Introduction
Going a digit behind the times, the Nokia G21 arrives in early 2022, attempting to deliver an affordable all-round package with an emphasis on battery life. Taking on the likes of Xiaomi and Realme at their own game is never easy, and Samsung has been putting out aggressive entry-level offerings too, for those that still raise an eyebrow at the usual Chinese brands. So we're here to find out just how competitive Nokia can be at around €170.
Endurance is the G21's main goal, with Nokia advertising a three-day battery life in their 'real-world' simulation of 5 hours a day of active general use. That's not inconceivable, given the 5,050mAh capacity, unassuming Unisoc SoC, and modest screen resolution and refresh rate, but we'll get to battery testing soon enough.
Speaking of the display, the 6.5-inch 720p LCD with a 90Hz refresh rate isn't out of place on a phone in this price range, though OLEDs can be found, too, which puts it at a disadvantage.
Similarly, the 50MP main camera, in this specific incarnation that's found on the G21, makes sense for the money even if, again, slightly better hardware can be found elsewhere. More surprising is the omission of an ultrawide camera, any ultrawide camera, which has been a staple even of budget phones in recent years.
The Nokia comes with basic comforts like a dedicated microSD slot and a headphone jack and also has an FM radio receiver built-in - it's hardly better than a flagship for including all of these, but will make for a smooth transition for someone coming from simpler times.
Nokia G21 specs at a glance:
- Body: 164.6x75.9x8.5mm, 190g; Glass front, plastic frame, plastic back.
- Display: 6.50" IPS LCD, 90Hz, 400 nits (typ), 720x1600px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 270ppi.
- Chipset: Unisoc T606 (12 nm): Octa-core (2x1.6 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6x1.6 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G57 MP1.
- Memory: 64GB 3GB RAM, 64GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 4GB RAM; eMMC 5.1; microSDXC (dedicated slot).
- OS/Software: Android 11.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 28mm, 1/2.76", 0.64µm, PDAF; Macro: 2 MP; Depth: 2 MP.
- Front camera: 8 MP, f/2.0, (wide).
- Video capture: Rear camera: 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 5050mAh; Fast battery charging 18W, USB Power Delivery 3.0.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); FM radio, RDS; 3.5mm jack.
Nokia G21 unboxing
Unboxing the G21 is not a time-consuming effort - the cardboard box doesn't contain a lot of stuff. Other than the phone, you're getting a charger and USB cable, and that's about it.
The adapter is a basic 10W one, too, so it's way below the phone's supported 18W charging capability. Virtually all competitors ship with more powerful chargers and some even out-spec the phones they're bundled with (the Redmi 10 and its 22.5W adapter vs. 18W charging support).
Design
In a world dominated by designs that try to stand out for the sake of standing out, like the assortment of colors in the Samsung A series, or the 'Dare to leap' insignias on the Realmes, and the overly-accented camera islands (Xiaomi and Realme, again), the Nokia G21 is a breath of fresh air of simplicity.
The phone is available in two colors that are anything but flashy. Our review unit is in the 'Nordic Blue' colorway, a dark blue-green that is the one with more character out of the two. The 'Dusk' option is black to dark gray with a hint of brown in there. Both have an understated elegance to them.
Regardless of color, the plastic back panel is textured in what at first appears like a fine striped pattern, but closer inspection reveals it to be concentric large-radius arcs. That, too, makes it unlike most phones on the market, premium or budget, which are almost universally either glossy or matte, but rarely textured.
We'd like to say that the texture makes the rear panel particularly grippy, but it's neither here, nor there. Depending on whose fingers are touching it, the texture might be more slippery, in fact, because of the reduced contact area with your skin. It does somehow manage to pick up fingerprints, textured as it may be, but it's easy enough to wipe clean.
The camera island on the G21 is similarly understated in its styling, the three modules lined in a relatively compact formation in the top left corner. The thing is raised up enough (and is apparently soft enough) to get scratched pretty easily - we had an assortment of scuffs from just the usual review process, and real life will likely be harsher on its gloss.
