The smartphones that come onto the market under the Nokia brand name have been in the hands of the Finnish company HMD Global for several years. The manufacturer does not focus on models in the expensive price segment. Rather, the devices from Nokia serve the cheap range of up to around 300 euros. The G series is even lower with a maximum of 200 euros. The test by COMPUTER BILD clarifies what the Nokia G21 has to offer for this price.
Discreet design in the Nokia G21
HMD Global does not focus on a particularly spectacular design when it comes to Nokia smartphones. Instead, the company relies on muted colors and the discreet placement of the brand name on the back. After all: The plastic tail has structure and is not completely smooth. This means that fingerprints don’t collect on the device as quickly – but that doesn’t make it non-slip. The jack socket for wired headphones is on the top. In addition to the smartphone, there is a charging cable and the right power plug in the packaging – but there is no cover.
The Nokia G21 display is too dark.
The display on the front is 6.5 inches. As usual in this price range, the manufacturer uses an LC display. This has a negative impact in sunlight: the screen is too dark to see all the relevant information, even when the brightness is turned up to the maximum. As soon as you are not looking straight at the display, you will experience the same effect. After all, the smartphone offers an adaptive refresh rate of 90 Hertz.
Images with a green cast
On the back of the Nokia G21 is a camera block with three lenses: the main camera offers 50 megapixels (MP), plus a macro lens (2 MP) and a depth sensor (2 MP). However, the technology was not convincing in the test. Even in daylight, the recordings show numerous weaknesses. The images have an unnatural sharpness effect and fine details are lost. This is particularly noticeable with leaves and fine branches. If the zoom is used, the quality suffers further: the recordings are muddy and details disappear almost completely. The macro camera fits into this mediocre impression – details don’t come across well even up close.
Even in daylight, details are missing when taking pictures with the Nokia G21.
When using the zoom, the Nokia G21’s images are muddy.
The green veil is clearly visible on the hair.
Great job? None!
A Unisoc T606 with 4 gigabytes (GB) of working memory (RAM) works inside the Nokia G21. A strong performance is not possible: The benchmarks show that with moderate results – Geekbench 5 is 312/1187 points (single-core/multi-core). These weaknesses are noticeable in everyday use due to delayed processing of the inputs – among other things, the camera triggers too late. Mobile gaming is out of the question with this equipment: Current games like “Genshin Impact” only run on low graphics settings and even then not without stuttering. So fans of mobile gaming should rather dig a little deeper in their pockets to be able to enjoy the experience.
The internal memory of the Nokia G21 is 128 GB and can be expanded by up to 512 GB with a memory card. The smartphone runs on Android 11 ex works – the company promises two major OS updates for the future. HMD Global also assures 36 security updates from the global market launch of the smartphone – the company does not reveal the period of time.
Nokia G21 with large battery
The battery has always been one of the core elements of Nokia devices. Although the Nokia G21 certainly no longer achieves the top values that earlier models achieved, the battery is still comparatively large at 5,050 mAh. According to the manufacturer, the smartphone gets by with this for up to three days – but this is usually the value for very little use. In continuous operation, the runtime is probably shorter. As already mentioned, the scope of delivery of the Nokia G21 has a charging cable and the appropriate mains plug – this creates up to 18 watts. Fast charging or even inductive charging is not included in this price range.
Nokia G21: price, colors, availability
The Nokia G21 is available in Germany in the colors Nordic Blue (dark blue) and Dusk (brown). The recommended retail price is 189.99 euros. Since the market launch, however, the price has fallen: some smartphones are available for just under 170 euros (as of April 2022)
The Nokia G21 is kept simple.
Nokia G21: conclusion of the test and alternative
At less than 200 euros, the Nokia G21 is a comparatively cheap smartphone and this is also noticeable in the equipment. The display is too dark for the sunlight and the performance is only sufficient for common messenger apps and occasional web surfing. The camera also has many weaknesses and is therefore only suitable for photo sessions to a limited extent. After all: The battery is comparatively large and should therefore easily last for a day. The update guarantee is also not a matter of course in this price segment.