowadays. My unit was operating the Might 2022 Android safety patch. Regardless that the UI is generally clear, I did discover apps reminiscent of ExpressVPN, LinkedIn, Netflix, and Spotify preinstalled. These apps might be uninstalled to reclaim house.
The Nokia G21 provides varied gestures to assist get issues accomplished shortly. For example, you’ll be able to carry out a double-tap gesture to wake the display, flip the the cellphone over to reject calls, double-tap the facility button to launch the digicam, and some extra. It additionally has inventory Android options reminiscent of Digital Wellbeing which supplies you a pleasant perception about your utilization habits.
Nokia G21 efficiency and battery life
The Nokia G21 provides acceptable efficiency for the worth. It was able to dealing with informal video games and mainstream apps with none hiccups. Nevertheless, extra demanding apps and video games did require an extended time to load. A fundamental degree of multitasking was attainable on the 6GB RAM variant that I had however there was no RAM extension function which might turn out to be useful for the 4GB variant. The side-mounted fingerprint scanner was fast at authentication. The standard of the HD+ decision show was fairly common too. This might be a deal breaker for some since full-HD+ shows aren’t unusual on this phase.
Benchmarks scores echoed my utilization expertise. In AnTuTu, the Nokia G21 scored simply 198,068 factors, whereas in Geekbench 5, it managed 306 factors and 1221 factors within the benchmark’s single-core and multi-core assessments, respectively. In graphics benchmark GFXBench, it managed 34fps and eight.8fps within the T-Rex and Automotive Chase check suites. These scores had been in keeping with different funds smartphones, such because the Redmi 10 Prime (Review) and the Samsung Galaxy F22 (Review) which are additionally out there on this worth vary.
The Nokia G21 has a triple-camera setup on the again
Gaming efficiency on the Nokia G21 in video games reminiscent of Name of Obligation: Cellular was strictly common. It defaulted to the ‘Low’ graphics and ‘Medium’ body charge setting. The sport took a while to load and I did observe occasional points with rendering objects inside the recreation, in sure maps. I performed the sport for about quarter-hour which resulted in a mere two p.c drop in battery degree, which was good. The cellphone did get barely heat to the contact on the finish of my gaming session.
Battery life is the place the Nokia G21 excels. The frugal SoC and the big battery permits it to simply hit the two-day mark, not less than with my typical utilization. In our HD video loop check, the Nokia G21 ran for 20 hours and 4 minutes, which is an excellent time. Sadly, the sluggish charging speeds of the bundled 10W charger resulted within the cellphone charging to only 23 p.c in half and hour and as much as 45 p.c in an hour. Charging the battery totally took over two hours. I really feel it might be price investing in a sooner 18W charger to scale back charging time.
Nokia G21 cameras
The Nokia G21 sports activities a triple rear digicam setup. It has a 50-megapixel major digicam, a 2-megapixel macro digicam, and a 2-megapixel depth digicam. For selfies, it has an 8-megapixel shooter. The digicam app is fairly fundamental and has completely different taking pictures modes to select from. The 50-megapixel major digicam pixel-bins images to 12.5-megapixels by default.
Nokia G21 major digicam daylight pattern (faucet to see full measurement)
Daylight images from the first digicam seemed good when seen merely on the cellphone’s show, however I observed that particulars weren’t as sharp upon zooming in. Textures and particulars on objects at a distance in panorama photographs tended to have a watercolour-like impact. The cellphone was fast to allow HDR in vibrant scenes which helped the cellphone seize respectable dynamic vary.
Nokia G21 major digicam close-up pattern (faucet to see full measurement)
Nokia G21 close-up pattern with Portrait mode (faucet to see full measurement)
Shut-up photographs had been surprisingly good with properly outlined edges and crisp particulars. Photographs captured with Portrait mode weren’t pretty much as good because the cellphone was sluggish to seize the picture, taking 4 to 5 seconds every time. Consequently, clicking images of pets was powerful, and wanted a number of makes an attempt to get a correct shot. Nonetheless objects fared higher. Macros images from the devoted digicam had mediocre particulars.
Nokia G21 Auto (high) and Night time mode (backside) digicam samples (faucet to see full measurement)
Low-light digicam efficiency was strictly common. Objects had been recognisable however the images did lack element within the darker areas of the body. Night time mode helped ship a brighter picture with higher particulars nevertheless it took over six seconds to take a shot, throughout which I needed to keep nonetheless to keep away from any blur within the output.
Nokia G21 daylight selfie with Portrait mode (high) and low-light selfie with Portrait mode (backside) (Faucet to see full measurement)
Selfies had been respectable in each daylight in addition to low-light circumstances. These clicked in Portrait mode had good edge detection and managed to blur the background correctly.
Video recording on the Nokia G21 maxed out at 1080p for the rear digicam. It lacked stabilisation leading to shaky footage. General, the digicam efficiency of the G21 was strictly common, and an ultra-wide-angle digicam may need introduced some versatility to this in any other case mediocre setup.
Verdict
The Nokia G21 is an Android One smartphone that gives a inventory Android expertise, with the promise of assured software program updates for the following few years. It provides good construct high quality and glorious battery life for each day utilization. Given its good qualities, the Nokia G21 ought to enchantment to an informal person who prefers a easy and clear Android interface. Having stated that, I am slightly upset that the G21 ships with Android 11 and never 12. Energy customers may discover the Nokia G21 to be barely underpowered. The cameras additionally fell in need of my expectations.
If you happen to can overlook its shortcomings, the Nokia G21 remains to be a reliable smartphone for informal use with good software program assist, which is not widespread on this worth vary. These wanting extra efficiency across the identical worth can take into account the Realme 9i (Review) or the Moto G51 (Review). If you’re eyeing the 6GB variant of the Nokia G21, it’s best to take into account the Redmi Note 10T 5G (Review) as an alternative.