Nokia G21 quick review: Buy it for clean Android experience

Nokia G21 quick review:  HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, recently brought the successor of its popular G-series smartphone Nokia G20 -- Nokia G21 in India under Rs 15,000 price bracket. Nokia is leaving no stone unturned to capture budget mobile phone market in the country. With this phone, company is planning to bring competition to brands like Redmi, Poco, Realme and Vivo.

Let's start with pricing and color options. The Nokia G21 is available in two variants. The 4GB-64GB variant is available at Rs 12,999 and the 6+128GB variant for Rs 14,999. The smartphone comes in two different color options - Nordic Blue and Dusk.  This phone from Nokia is backed with 6.5-inch HD+ LCD display, 5,050mAh battery, Unisoc T606 processor and more. I used the Nordic Blue color variant for more than a month and here's a what I have to say about this new G-series phones.

In terms of design and outlooks, the Nokia G21 comes with a polycarbonate back with gradient finish. The smartphone looks good from the back. While holding the phone, it feels light and comfortable and you can hold it in your hands for long hours without any problem. Overall. the device ticked most of the right boxes in terms of looks and build in the budget category.

On the rear side of the Nokia G21, you will see a triple camera setup with the LED flash and Nokia branding. On the right edge of the device, the smartphone houses the power button/finger print scanner and a dedicated space for the volume keys. One the left side, you will see a dedicated space for Nano-SIM Card Slot and Google Assistant button. At the top of the device, the smartphone is also offering a 3.5mm audio jack and microphone. The performance of speakers at the bottom was not good. Connectivity options on the Nokia G21 include Wi-Fi, 4G, Bluetooth v5, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, NPS, USB Type-C port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Sensors on board include accelerometer, proximity sensor, and light sensor.

In terms of display, Nokia G21 offers a 6.5-inch LCD display with a resolution of 1600x720 pixels, and a peak brightness of 400 nits with 90Hz refresh rate. The good part of the display is size; however the performance of the screen wasn't up to the mark. The colors came good good in low light conditions but not in direct sunlight. The viewing experience was good. The overall experience while using the screen was smooth and lag-free. The multimedia experience was also smooth.

Let's talk about camera specifications and performance now, Nokia G21 houses a triple camera setup with a 50MP primary sensor, a 2MP macro shooter and a 2MP depth sensor. It is also equipped with an 8MP front camera. As far as the performance is concerned, the rear camera setup of the Nokia G21 gives average performance. The colours of the images produced came out bright in bright light conditions only and it also misses out on clarity. Even in low light conditions, the performance of the phone was not up to the mark. selfies from the font camera also lacked sharpness. Overall, the Nokia G21 is an average performance in terms of performance.

Nokia G21 is powered by a Unisoc T606 processor that is coupled with up to 6GB of RAM and up to 128GB of storage space, which can be expanded further using a microSD card. On the software front, it runs on Android 11 OS sans any skin. The good thing is the UI is very easy to use and users might not face any issues. While playing games like Temple Run and other light gamers, we witnessed lag-free gaming here. The graphic quality was average in normal settings. Overall, the Nokia G21was fast, smooth, switching between the apps, including WhatsApp, Instagram, and more, was easy and the performance was flawless. In terms of battery performance, the Nokia G21 is powered by a 5,050mAh battery on the smartphone Once fully charged, this smartphone lasted for a day during normal to medium usage. Also, the device did not heat up during gaming and video streaming for long hours.

Nokia G21 Verdict: Available at the starting price of 12,999, this smartphone from Nokia offering decent features at an affordable price The device offers good performance, and decent design. I liked the design of the Nokia G21. However, I think Nokia should work on fast charging to compete with rival brands in the market.