Nokia G20 smartphone review - Affordable entry-level phone with a nice design
Possible competitors in comparison
Rating | Rating Version | Date | Model | Weight | Drive | Size | Resolution | Price from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 76.4 % v7 (old) | v7 (old) | 07 / 2021 | Nokia G20 Helio G35, PowerVR GE8320 | 197 g | 64 GB eMMC Flash | 6.50" | 1600x720 | |
| 77.3 % v7 (old) | v7 (old) | 04 / 2021 | Motorola Moto G10 SD 460, Adreno 610 | 200 g | 64 GB eMMC Flash | 6.50" | 1600x720 | |
| 72.5 % v7 (old) | v7 (old) | 03 / 2021 | Samsung Galaxy A02s SD 450, Adreno 506 | 196 g | 32 GB eMMC Flash | 6.50" | 1600x720 | |
| 78.9 % v7 (old) | v7 (old) | 05 / 2021 | Xiaomi Redmi 9T SD 662, Adreno 610 | 198 g | 128 GB UFS 2.2 Flash | 6.53" | 2340x1080 |
Case, features and operation - Pure Android 11 by Nokia
Nokia charges 169 Euros (~$199) ex-manufacturer for the G20. It is not from Nokia's top series, which has comprehensive warranty, update and sustainability promises, but is a somewhat simpler smartphone that is positioned between entry-level and lower mid-range.
Nokia has made an effort with the colors and the surface despite the plastic casing: A light stripe texture and a slightly reflective white give our test device a thoroughly chic look. The second color variant is a dark blue that is also slightly reflective.
Android 11 is preinstalled on the smartphone. Since Nokia is part of the Android-One program with its smartphones, you get a quite pure Android, which does not have a user interface on top. The security patches on our device are from June 2021 at the time of testing and are thus just about up to date. A few advertising apps are preinstalled on the smartphone, which can be removed.
We are less convinced by the Wi-Fi equipment, which feels a bit outdated with WiFi 4 even for this price range. At least there are no such serious speed problems as in Samsung's Galaxy A02s, so Nokia's G20 offers solid WiFi 4 speed around 50 MBit/s, but the Moto G10 or even the Xiaomi Redmi 9T show that WiFi 5 with significantly higher speeds can be offered for less than 200 Euros (~$235).
| SD Card Reader - average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (7.7 - 77, n=77, last 2 years) | |
| Nokia G20 (Angelbird V60) | |
Cross Platform Disk Test (CPDT)
| Networking | |
| iperf3 transmit AX12 | |
| Xiaomi Redmi 9T | |
| Motorola Moto G10 | |
| Nokia G20 | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| iperf3 receive AX12 | |
| Xiaomi Redmi 9T | |
| Motorola Moto G10 | |
| Nokia G20 | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
Cameras - Good brightening
There are officially 4 camera lenses in the Nokia G20, but only 3 of them can be used for pictures. The fourth one is only used to support portrait blur, for example.
The main camera has a resolution of 48 megapixels, but usually takes 12-megapixel pictures, which means that 4 pixels are used to create a larger pixel that captures more light. The image quality is decent for the price range, but overall you should not expect too much brightening and contours do not look completely clean. The image sharpness is also only average.
The camera brightens quite well in low light or even only 1 lux illuminance. Of course, there is a lot of image noise and the sharpness suffers, but the Nokia G20 takes quite good photos in the dark for such a cheap smartphone.
A telephoto lens and a wide-angle camera are available as additional lenses. Optical zooming is not possible, except by directly switching between the wide-angle and main camera. The telephoto lens can only be used in a special mode.
The front camera resolves with 8 megapixels and takes solid selfies in good lighting.
Image Comparison
Choose a scene and navigate within the first image. One click changes the position on touchscreens. One click on the zoomed-in image opens the original in a new window. The first image shows the scaled photograph of the test device.
Main camera FlowerMain camera EnvironmentMain camera Low LightWide-angle lens
Display - Almost no PWM
A 720p display is still standard in this price range, and Nokia's G20 meets this requirement. The brightness is also on a par with the class, but the Motorola Moto G10 disappointed in its test. Thus, you should be able to use the smartphone well outdoors if it is not too sunny.
The black value of 0.44 cd/m² is only on a medium level, the contrast of 1,102:1 as well. Colors do not look pale, but not as bright as on higher-quality screens.