The polycarbonate frame of the G21 has more of a satin finish and isn't prone to fingerprint accumulation. The flat sides allow for plenty of grip, no complaints here.
The G21 is equipped with a capacitive fingerprint sensor in the power button on the right of the phone. It's well-positioned for access with either a left index finger or a right thumb and doesn't discriminate which one you use for unlocking - it works equally well with either.
One potential issue is that there's no option for it to require a press to engage, so you're all too likely to end up locked out of fingerprint authentication because of failed accidental attempts registered when just handling the phone.
The volume rocker is high up on the right side, perhaps a little too high for operation without a minor adjustment in grip, but it's hardly a dealbreaker.
On the left side of the G21, you'll find a Google Assistant key, an always-on shortcut to the feature. We'd appreciate an option to remap it to something else or disable it altogether, but that's not really available - even turning off Google Assistant won't disable the key, and upon pressing it, you'll get a prompt to re-enable Assistant instead.
Above that useful (or annoying, depending on disposition) button is the card slot. The tray will take two nano SIMs and a microSD, and can accommodate all three at the same time.
Power button/FPR combo • Assistant key and card slot • Triple-card slots are the best
The tour of the perimeter continues on the bottom, where the USB-C port is flanked by a loudspeaker and a mic pinhole. Another mic pinhole is up top, joined by a 3.5mm headphone jack.
USB-C port, loudspeaker and mic on the bottom • Headphone jack and another mic up top
The business end of the G21 sees the 6.5-inch display surrounded by reasonably sized bezels on the sides and top, but a more sizeable chin. This does seem to be the norm in the budget market segment, but the one on the Nokia is that extra bit more pronounced. It's another non-issue in the grand scheme of things, plus it could be potentially beneficial to handling for those who still insist that meatier bezels help with that.
There's a small waterdrop-shaped cutout in the top edge of the display to house the selfie camera, another par for the course design element. The earpiece above it is just that - an earpiece, and not a second speaker.
The G21 measures 164.6x75.9x8.5mm, which means the phone is bordering on 'large' for a 6.5-inch handset in its class. The Galaxy A22 and the Realme 8 are a bit more compact (to the tune of a tangible ~2mm narrower and ~5mm shorter, in fact) thanks in part to smaller screens and slightly thinner bezels. Then again, the Realme 10 is close to the Nokia G21's footprint. The G21 is the heaviest of this bunch at 190g, though the 13g difference to the lightest, the Realme, isn't huge.
Decent 6.5-inch display
The Nokia G21 has a 6.5-inch display with a 1600x720px resolution, an understandable compromise in pixel count given the budget. It still makes for an acceptable pixel density of 270ppi.
It's an LCD, and that too isn't surprising for the money, though Samsung does fit the A22 with a Super AMOLED display. It's Samsung that makes them, though, and the A22 is slightly more expensive anyway.
The G21's budget went into refresh rate, and the 90Hz capability is appreciated. We'd say the jump from 60Hz to 90Hz is more noticeable when it comes to user experience than from 90 to 120Hz, while 90Hz also tends to be a lot more frugal than higher RR. We're not saying that 120Hz is bad, just that 90Hz is good enough for what the G21 is trying to achieve.
