Nokia G22 smartphone review - The mid-range phone can be repaired by yourself
Possible competitors in comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Drive | Size | Resolution | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 78.7 % v7 (old) | 05 / 2023 | Nokia G22 T7200 (T606), Mali-G57 MP1 | 195 g | 64 GB UFS 2.2 Flash | 6.52" | 1600x720 | |
| 78.5 % v7 (old) | 03 / 2022 | Nokia G21 T7200 (T606), Mali-G57 MP1 | 190 g | 64 GB eMMC Flash | 6.50" | 1600x720 | |
| 79 % v7 (old) | 03 / 2023 | Motorola Moto G23 Helio G85, Mali-G52 MP2 | 184.3 g | 128 GB eMMC Flash | 6.50" | 1600x720 | |
| 76.6 % v7 (old) | 04 / 2023 | Xiaomi Redmi 12C Helio G85, Mali-G52 MP2 | 192 g | 128 GB eMMC Flash | 6.71" | 1650x720 |
Case and features - Good repairability of the Nokia G22?
Nokia phones have not come with chargers for quite some time now, and the proceeds from charger sales are donated to environmental protection. You can plant trees with the purchase in Nokia's online store, and the devices were provided with a longer warranty or sold in a subscription so that you can use them for as long as possible.
Now the manufacturer takes the next step in terms of sustainability: the back of Nokia's G22 is completely made of recycled plastic, and repair kits are sold in cooperation with iFixit, which allows replacing defective components like screens or batteries.
Fortunately, the replacement parts do not cost the earth: 50 Euros for a new display and 25 Euros for a new battery. Nokia provided us with a toolset from iFixit, and we immediately tried to open the Nokia G22. To do so, you have to pry out the side frame in the SIM slot, which is successful but leaves traces on the casing even with the soft plastic pick. It is also very fiddly to take the case apart. Nokia will have to do more here to reduce the hurdles for self-repair in the future.
The casing itself is mostly made of plastic, looks solid, and feels good in the hand. Pressure on the front does come through to the screen, but overall the case can hardly be twisted and only slightly dented. Blue and dark gray colors are sold in Europe, and there is also a brown variant internationally.
At first glance, Nokia's G22 is not exceptionally well equipped with 64 GB of mass storage for a phone with the price of 200 Euros, but the memory type is fast UFS 2.2 flash. The microSD card reader occupies a SIM slot and proves to be similarly fast as in comparable smartphones in combination with our reference card Angelbird V60.
| SD Card Reader - average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (7.7 - 58.9, n=69, last 2 years) | |
| Motorola Moto G23 (Angelbird V60) | |
| Nokia G21 (Angelbird V60) | |
| Nokia G22 (Angelbird V60) | |
| Xiaomi Redmi 12C (Angelbird V60) | |
Cross Platform Disk Test (CPDT)
Communication, software, and operation - Snappy touchscreen
As a WiFi-5 smartphone, Nokia's G22 is on par with the competition in terms of WLAN speed. Apart from a certain start-up time until the full speed is reached, the transfer rates are also quite stable.
Unfortunately, Nokia's G22 is only a 4G phone, but that is acceptable in this price range. For further trips abroad, you should carefully check whether the smartphone supports the necessary frequencies to be able to access the mobile Internet locally.
Nokia installs quite pure Android 12 and promises monthly security updates, but at the time of testing, the patches were from March 2023 and we have also seen that other devices from the manufacturer tend to have 2-3 monthly updates. The device is supposed to be updated for 3 years from market launch, and Android 13 and 14 should be available for the phone. Unfortunately, some third-party apps with advertisements are pre-installed, but they can be deleted quite easily.
The touchscreen responds quickly to our inputs and scrolling is quite smooth thanks to the 90 Hz frame rate. A fingerprint sensor for unlocking the device is found in the standby button on the right side. It is a bit easier to reach for righties than for lefties.
It recognizes stored fingerprints very reliably, but it takes a moment until the phone is actually unlocked. Face recognition can also be used, and even in a weaker light, the screen's brightness is usually sufficient for recognition. However, this method is not quite as secure against manipulation due to the pure software solution.
| Networking | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| Motorola Moto G23 | |
| Xiaomi Redmi 12C | |
| Nokia G22 | |
| Nokia G21 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| Motorola Moto G23 | |
| Nokia G22 | |
| Nokia G21 | |
| Xiaomi Redmi 12C | |
Cameras - Nokia G22 with 50 megapixels
Nokia's G22 has a 50-megapixel camera on the back, additionally supported by a very low-resolution macro camera and a lens for bokeh effects that cannot take pictures. The main camera takes decent pictures in daylight, but they cannot compete with high-end phones in terms of sharpness and detail.
