The Nokia G20 has a refined but sensible design, claims to supply a 3-day battery life, and runs on Android 11 software program that is as near inventory as doable. On paper, it looks like an honest finances smartphone, with a deal with construct high quality and hassle-free on a regular basis efficiency. Nonetheless, after utilizing it for per week, I found that it didn’t meet a few of my expectations, making it fairly arduous to suggest.
Nokia G20 worth and variants
The Nokia G20 is out there in a single 4GB RAM and 64GB storage configuration, which is priced at Rs. 12,999 in India. It has a triple-slot tray and accepts two Nano-SIMs together with a microSD card (as much as 512GB). Whereas the worth shouldn’t be unreasonable for a fundamental smartphone today, take a fast look at what the competitors provides when it comes to specs and value-added options, and it is easy to conclude that the Nokia G20 is overpriced.
Nokia G20 design
The design of this telephone is a mixture of what we have seen with the Nokia 2.4 (Overview) and Nokia 5.4 (Overview). It weighs 197g and is 9.2mm thick. The Nokia G20’s body and again panel are fabricated from plastic, however it would not look or really feel low-cost. The again panel has a nice grooved texture, which makes it straightforward to grip this telephone, and likewise provides it a premium really feel. My evaluation unit got here within the Evening end, which is mainly a darkish blue color with a lustrous purple shine that is seen at an angle.
You will see a round digicam module on the again, like on the Nokia 5.4, however the G20 has a fingerprint reader positioned on the proper facet as an alternative of beneath the cameras. Above the fingerprint reader is the amount rocker, which was a bit arduous to succeed in given how tall this telephone is. There is a Google Assistant key on the left facet, and above that’s the SIM tray. Whereas voice instructions work properly when the telephone is unlocked, they can’t be triggered when the telephone is locked. That is the place the devoted button is useful.
The Nokia G20’s plastic again panel appears to be like and feels premium.
A single speaker, Kind-C USB port, and mic are on the underside, whereas the headphone jack and secondary mic are on the highest.
The 6.5-inch show includes a notch on the high, which appears a bit outdated now that many of the competitors at this worth stage has moved on to smaller hole-punch cameras. There’s additionally a noticeable chin on the backside, with a Nokia brand drawing consideration. The glass entrance panel doesn’t appeal to mud or choose up fingerprints simply.
Nokia G20 specs and software program
The Nokia G20 makes use of a MediaTek G35 processor with eight Cortex-A53 cores operating at a most frequency of two.3Ghz, and an built-in IMG PowerVR GE8320 GPU. There is no dual-band Wi-Fi (solely 2.4GHz is supported), however you do get Bluetooth 5 and help for GPS/AGPS, GLONASS and Beidou navigation. There’s additionally an FM radio which requires you to plug in a pair of wired earphones to function.
Powering this telephone is a 5,050mAh battery, and Nokia features a 10W wired charger within the field. The 6.5-inch LCD panel options an HD+ decision and commonplace 60Hz refresh charge.
HMD World is sticking with the Android One programme, and claims to supply two years of software program updates with the G20. The software program is near-stock, however with some minor customisations like the flexibility to regulate the color stability of the show, and quite a few tweaks to the digicam app. This is likely one of the higher finances smartphones in the case of bloatware – it got here with solely two preloaded apps: My Nokia and Netflix.
Nokia G20 efficiency and battery life
With such minor software program customisation, I anticipated the Nokia G20 to perform easily when dealing with day by day duties, however this was not the case. I skilled noticeable stutters on occasion, particularly when utilizing social apps that had movies showing of their feeds. Multitasking between current apps was not an issue, however they didn’t stay in reminiscence for lengthy. Total, the {hardware} struggles to maintain up with current-day apps and use case situations, so you’ll discover that typically the telephone takes an additional second to open a contemporary app (that is not in reminiscence). These are widespread complaints that you just normally hear about when utilizing entry-level smartphones.
Specifically, utilizing the digicam app was slightly irritating. There’s minor lag when switching between digicam modes, and I additionally needed to wait just a few seconds after tapping the shutter button earlier than I might take one other shot. After I tapped on the thumbnail to preview a photograph I had simply taken, I needed to anticipate a second or two for the telephone to course of and show it.
The Nokia G20 has a 6.52-inch HD+ LCD show with a 60Hz refresh charge.
The 6.5-inch HD+ show was vibrant sufficient indoors, however struggled in vibrant daylight. There was additionally a noticeable blue tint on my unit. Viewing angles have been respectable. At 226ppi, it was straightforward to identify jagged edges round icons and textual content. Most video streaming apps together with Netflix solely appeared to help SD high quality playback so video didn’t look sharp.
The utilization expertise was a bit beneath expectations, and benchmark exams additionally painted the same image with scores that have been properly beneath common for this worth stage. The Nokia G20 scored 1,13,751 factors in AnTuTu in comparison with the Realme Narzo 30’s 3,56,846. The identical additionally mirrored in Geekbench scores: the Nokia G20 managed 162 and 914 within the single and multi-core exams respectively, whereas the Narzo 30 managed 532 and 1,700 in the identical exams.