Nokia promises a maximum brightness of 400nits for the G21, and we actually measured a little more than that. Still, 437nits is underwhelming for an LCD, and with only a minor boost under bright light, you may struggle when out in the sun. In less demanding ambient conditions, however, you'll appreciate the nicely high contrast - high as LCDs go, that is.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0.268 | 437 | 1631:1 | |
| 0.333 | 500 | 1502:1 | |
| 0.236 | 385 | 1631:1 | |
| 0 | 391 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 597 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 396 | 1494:1 | |
| 0.4 | 477 | 1193:1 | |
| 0 | 475 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 682 | ∞ | |
| 0.28 | 413 | 1475:1 | |
| 0.366 | 536 | 1464:1 | |
| 0.264 | 410 | 1553:1 | |
| 0.33 | 510 | 1545:1 | |
| 0 | 458 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 657 | ∞ | |
| 0.348 | 433 | 1244:1 | |
| 0.475 | 540 | 1137:1 | |
There's not a lot to talk about when it comes to color handling - there aren't any color modes (there is a color temperature slider), and the phone makes no claims for wide color gamut coverage. In its default state, it's about average in its overall accuracy when examining sRGB color swatches, but there's a noticeable cold shift (dE2000 for white is 10). Bumping that temperature slider all the way to the warmest setting actually makes the blue tint go away, and we get an average dE2000 of 2.9 for the set of sRGB patterns - a pretty good result for the class, though it does come at the expense of some 60nits of max brightness.
There's no HDR support on the Nokia G21.
The G21 has two options for refresh rate - Standard limits things to 60Hz, while Adaptive lets it go up to 90Hz with a basic activity-based logic reverting to 60Hz when you don't touch the screen for a couple of seconds. It's a simple and sort of effective solution, though, in the past, we've seen little difference in battery life on most phones with 90Hz LCDs between 60Hz and 90Hz modes. In any case, the adaptive behavior couldn't hurt.
Display settings
Nokia G21 battery life
Nokia advertises 3-day battery life for the G21, with their testing methodology including 5 hours a day of actual usage ('gaming, video streaming, calling, sending sms, browsing and using apps such as social media, news, navigation and music') in an indoor environment with 'normal' settings. While our testing is different, we'll admit that with a fairly modest chipset at the helm, a 720p display and a large, 5050mAh battery inside it, the phone does have all the markings of a marathon runner. And indeed, that's pretty much what we observed in our testing.
The G21 was good for almost 20 hours of web browsing in its Adaptive refresh rate mode, where we got 1-2s spikes to 90Hz on page loads (every 10s) and 60Hz the rest of the time. Video playback turned out a little more taxing, though the 16 hours we clocked are hardly a number to complain about. Over 37 hours of voice calls are a lot as well.
The overall Endurance rating of the Nokia G21 then worked out to 136h.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.
Video test carried out in 60Hz refresh rate mode. Web browsing test done at the display's highest refresh rate whenever possible. Refer to the respective reviews for specifics. To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage - check out our all-time battery test results chart.
Charging speed
The Nokia G21 supports charging at up to 18W over USB Power Delivery but ships with a less powerful 10W adapter. Using this bundled unit, we clocked a full charge to take a rather sluggish 2:49h, with the battery indicator showing 22% at the 30-minute mark. Even for a budget phone, that's pretty slow, though competing Samsungs aren't any better. In any case, overnight charging appears to be your best bet with the in-box charger.
You could get better results if you have a PD-capable adapter. We tried a third-party unit that can deliver 18W, which got us 37% in half an hour, plus it shaved a good 40 minutes off the 0-100% time. It's one of the better results outside of the realm of proprietary charging tech that the chart-toppers have.
30min charging test (from 0%)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
65% - Realme 8
56% - Poco M4 Pro 5G
54% - Nokia G21 (65W PD)
37% - Poco M3 Pro 5G
33% - Samsung Galaxy A02s
30% - Realme 8i
30% - Xiaomi Redmi 10
26% - Motorola Moto G51 5G (Global variant, 10W)
26% - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
23% - Samsung Galaxy A22
23% - Nokia G21
22% - Samsung Galaxy A03s
15%
Time to full charge (from 0%)
Lower is better
- Poco M4 Pro 5G
1:07h - Realme 8
1:09h - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
1:13h - Poco M3 Pro 5G
2:00h - Nokia G21 (65W PD)
2:09h - Xiaomi Redmi 10
2:13h - Samsung Galaxy A22
2:20h - Realme 8i
2:21h - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
2:29h - Motorola Moto G51 5G (Global variant, 10W)
2:35h - Samsung Galaxy A02s
2:36h - Nokia G21
2:49h - Samsung Galaxy A03s
3:38h
Speaker test
The Nokig G21 has a single loudspeaker, a bottom-firing one. It's more or less to be expected at this price point, but stereo speakers can be had for as much money too - take the Redmi 10, for example.
