In April this year, Nokia announced the entry of the Nokia G21 into the Kenyan market. A few months in, I’ve finally had an opportunity to interact with it for a few weeks now, with my first best impression being the battery. One pillar of Nokia’s philosophy is battery life. The Battery on the G21 is 5050mAh with a promise to last upto 3 days. I didn’t get to the three-day mark, but I have to acknowledge that I’m quite a heavy user since a lot of my work and entertainment I do on phone. But for a slightly light user, three days and beyond is certainly doable. Taking the battery headache off of users’ shoulders is certainly a big plus for a mobile phone.
The design of the phone is simple and minimalistic, with a glass front and plastic frame and back. This material gives the phone good grip and reduces the chances of slipping off a user’s hands. The phone has a side mounted fingerprint scanner, leaving the back to be even more minimalistic which I like. At the back there is only a compact camera casing, Nokia branding and manufacturer info. The phone has a screen size of 6.5” which is comfortable in the palms. Though the resolution is not too high at 720*1600, it still has a place with people who like a cool toned down user experience.
The rear camera is an impressive 50MP with the support of 2MP depth sensor and a 2MP macro lens. This is supported by additional features like HDR, panorama and LED flash. The selfie camera is 8MP.
For sound, users have the phone’s loudspeakers, though of course there is the option of connecting to external sound through the 3.5mm jack or connecting to external sound via Bluetooth. I fall in this last category because I use Bluetooth headphones almost all the time. The sound on the phones speakers is decent, though I mostly use external sound out of habit.
This device also comes with assured security with three years of monthly security updates, which is more than other smartphones in its price range get. While the hard work of keeping you and your data safe happens in the background, you are free to go about your day with no worries. Add to this Android 12 which also comes with additional safety features and recent market trends, and you have quite a good budget phone.
Nokia has always had good partners on board, my most favourite being the CarlZeis partnership for stunning photography. In yet another very practical partnership, the G21 comes pre-installed with the music streaming giant Spotify, giving Nokia smartphone owners access to 70 million tracks and 3.2 million podcasts that Spotify holds. Users also get ExpressVPN for safe browsing. ExpressVPN will be available on all new Nokia smartphones with a 30-day free trial.
The Nokia G21 is available in Nordic Blue and Dusk, and it comes in variants of in 4/64 GB and 4/128 GB. Both variants are available in Safaricom outlets and dealer shops, with MKOPA for device financing, and Open channel. Prices are in the range of Ksh19,999/- for 4/64 variant and from Ksh21,999/- for 4/128 variant.
Verdict
For the price, I would say that this is a worthy purchase given the features on the phone itself, and the safety and security upgrades that all of Nokia phones have. The durability of Nokia phones is well known, so customers know they are putting their money into a phone that is worth their coins.