Passable photos succeed in very low light and high contrasts, but they no longer show any drawing in very bright and very dark areas. Pictures taken at 1 lux illuminance only reveal very bright areas of the test chart. In studio light, the phone manages a decent, albeit somewhat washed-out image quality.
Videos can be recorded in 1080p and 30 fps. The autofocus is a bit slow here, but the exposure compensation works quickly and reliably. Overall, movie recordings look usable but do not meet higher demands.
The front-facing camera has a resolution of 8 megapixels. Selfies look quite nice at first glance, but should not be enlarged too much, otherwise, you will notice a strong graininess and lack of detail in dark areas.
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 cameraMain cameraLowLight
Display - Bright IPS screen in the Nokia G22
The 6.52-inch display of the Nokia G22 has a resolution of 1600 x 720 pixels and is thus on par with the class. However, its brightness is clearly above the usual rates of the price range. We measured 641 cd/m², so the phone can also be used well outdoors on brighter days.
The bright screen and the acceptable black value also result in a good contrast ratio, which leads to a stronger color representation on the screen. The colors are only slightly less accurate in bright reds, and there is also a visible blue cast in bright grays.
We did not notice any PWM, but the display is hardly suitable for demanding gamers due to the slow response times.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 90 %
Center on Battery: 674 cd/m²
Contrast: 1567:1 (Black: 0.43 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 4.45 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.86
ΔE Greyscale 5.1 | 0.09-98 Ø5.1
94.1% sRGB (Calman 2D)
Gamma: 2.072
| Nokia G22 IPS, 1600x720, 6.5" | Nokia G21 IPS, 1600x720, 6.5" | Motorola Moto G23 IPS, 1600x720, 6.5" | Xiaomi Redmi 12C IPS, 1650x720, 6.7" | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response Times | -15% | 17% | 22% | |
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 60.2 ? | 64 ? -6% | 46 ? 24% | 49.5 ? 18% |
| Response Time Black / White * | 27.7 ? | 34 ? -23% | 25 ? 10% | 20.9 ? 25% |
| PWM Frequency | ||||
| Screen | -24% | -13% | -9% | |
| Brightness middle | 674 | 492 -27% | 522 -23% | 417 -38% |
| Brightness | 641 | 484 -24% | 502 -22% | 397 -38% |
| Brightness Distribution | 90 | 86 -4% | 91 1% | 85 -6% |
| Black Level * | 0.43 | 0.46 -7% | 0.47 -9% | 0.35 19% |
| Contrast | 1567 | 1070 -32% | 1111 -29% | 1191 -24% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 4.45 | 6.02 -35% | 4.63 -4% | 3.81 14% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 7.41 | 9.13 -23% | 8.59 -16% | 7.2 3% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 5.1 | 7.1 -39% | 5.2 -2% | 5.2 -2% |
| Gamma | 2.072 106% | 2.345 94% | 2.296 96% | 2.531 87% |
| CCT | 7799 83% | 8918 73% | 7832 83% | 7842 83% |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | -20% /
-22% | 2% /
-7% | 7% /
-3% |
* ... smaller is better
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 27.7 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 17.9 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 9.8 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. » 69 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (20.7 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 60.2 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 33 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 27.2 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. » 96 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (32.4 ms). | ||
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM not detected |  | ||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 8439 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 343500) Hz was measured. | |||
Performance, emissions and battery life - Older SoC with good power
With the Unisoc T606 Nokia uses the same SoC as its predecessor Nokia G21. It can still keep up with other devices in terms of performance, enables a reasonably smooth operation, and is sufficient for most everyday apps. In terms of future-proofing, Nokia should opt for a more up-to-date SoC for its next mid-range phone.
We like the fast UFS 2.2 storage, which significantly shortens copying and loading times and gives the Nokia G22 a clear advantage in its price range.
The maximum temperature of 44.7 °C is clearly noticeable at room conditions after a long load but not critical. About 3% of performance losses after long and high load are hardly noticeable in everyday use.