Gaming was not all that satisfying on the Nokia G20. The telephone will get heat regardless of operating most 3D video games on the lowest settings doable. I seen horrible contact enter lag when taking part in Name of Responsibility: Cell on the default Low graphics and Medium body charge (with all different results turned off). There was additionally loads of lag throughout gameplay. Asphalt 9: Legends was playable on the Default graphics preset, however it did not look good, which made for a really lacklustre expertise. This telephone is appropriate just for informal video games.
The Nokia G20 has 4 cameras on the again in a round digicam module.
In our HD loop video battery take a look at the Nokia G20 managed 16 hours and 44 minutes, which is common for a smartphone on this phase. Nonetheless, it managed a very good two days of use on a single cost. I used to be principally restricted to informal utilization as this telephone couldn’t play video games too properly. The bundled 10W charger managed to cost the 5,050mAh battery as much as 18 % in half-hour and 37 % in an hour. It took 3 hours and 5 minutes to cost totally.
Nokia G20 cameras
The Nokia G20 has 4 cameras on the again: a 48-megapixel major digicam, a 5-megapixel ultra-wide-angle digicam, a 2-megapixel macro digicam, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Selfie duties are dealt with by an 8-megapixel digicam. The interface is the standard Nokia digicam app now we have seen over time. It permits fast entry to vital controls within the Photograph mode. Within the video mode I missed the flexibility to alter the video decision shortly – this setting is buried about 5 faucets away, deep within the digicam’s settings.
Nokia G20 daylight digicam samples. High: Major digicam, backside: Extremely-wide-angle digicam (faucet to see full dimension)
Pictures taken with the first digicam in daylight got here out a bit uninteresting, although with respectable element and good dynamic vary. I seen a ghosting impact in brighter areas, the place objects have been framed in opposition to a vibrant background. The ultra-wide-angle digicam captured blurry pictures in daylight with loads of purple fringing within the brighter areas. The macro digicam reproduced below-average particulars and is mainly solely there to refill the spec sheet.
Nokia G20 selfie Portrait digicam samples. High: Daylight, backside: low gentle (faucet to see full dimension)
Selfies taken within the portrait mode got here out sharp however overexposed, and with below-average edge detection. Portraits taken utilizing the rear digicam confirmed much more element with higher saturation, however seemed a bit oversharpened. Edge detection was significantly better with the rear digicam.
Publish sundown, picture high quality took a success. Textures appeared flat, however noise appeared underneath management offered there was some ambient gentle within the neighborhood. In dimmer circumstances, high quality dropped drastically, with pictures popping out with plenty of noise and murky particulars. The Evening mode didn’t assist in any respect, and solely made textures seem worse. Pictures taken utilizing the ultra-wide-angle digicam at evening have been unusable and Evening mode shouldn’t be accessible. Selfies and Portraits utilizing the entrance digicam at evening additionally got here out colourless and uninteresting, with dangerous edge detection.
Nokia G20 low-light digicam samples. High: Auto, backside: Evening mode (Faucet to see full dimension)
Video recording tops out at 1080p 30fps. Movies captured in daylight confirmed respectable dynamic vary, however got here out very shaky. Selfie movies have been beneath common, with overexposed topics and backgrounds, and quite a lot of oversharpening. In low gentle, 1080p 30fps video got here out with common element, however was very shaky and unstable even when recorded when standing nonetheless. Footage recorded utilizing the ultra-wide-angle digicam seemed a bit too darkish and was principally unusable even with ambient lighting within the neighborhood. Whereas video high quality was beneath common at greatest, the Ozo spatial audio recording functionality did a very good job, delivering immersive audio.
Verdict
After utilizing the Nokia G20 for per week it turned clear that it is a finances smartphone with entry-level efficiency. Nokia guarantees software program updates, however the lacklustre {hardware} implies that the UI struggles to maintain up with day by day duties, despite the fact that it is operating a near-stock model of Android 11. The 2-day battery life is kind of good, however charging that 5,050mAh battery takes greater than three hours. Digicam efficiency is nearly okay within the daytime and the identical goes for video high quality. The standard of the HD+ show can also be nowhere near what the competitors provides.
Take a peek on the competitors and the Nokia G20 fades into the background. There’s Xiaomi’s Redmi Be aware 10 (Overview), which provides a really succesful processor, a full HD+ Tremendous AMOLED panel, stereo audio system, and 33W charging on the identical Rs. 12,999 worth. For Rs. 12,499, Realme’s Narzo 30 (Overview) provides a 90Hz full HD+ LCD display, a MediaTek Helio G95 processor, 16-megapixel selfie digicam, and 30W charging. Even Samsung’s Galaxy F22 (Overview), priced at Rs. 12,499, provides significantly better {hardware} with a 90Hz HD+ Tremendous AMOLED show, a succesful Helio G80 processor, and a 6,000mAh battery.