The Nokia's one speaker isn't very loud either, and it ended up in the 'Below Average' category in our test - on par with the Galaxy A22, but the Realme 8 is slightly louder, and the Redmi 10 noticeably more so. Despite the underwhelming loudness, however, the Nokia does sound quite alright for its modest setup - it's more balanced than the in-bathroom-like Galaxy and the overly highs-forward Realme.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
Android One Android 11
The Nokia G21 runs Android 11, on the Android One branch of the OS - so it's about as close as you can get to calling it 'stock Android'. The fact that it's... the year-old version is a whole other point.
Nokia does promise a whopping (/s) 2 years of OS updates (*from the global launch date of the Nokia G21 which was a couple of weeks ago), so you may get Android 13, maybe. The phone is also set to receive 36 security updates, compared to the 16 average that phones in this price segment get, they say.
In all fairness, we may be overly harsh on them - entry-level devices don't get a very favorable treatment when it comes to long-term support regardless of their brand, so the G21 may indeed be a solid option in this respect. It makes sense, since Android One devices should theoretically get their updates seeded straight from Google.
Call it stock, call it vanilla, call it barebones, Android in its One form is simple and functional. Basic things will look familiar - like the lockscreen, homescreens and notification shade.
Lockscreen • Homescreen • Folder view • App drawer • Notifications • Task switcher
The dedicated hardware key on the left will launch Google Assistant from any screen or from standby. The fingerprint reader on the right feels like the default way for unlocking the phone, and it works equally well with either hand, though there's no option to have it require a press - its tap-only behavior may lead to unwanted scans. Basic camera-based face unlock is available too.
Google Assistant • Biometrics and security
Google's apps handle all the major functionality on the phone. The Photos app is your gallery, Gmail is your email client, Calendar is... well, you get the point. There's an FM radio receiver on the G21 with a simple app with RDS but no station memory feature or recording capability.
Google Photos • Gmail • Calendar • Files • FM radio • Settings
Synthetic benchmarks
The Nokia G21 is powered by the Unisoc T606 chipset, an unassuming 12nm chip for entry-level implementations. It's got an octa-core CPU inside in a 2xA75@1.6GHz + 6xA55@1.6GHz configuration and a Mali G57 MP1 GPU. We know of three RAM and storage versions - 3/64GB, 4/64GB, and 4/128GB, and our review unit is the middle option.
We knew not to have too high expectations from the T606, so the rather low benchmark scores came as no surprise. The G21 beats the most basic Samsungs comfortably in GeekBench, and is not too far behind the Redmi 10, with the Galaxy A22 further up a notch.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Realme 8i
1886 - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
1719 - Realme 8
1690 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
1599 - Realme 9i
1581 - Samsung Galaxy A22
1372 - Xiaomi Redmi 10
1294 - Nokia G21
1193 - Samsung Galaxy A03s
889 - Samsung Galaxy A02s
495
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
560 - Realme 8i
539 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
534 - Realme 8
533 - Realme 9i
384 - Samsung Galaxy A22
376 - Xiaomi Redmi 10
361 - Nokia G21
311 - Samsung Galaxy A03s
179 - Samsung Galaxy A02s
131
The G21 actually manages to inch ahead of the A22 in Antunu, though it does predictably lose to the A22 5G, as in GeekBench.
AnTuTu 9
Higher is better
- Realme 8
357488 - Realme 8i
308544 - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
223188 - Nokia G21
171299 - Samsung Galaxy A22
165959 - Samsung Galaxy A03s
101299
The Nokia puts up an okay performance in graphics benchmarks - within its market context, that is, and mostly because of its 720p resolution giving it an advantage over 1080p rivals. The Galaxy A22 (also 720p) does churn significantly more fps in the onscreen tests in GFXBench. The G21 is ahead of the Realme 9i, but way behind the Realme 8 or 8i. And offscreen tests at 1080p do push it lower down the charts.
