Nokia G42 5G Review: Worth every penny

Nokia G42 5G Review: There are a lot of options when it comes to buying a smartphone in the price range of Rs 10-15K. While it is quite easy to find one with good specs and design, getting one without bloatware can be challenging. To fill this vacuum, Nokia has launched the G42 5G smartphone in India. Find out more about the Nokia G42 5G smartphone in our review.

Nokia G42 5G Review: Price and variants

The Nokia G42 5G is available in the single 6GB + 128GB model in India and has been priced at Rs 12,599. The smartphone is available in two colours - So Grey and So Purple. Here I am using the latter one. 

Nokia G42 5G Review: Design 

The smartphone looks attractive in Purple colour and offers a better-than-budget feel. While it would be wrong to expect anything revolutionary in terms of design at this price range, simplicity is what pleases many. It has a plastic build and the back is smudge and fingerprint-resistant. The good thing is that it comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD card tray that lets you expand memory up to 1TB. If I have to sum it up, the design is one of the best you can get at this price point. 

Nokia G42 5G Review: Display

The Nokia G42 5G comes with a 6.5-inch HD+ display and offers a refresh rate of 90Hz. There are several smartphones in the price range that offers FHD+ display with higher refresh rate. But this is the right trade-off for a bloatware-free experience. Also, it has noticeable bezels, especially at the bottom. While scrolling through browsers feels easy, the display is satisfactory while consuming video content. Also, the audio quality is also decent.

Nokia G42 5G Review: Performance and Software

The Nokia G42 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 480+ chipset. This is not the latest processor but is capable of handling your daily tasks. The Nokia G42 boots Android 13 OS out of the box and offers a near-stock Android experience. The device offers a two-year OS upgrade.

Nokia G42 5G Review: Battery and charging

The Nokia G42 comes with a 5,000mAh battery and can comfortably last for an entire day. It supports 20W charging and can take around two hours to fully charge the device.

This is something where the device falls behind the competition as most of them are now capable of charging the device in around one hour. However, brands like Samsung are still sticking to slow charging. 

Nokia G42 5G Review: Camera

The Nokia G42 comes with a triple camera setup at the rear. Unlike most of the smartphones available in the market, the camera module of this smartphone is quite sleek with three symmetrical small rings. It has a 50MP main camera which is accompanied by a 2MP depth sensor and a 2MP macro camera along with flash LED. For selfies, it has an 8MP camera in the waterdrop notch on the front.

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The rear main camera can click good images in daylight. Portrait mode offers decent bokeh with decent edge detection. In low light, the night mode can make your pictures better but it takes a few seconds to click the image. 

The selfie camera can click images worthy of sharing on social media platforms during the day. AI portrait can be helpful in low-light conditions.

Nokia G42 5G Review: Verdict

The Nokia G42 5G smartphone can do almost everything to justify the price tag, with its looks being the strongest point. This can be a good option for those looking to buy an entry-level to mid-range device and want a bloatware-free experience. However, it doesn't have the latest processor. Also, a better display and fast charging could have made it a stronger contender.