The Nokia G21 is a budget smartphone that was recently launched in the Kenyan market by HMD Global. The phone is the latest iteration in the G series and is a successor to Nokia G20.
Here are my first impressions of the phone plus unboxing.
Out of the box
The phone comes with a
- Charger + usb cable
- Earphones
- Sim ejector pin
- Warranty & user guide documents
The Nokia G21 smartphone is surprisingly light considering the hefty real estate the device takes up. With its width of 75.9 mm, length of 164.6 mm, a height of 8.5 mm and a weight of 190 grams, the smartphone feels comfortable in hand. Its textured polycarbonate casing provides that sense of security with minimal chances of accidental drops.
A total of 4 cameras, one at the front and three at the rear, give users the opportunity to capture memorable moments in photos and videos vividly. The front-facing camera is a wide-angle 2.0 aperture 8-megapixel shooter which also captures 1080 progressive scan resolution videos at 30 frames per second. The trio of cameras at the back boast a main 50 mega-pixels camera with a 2 mega-pixels macro camera and another 2 mega-pixels depth camera. To add to the already wide 1.8 aperture of the main camera is a LED flash for that extra illumination.
The top edge of the G21 features a 3.5 mm jack and a microphone for ambient noise. The bottom edge has the stereo speakers with OZO playback, a second microphone for phone calls and the USB Type C 3.0 charging port.
The left edge has a dedicated Google Assistant button and SIM tray, while the right edge is home to the volume rocker. It also houses the power button which has an integrated fingerprint scanner for securing the phone. The phone also features facial recognition security and presents users with options for extra security.
Power Button and Fingerprint Scanner
The 6.5-inch screen takes up approximately 82 per cent (screen-to-body ratio) of the G20 and has a 720 by 1600 pixels resolution. This is a 20:9 ratio with a pixel per inch density of 270.
Powering the G21 is a Li-po 5050 mAh non-removable battery on paper, and has a standby time of 72 hours. To juice it up, the phone has a fast charge capacity of 18 Watts. This should excite users who prefer longer stints of use between charges.
The variant of the G21 available in Kenya comes with the option of dual nano SIMs and a dedicated slot for storage expansion of up to 512 GB via a microSDXC memory card.
Without the expansion, the phone has two different storage pairing profiles of 64GB storage with 4GB RAM and 128GB with 4GB RAM, .
It comes pre-installed with the Android 11 operating system with a maximum update to Android 13. Additionally, the G21 which was announced and launched in February this year will have three years of security updates that are scheduled monthly.
The smartphone is available in two colour options; Nordic Blue and Dusk – which is a brownish hue and has a recommended retail price of Ksh19000.
Check back for a detailed review once we conduct a thorough assessment of the Nokia G21. In the comments section below, let us know what you would like to know about the phone.