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy A22
30 - Realme 8
29 - Realme 8i
22 - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
21 - Nokia G21
17 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
15 - Samsung Galaxy A03s
14 - Realme 9i
14 - Samsung Galaxy A02s
12
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- Realme 8
33 - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
24 - Realme 8i
24 - Realme 9i
23 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
17 - Samsung Galaxy A22
15 - Nokia G21
8.5 - Samsung Galaxy A03s
7.9 - Samsung Galaxy A02s
6.1
GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Realme 8
48 - Samsung Galaxy A22
42 - Realme 8i
33 - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
31 - Nokia G21
24 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
21 - Realme 9i
20 - Samsung Galaxy A03s
19 - Samsung Galaxy A02s
16
GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- Realme 8
53 - Realme 8i
37 - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
32 - Samsung Galaxy A22
24 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
24 - Realme 9i
23 - Nokia G21
14 - Samsung Galaxy A03s
11
9.3
It's more of the same in 3DMark, where the Nokia only manages to win against the entry-level Galaxy A02s and lags behind all the other phones in the same price ballpark.
3DMark SSE ES 3.1 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Realme 8
2610 - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
2391 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
1471 - Samsung Galaxy A22
1361 - Realme 9i
1339 - Nokia G21
962 - Samsung Galaxy A02s
438
3DMark SSE Vulkan 1.0 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Realme 8
2639 - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
2257 - Samsung Galaxy A22
1383 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
1372 - Realme 9i
1291 - Nokia G21
930 - Samsung Galaxy A02s
489
3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Realme 8
1486 - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
1104 - Realme 8i
1102 - Samsung Galaxy A22
691 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
482 - Realme 9i
452 - Nokia G21
403
While it's not scoring particularly high in 3DMark, the Nokia G21 can sustain that performance indefinitely, apparently, posting a stability rating of 97% in the Wild Life stress test. Similarly, it doesn't really throttle at all in the CPU Throttling test.
CPU throttling test • 3DMark Wild Life stress test
50MP main camera and a couple of 2MP sidekicks
The Nokia G21 has a relatively exciting camera setup, headlined by a 50MP primary camera, with two basic extra units for close-ups and depth detection. You wouldn't expect to see a telephoto in this market segment, so the absence of one is understandable. But there isn't an ultrawide either, and that's a bit surprising, given that the G20 had one, as does pretty much every phone for this money.
The main camera is based on what is apparently the Samsung JN1 sensor. It's a 1/2.76" type imager with tiny 0.64µm pixels. It uses a Tetrapixel color filter array and bins pixels 4-to-1, so effectively, you get 12.5 million 1.28µm pixels. The lens has an f/1.8 aperture and a focal length that's not specified but is in the 25-27mm region.
You then get two 2MP cameras, one is labeled 'Macro', the other one - 'Depth'.
On the front, there's a basic 8MP camera for selfies. Its aperture is f/1.8, and its focus is fixed.
The camera app is one of few customized bits of software on the Nokia G21, but it does look more or less like any other camera app. Side swipes let you switch modes, and you can switch multiple ones at a time or tap on a mode for direct access. Extra modes, including Macro, are in the 'More' pane, but you can't move them to the main carousel. The selfie camera is accessed from the button next to the shutter release - there's no swipe action for it.
The only has one real camera, but there is a zoom selector that lets you choose between the native 1x, and a digital 2x zoom. These are now visualized with numbers as opposed to the tree designation of older Nokias.
At the far end of the viewfinder, you get a settings button, Google Lens shortcut, a toggle for Motion photos, self timer (3s or 10s), an aspect ratio selector (where you can also enable the 50MP mode), and a flash mode selector. There's no 'Pro' of 'Manual' mode on the G21.
