The Nokia G20 promises a 3-day battery life, a stock Android experience, and a subtle yet practical design – all at a budget-friendly price. However, while these features sound enticing on paper, my week-long experience revealed that the Nokia G20 falls short in several key areas. The smartphone struggles to deliver on its promise of smooth, hassle-free performance, particularly when it comes to handling demanding apps and multitasking. It also suffers from an underwhelming camera experience and a display that lags behind its competitors. While its long battery life and clean Android interface are commendable, the overall package struggles to compete against similarly priced smartphones that offer better performance and features.
Nokia G20 Price and Variants
The Nokia G20 is available in a single variant: 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, priced at Rs. 12,999 in India. While this price point might seem reasonable at first, a closer examination reveals a significant lack of value when compared to other phones in this segment.
Nokia G20 Design
The Nokia G20’s design borrows elements from both the Nokia 2.4 and Nokia 5.4. It sports a plastic frame and back panel that surprisingly manages to feel premium despite its material. The back panel features a fine grooved texture, which not only aids in grip but also enhances the overall aesthetic.
My review unit came in the Night finish, showcasing a captivating dark blue color with a subtle purple sheen that appears at certain angles. The phone houses a circular camera module at the back, reminiscent of the Nokia 5.4, with the fingerprint reader conveniently placed on the right side.
While the dedicated Google Assistant button on the left side is a welcome addition, its inability to trigger voice commands when the phone is locked is a minor inconvenience.
Nokia G20 Specifications and Software
Under the hood, the Nokia G20 is powered by the MediaTek G35 processor, featuring eight Cortex-A53 cores clocked at a maximum frequency of 2.3GHz and an IMG PowerVR GE8320 GPU.
The phone’s connectivity options include Bluetooth 5, GPS/AGPS, GLONASS, and Beidou navigation, but disappointingly lacks dual-band Wi-Fi support (only 2.4GHz is available).
However, it does include an FM radio, which necessitates the use of wired earphones.
Keeping the lights on is a 5,050mAh battery, with a 10W wired charger included in the box. The front is dominated by a 6.5-inch LCD panel with an HD+ resolution and a standard 60Hz refresh rate.
Staying true to its commitment to the Android One programme, HMD Global promises two years of software updates for the G20. The software experience is largely stock Android with minimal customisations like the ability to adjust the display’s color balance and tweaks to the camera app. This commitment to a clean software experience is commendable, as the Nokia G20 comes with only two preloaded apps: My Nokia and Netflix.
Nokia G20 Performance and Battery Life
Despite the nearly stock Android experience, the Nokia G20 falls short in terms of overall performance. I encountered noticeable stutters during my usage, particularly when navigating through social media apps containing embedded videos. Multitasking between recent apps posed no problems, but these apps often disappeared from memory quickly.
The hardware struggles to keep pace with modern apps and usage patterns, resulting in an extra second or two required to open fresh apps. This lag is characteristic of entry-level smartphones.
The camera app also felt sluggish. There’s a noticeable delay when switching between camera modes and a frustrating wait after tapping the shutter button before taking another shot. The phone also required a couple of seconds to process and display a newly captured photo.
Benchmark tests reinforced the underwhelming performance, with scores well below the average for this price range. The Nokia G20 scored 1,13,751 points in AnTuTu, compared to the Realme Narzo 30’s 3,56,846. This disparity was also evident in Geekbench scores, with the Nokia G20 managing 162 and 914 in the single and multi-core tests, respectively, while the Narzo 30 scored 532 and 1,700.
Gaming on the Nokia G20 was a far from enjoyable experience. The phone heated up quickly, even when running 3D games at their lowest settings. I experienced severe touch input lag while playing Call of Duty: Mobile, even at the lowest graphics and medium frame rate. Asphalt 9: Legends was playable at the default graphics preset, but the low visual quality made for a subpar experience. This phone is best suited for casual games.
The 6.5-inch HD+ display offered sufficient brightness indoors but struggled in direct sunlight. I also noticed a prominent blue tint. Viewing angles were decent, but the 226ppi pixel density made jagged edges around icons and text readily apparent. Most video streaming apps, including Netflix, supported only SD quality playback, resulting in lackluster video sharpness.
The 5,050mAh battery delivered a commendable two days of use on a single charge, though this was primarily due to limited gaming. In our HD loop video battery test, the Nokia G20 lasted 16 hours and 44 minutes, which is average for this segment. The bundled 10W charger took 3 hours and 5 minutes to fully charge the battery, reaching 18 percent in 30 minutes and 37 percent in one hour.
Nokia G20 Cameras
The Nokia G20 features a quad-camera setup at the back: a 48-megapixel primary camera, a 5-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Selfie duties are handled by an 8-megapixel camera.
The camera interface is the familiar Nokia camera app we’ve seen in previous models, offering quick access to important controls in the Photo mode. However, the lack of a quick video resolution switcher in the video mode was a missed opportunity, as this setting is hidden deep within the camera’s settings.
Photos taken with the primary camera in daylight exhibited decent detail and dynamic range but appeared slightly dull. A noticeable ghosting effect was present in brighter areas, particularly when subjects were framed against a bright background. The ultra-wide-angle camera captured blurry images with purple fringing in brighter areas. The macro camera delivered below-average detail, essentially serving as a spec sheet filler.
Daylight selfie portraits were sharp but overexposed, with below-average edge detection. Portraits taken using the rear camera displayed more detail with better saturation but appeared oversharpened. Edge detection was significantly better with the rear camera.
In low-light scenarios, image quality suffered. Textures appeared flat, but noise control remained decent in the presence of ambient light. Under dimmer conditions, picture quality declined sharply, resulting in high noise levels and muddy details. The Night mode failed to improve the situation, further diminishing textures. The ultra-wide-angle camera produced unusable images at night, and Night mode was not available for this lens. Selfie and portrait images taken with the front camera at night were colorless and dull, with poor edge detection.
Video recording is capped at 1080p 30fps. While videos captured in daylight showcased decent dynamic range, they were plagued by excessive shakiness. Selfie videos were below average, featuring overexposed subjects and backgrounds with excessive sharpening. In low light, 1080p 30fps video was decent in terms of detail but remained extremely shaky and unstable, even when recorded from a stationary position. Footage recorded using the ultra-wide-angle camera appeared overly dark and was mostly unusable, even with ambient lighting. Despite mediocre video quality, the Ozo spatial audio recording capability delivered immersive sound.
Verdict
After a week with the Nokia G20, it became clear that we are looking at a budget smartphone with entry-level performance. Nokia’s promise of software updates is admirable, but the underwhelming hardware struggles to keep up with everyday tasks, even with near-stock Android 11. The two-day battery life is a strong point, but charging the 5,050mAh battery takes over three hours. Camera performance is barely passable in daylight, and the same applies to the video quality. The HD+ display falls short compared to what other manufacturers offer at this price point.
When you consider the competition, the Nokia G20 loses its appeal. Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 10 offers a powerful processor, full HD+ Super AMOLED display, stereo speakers, and 33W charging at the same price point of Rs. 12,999. The Realme Narzo 30 offers a 90Hz full HD+ LCD screen, MediaTek Helio G95 processor, 16-megapixel selfie camera, and 30W charging for Rs. 12,499. Even Samsung’s Galaxy F22 at Rs. 12,499 provides superior hardware with a 90Hz HD+ Super AMOLED display, Helio G80 processor, and a 6,000mAh battery.
The Nokia G20 is a decent smartphone on its own, but when compared to the competition, it falls flat. While it offers a clean Android experience and good battery life, these are not enough to make it stand out amongst other similarly priced smartphones that deliver better performance and features.