We only notice PWM at low brightness with its very high value. Thus, the screen's flickering shouldn't actually cause anyone problems.
In terms of color representation, there is a quite noticeable blue cast on the Nokia smartphone's display. Some color tones are displayed very inaccurately, so you might be in for a surprise when the colors look completely different in printed cell phone photos.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 88 %
Center on Battery: 485 cd/m²
Contrast: 1102:1 (Black: 0.44 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 5.75 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.91
ΔE Greyscale 5.7 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
93.6% sRGB (Calman 2D)
Gamma: 2.095
| Nokia G20 IPS, 1600x720, 6.5" | Motorola Moto G10 IPS, 1600x720, 6.5" | Samsung Galaxy A02s PLS, 1600x720, 6.5" | Xiaomi Redmi 9T IPS LCD, 2340x1080, 6.5" | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response Times | -59% | 1% | -23% | |
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 44 ? | 67 ? -52% | 48 ? -9% | 44 ? -0% |
| Response Time Black / White * | 29 ? | 48 ? -66% | 26 ? 10% | 30 ? -3% |
| PWM Frequency | 2500 | 880 ? -65% | ||
| Screen | 22% | 3% | 41% | |
| Brightness middle | 485 | 359 -26% | 482 -1% | 467 -4% |
| Brightness | 447 | 347 -22% | 460 3% | 425 -5% |
| Brightness Distribution | 88 | 95 8% | 92 5% | 83 -6% |
| Black Level * | 0.44 | 0.18 59% | 0.44 -0% | 0.25 43% |
| Contrast | 1102 | 1994 81% | 1095 -1% | 1868 70% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 5.75 | 4.89 15% | 5.52 4% | 1.35 77% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 10.53 | 8.13 23% | 7.78 26% | 2.3 78% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 5.7 | 3.7 35% | 6.3 -11% | 1.4 75% |
| Gamma | 2.095 105% | 2.292 96% | 2.54 87% | 2.113 104% |
| CCT | 8070 81% | 7462 87% | 7882 82% | 6403 102% |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | -19% /
6% | 2% /
3% | 9% /
24% |
* ... smaller is better
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 29 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 16 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 13 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows relatively slow response rates in our tests and may be too slow for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 75 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (20.9 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 44 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 25 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 19 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.165 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 71 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (32.8 ms). | ||
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM detected | 2500 Hz |  | |
The display backlight flickers at 2500 Hz (worst case, e.g., utilizing PWM) . The frequency of 2500 Hz is quite high, so most users sensitive to PWM should not notice any flickering. In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 8705 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 343500) Hz was measured. | |||
Performance, emissions and battery life - Not much power, but long
Nokia's inexpensive mid-range phone is equipped with a MediaTek Helio G35. Thus, it does not quite reach the performance of a Motorola Moto G10 but on the other hand it outperforms Samsung's Galaxy A02s so that it is overall on a medium performance level for the price range. In terms of graphics performance, the Nokia G20 cannot keep up with similarly priced smartphones.
You can definitely feel that there are not many performance reserves in everyday use, for example when you can only adjust the volume with a delay during complex apps or apps start slowly. However, this is something you have to expect in this price range. The internal memory reads and writes data quite slowly.
The smartphone never heats up critically even under sustained, heavy load. You can feel the slightly higher casing temperatures, but they are not unpleasant at any time.
The small mono speaker is averagely loud and sufficient for a smaller room. The sound is very treble-emphasized and hardly makes you want to listen to music for long. External audio devices can be connected via Bluetooth 5.0 or 3.5 mm jack. The sound is good here.
The battery life in our WLAN test is good at 19:46 hours, thanks to the strong 5,050 mAh battery. You have to take some time for charging: Nokia's G20 charges with a maximum of 10 watts.