Camera UI
Daylight image quality
The Nokia G21 captures photos that aren't too great - not in absolute terms (which would be fine, having in mind its price), but also not in comparison to other phones in its class. Photos are both soft and heavily sharpened at the same time, and skies exhibit an unusual type of noise that has a checkered pattern to it. Colors are off, too, with a reddish-brown tint on greenery and overall warmth that's not looking natural. Dynamic range, for one, is pretty good.
Daylight samples, main camera
Zoomed-in shots have the sharpening dialed further up, making for strong halos around contrasting edges. Detail is limited, and noise is now even more pronounced.
Daylight samples, main camera (2x)
The full-res 50MP mode looks very much like the 2x zoomed shots on a pixel level. That is to say, it doesn't offer any advantage in detail rendition over the regular 12.5MP photos.
Daylight samples, main camera, 50MP
Low-light image quality
Low-light photos from the Nokia G21 are decently sharp and detailed for the class. The problem is, they're also very noisy. So noisy that you can almost see it in the thumbnails - okay, a bit of an exaggeration, but certainly noise is very pronounced already at fit-to-screen magnifications. You could try to apply noise reduction in post, but then you'd inevitably lose some of the detail alongside it as well plus, the question remains if the Nokia G21 is aimed at those that do a lot of post-processing on their photos?
On a positive note, colors have no issues with odd casts, and the dynamic range is reasonably wide for the class.
Low-light samples, main camera
Night mode introduces significant changes both in the global image properties, as well as on a pixel level. Shadows get a considerable boost, improving what was already a solid performance in terms of exposure and dynamic range. Noise is aggressively treated (some still remains), but that also means some loss of fine detail, though it's looking like a most welcome trade-off here.
Low-light samples, main camera, Night mode
You probably wouldn't want to pixel peep into the 2x zoom shots because they're both soft and noisy.
Low-light samples, main camera (2x)
Night mode helps partially by removing some of the noise, but these are even softer images and have a somewhat bleach quality to their colors.
Low-light samples, main camera (2x), Night mode
Once you're done with the real-world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the Nokia G21 stacks up against the competition.
Nokia G21 against the Galaxy A22 and the Redmi 10 in our Photo compare tool
Close-ups
The 'macro' camera takes unimpressive closeups. They're low on detail have limited dynamic range, and desaturated colors.
Macro mode samples
Portrait mode
Shots taken in Portrait mode actually have competent subject detection (perhaps that 2MP 'depth' camera isn't entirely useless). Minor exceptions include the messed-up wall paneling (a scene where cheap and expensive phones can fail just as well) and unruly hair, which can get blurred into the background. A more pressing issue is the lack of HDR in this mode, which will make contrasty scenes less pleasing to the eye.
Portrait mode samples
Selfies
For its unassuming hardware, the Nokia G21 actually takes some pretty decent selfies. Detail is generally very good, and the noise is reasonably well controlled, particularly in more balanced lighting. The colors are accurate, and the dynamic range is respectable for a camera in this class.
Selfie samples
Portrait mode is similarly capable on the selfie camera as it on the rear one, though it comes with the same caveats as well - no HDR and unnaturally blurred strands of hair that fall outside of the main subject outline.
Selfie samples, Portrait mode
Video recording
The Nokia G21 has limited video recording capability. Its resolution maxes out at 1080p, and even there, it's only at 30fps (no 60fps mode). While that's also the case on the Galaxy A22 and the Redmi 10, the Realme 8 does offer 4K30 and 1080p at 60fps.
As 1080p goes (and compared the Redmi and the Galaxy above), the Nokia's footage is as good, or marginally better. It captures very good detail, and its sharpening, while pretty heavy-handed, is still not at aggressive as that on the Redmi. The Galaxy, meanwhile opts for more natural processing but has a distinct soft look. In the video we're witnessing the same off colors that we saw in stills, so that's not great. Dynamic range is good, though.