| PCMark for Android | |
| Work 3.0 (sort by value) | |
| Nokia G20 | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G35 (5208 - 5581, n=5) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (4609 - 27169, n=196, last 2 years) | |
| Work 2.0 performance score (sort by value) | |
| Nokia G20 | |
| Motorola Moto G10 | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Xiaomi Redmi 9T | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G35 (5279 - 5594, n=2) | |
| GFXBench | |
| on screen Aztec Ruins Normal Tier Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| Nokia G20 | |
| Motorola Moto G10 | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G35 (7.4 - 8.1, n=5) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (3.6 - 247, n=207, last 2 years) | |
| 1920x1080 Aztec Ruins Normal Tier Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Nokia G20 | |
| Motorola Moto G10 | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G35 (4.1 - 4.2, n=5) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (2.3 - 321, n=207, last 2 years) | |
| on screen Aztec Ruins High Tier Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| Nokia G20 | |
| Motorola Moto G10 | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G35 (4.7 - 5, n=5) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (0.85 - 144, n=207, last 2 years) | |
| 2560x1440 Aztec Ruins High Tier Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Nokia G20 | |
| Motorola Moto G10 | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G35 (1.4 - 1.5, n=5) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (0.85 - 115, n=207, last 2 years) | |
| Nokia G20 | Motorola Moto G10 | Samsung Galaxy A02s | Xiaomi Redmi 9T | Average 64 GB eMMC Flash | Average of class Smartphone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AndroBench 3-5 | 67% | 62% | 169% | 11% | 743% | |
| Sequential Read 256KB | 256.1 | 295.9 16% | 299 17% | 503 96% | 274 ? 7% | 1887 ? 637% |
| Sequential Write 256KB | 139.3 | 172.4 24% | 103.9 -25% | 252.2 81% | 176.2 ? 26% | 1474 ? 958% |
| Random Read 4KB | 63.5 | 123 94% | 84.8 34% | 104.5 65% | 59.4 ? -6% | 279 ? 339% |
| Random Write 4KB | 27.4 | 64.5 135% | 88.5 223% | 145.9 432% | 32 ? 17% | 312 ? 1039% |
Temperature
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 39.6 °C / 103 F, compared to the average of 35.1 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 63.7 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 39.7 °C / 103 F, compared to the average of 33.9 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 26.4 °C / 80 F, compared to the device average of 32.8 °C / 91 F.
Speaker
Nokia G20 audio analysis
(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (80.6 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 38.6% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (7.9% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | reduced mids - on average 6.3% lower than median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (8.9% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 3.8% away from median
(±) | linearity of highs is average (10.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (28.7% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 72% of all tested devices in this class were better, 4% similar, 23% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 37%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 85% of all tested devices were better, 3% similar, 13% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Motorola Moto G10 audio analysis
(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (81 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 64.4% lower than median
(+) | bass is linear (0% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(-) | nearly no mids - on average 64.4% lower than median
(+) | mids are linear (0% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(-) | nearly no highs - on average 64.4% lower than median
(+) | highs are linear (0% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(-) | overall sound is not linear (119.2% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 87% of all tested devices in this class were better, 9% similar, 4% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 37%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 96% of all tested devices were better, 3% similar, 1% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Battery life
| Nokia G20 5050 mAh | Motorola Moto G10 5000 mAh | Samsung Galaxy A02s 5000 mAh | Xiaomi Redmi 9T 6000 mAh | Average of class Smartphone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Runtime | |||||
| WiFi Websurfing | 1186 | 1038 -12% | 1201 1% | 1385 17% | 988 ? -17% |
Pros
Cons
Verdict - A solid choice
If you expect a lot of performance, a great screen and only the best materials, the Nokia G20 is not the right choice. But you cannot expect that for just under 170 Euros (~$200). Instead, you get a smartphone that is well-designed in all areas, looks stylish, is stable, lasts for a long time, and offers sufficient performance for everyday use.
The camera can even shine a bit by including a telephoto and a wide-angle lens and it brightens up dark scenes quite well. However, you should not expect too much here either: In terms of image sharpness, it is only on the fairly low level of the price range.
The Nokia G20 is a solid and inexpensive entry-level smartphone.
Thus, Nokia delivers a smartphone that fits into this class at a low price. It could have a bit faster WLAN, but the smartphone does not have any major weaknesses overall
The alternatives look as follows: We do not recommend the Samsung Galaxy A02s because of the very low WLAN speeds. The Motorola Moto G10 on the other hand, can show its strengths in this point, but the screen is not as bright. Thus, you should see which areas of a smartphone are more important for you before buying.
Price and availability
You can get the Nokia G20 from our loaner notebooksbilliger.de but also at numerous other retailers like Amazon or Cyberport. The prices start at about €160 (~$188) at the time of testing.
Nokia G20
- 07/21/2021 v7 (old)
Florian Schmitt
Price comparison