The camera sensor has enough pixels to do 2x zoom at 1080p with no loss in quality, and indeed the clips are looking similarly detailed as ones at 1x.
Since there's no video stabilization on the G21, you're better off not attempting video capture while walking. A tripod or other means of support are recommended.
Here's a glimpse of how the Nokia G21 compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.
Nokia G21 against the Galaxy A22 and the Redmi 10 in our Video compare tool
Competition
Nokia's budget-conscious G21 is facing some stiff competition - from classic value-focused brands like Realme and Xiaomi's Redmi, but also from Samsung and Motorola (if you're into brands with heritage).
The Redmi 10 easily comes to mind as an alternative to the Nokia. It offers a few advantages, like the loud stereo speakers and the infrared emitter, plus you can use it as a power bank thanks to its reverse charging capability. It also features an ultrawide camera, unlike the Nokia. The G21 does take better selfies. Then there's the matter of preference between MIUI on the Redmi vs Android One on the Nokia, and the difficult to quantify appeal of the Nokia brand itself.
That's pretty much all the G21 has going for it against the Realme 8 - that, and the FM radio. A thoroughly superior package, the Realme comes with a brighter display that's AMOLED, and even if its refresh rate is just 60Hz, we'd still pick the Realme for the screen alone. But the 8 also packs a way more powerful chipset, and it charges two to three times faster than the Nokia, while lasting about as long. Add to that the extra ultrawide camera and the superior main one (with a splash of 4K recording), and the €15-20 higher price seems well justified.
A similar price gap divides the G21 from the Galaxy A22 (non-5G), but this dilemma isn't as straightforward. Another AMOLED, its display can refresh at 90Hz, so that's in its favor. As is the chipset, which may not be a powerhouse, but does offer a noticeable improvement over the G21's in the graphics department. The ultrawide camera scores it some points, but the main one isn't doing it any favors, even against the Nokia. Another point for consideration is the OneUI vs. Android One.
It's one less thing to worry about when choosing between the Nokia G21 and the Moto G50 - the G50 may not be Android One, but it sure looks like... one, with some light custom touches on top. A year-old, the G50 is still widely available for around G21 money, while newer-gen Moto models tend to be pricier, so we're sticking with the G50. Similarly to the Nokia, the Moto lacks an ultrawide camera, but its main one and its macro are significantly better than the ones on the G21. Its display is even dimmer than the Nokia's, which is somewhat of an issue, but battery life and charging speed are essentially a toss-up between the two.
Xiaomi Redmi 10 • Realme 8 • Tecno Spark 7T • Motorola Moto G50
Verdict
The Nokia G21 is no failure - it does quite a few things right. Battery life is one of its particularly strong suits, while Android One means a straightforward UI and speedy updates. Selfies are pretty good, and there's a full set of small niceties like a card slot and FM radio. We're also liking the conservative looks.
We're not exactly fans of the primary camera, and the missing ultrawide is rubbing us the wrong way too. The basic video recording capabilities aren't helping either. The chipset is ill-suited to gaming, and other small missteps like the low-ish max brightness, slow charging and easy-to-scratch camera bump add up in the end.
Trying to beat the budget brands at their own game hasn't quite worked out for the Nokia G21, we reckon. It's not an 'avoid at all costs' type of verdict we have for it, but perhaps first look at the other, more complete packages available, even if they don't have the legendary Finnish logo on their backs.
Pros
- Understated yet stylish design, Nokia badge on the back.
- Extra long battery life.
- Android One is an OS purist's dream.
- Very good selfies.
- 3.5mm jack, NFC, FM radio, DualSIM with a dedicated microSD slot.
Cons
- Camera island is prone to scratching.
- The display's maximum brightness is unimpressive.
- Relatively slow charging, particularly with the bundled adapter.
- Underpowered chipset, especially in the GPU department.
- No ultrawide camera.
- No 4K video, no stabilization for 1080p.
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