The speaker on the lower edge sounds decent, the music does not overdrive and does not seem too treble-heavy. You can increase the volume beyond 100% in a loud environment but the sound will become very thin. Headphones or speakers can be connected via a 3.5 mm port or wirelessly via Bluetooth. In terms of Bluetooth codecs, Nokia's G22 comes standard with aptX, aptX HD, SBC, AAC, and LDAC. More modern variants are missing, though.
The 5050 mAh battery is exactly the same size as in the predecessor but Nokia's G22 lasted a few minutes less in our Wi-Fi test. Nevertheless, 17:32 hours is a good result, and the phone can even survive 2 workdays without charging. The smartphone can be charged with a maximum of 20 watts, and it then takes a maximum of 2 hours until the battery indicator shows 100% again.
| PCMark for Android - Work 3.0 | |
| Average of class Smartphone (4507 - 27169, n=192, last 2 years) | |
| Xiaomi Redmi 12C | |
| Motorola Moto G23 | |
| Nokia G21 | |
| Average Unisoc T7200 (T606) (6637 - 8303, n=20) | |
| Nokia G22 | |
| GFXBench | |
| on screen Aztec Ruins Normal Tier Onscreen | |
| Average of class Smartphone (5.5 - 166, n=201, last 2 years) | |
| Xiaomi Redmi 12C | |
| Motorola Moto G23 | |
| Nokia G22 | |
| Nokia G21 | |
| Average Unisoc T7200 (T606) (5.1 - 11, n=19) | |
| 1920x1080 Aztec Ruins Normal Tier Offscreen | |
| Average of class Smartphone (3.4 - 321, n=201, last 2 years) | |
| Xiaomi Redmi 12C | |
| Motorola Moto G23 | |
| Nokia G22 | |
| Nokia G21 | |
| Average Unisoc T7200 (T606) (1.9 - 5.5, n=19) | |
| on screen Aztec Ruins High Tier Onscreen | |
| Average of class Smartphone (0.85 - 144, n=202, last 2 years) | |
| Xiaomi Redmi 12C | |
| Motorola Moto G23 | |
| Nokia G22 | |
| Nokia G21 | |
| Average Unisoc T7200 (T606) (0.85 - 7.3, n=19) | |
| 2560x1440 Aztec Ruins High Tier Offscreen | |
| Average of class Smartphone (1.2 - 129, n=201, last 2 years) | |
| Xiaomi Redmi 12C | |
| Motorola Moto G23 | |
| Nokia G21 | |
| Nokia G22 | |
| Average Unisoc T7200 (T606) (0.85 - 2.1, n=19) | |
| 3840x2160 4K Aztec Ruins High Tier Offscreen | |
| Average of class Smartphone (0.54 - 53, n=202, last 2 years) | |
| Xiaomi Redmi 12C | |
| Motorola Moto G23 | |
| Average Unisoc T7200 (T606) (0.8 - 6.6, n=15) | |
| Nokia G22 | |
| Octane V2 - Total Score | |
| Average of class Smartphone (2228 - 100368, n=206, last 2 years) | |
| Motorola Moto G23 | |
| Average Unisoc T7200 (T606) (2228 - 13705, n=15) | |
| Xiaomi Redmi 12C | |
| Nokia G22 | |
| Nokia G22 | Nokia G21 | Motorola Moto G23 | Xiaomi Redmi 12C | Average 64 GB UFS 2.2 Flash | Average of class Smartphone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AndroBench 3-5 | -58% | -42% | -37% | 5% | 174% | |
| Sequential Read 256KB | 881 | 257.6 -71% | 282.4 -68% | 290.6 -67% | 770 ? -13% | 2054 ? 133% |
| Sequential Write 256KB | 367 | 180.6 -51% | 244.6 -33% | 225.1 -39% | 399 ? 9% | 1667 ? 354% |
| Random Read 4KB | 131 | 74 -44% | 100.2 -24% | 112.9 -14% | 156.6 ? 20% | 286 ? 118% |
| Random Write 4KB | 172 | 60.2 -65% | 100.5 -42% | 123.7 -28% | 177.7 ? 3% | 327 ? 90% |
Temperature
(±) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 42.4 °C / 108 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 44.7 °C / 112 F, compared to the average of 33.9 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 26.3 °C / 79 F, compared to the device average of 32.8 °C / 91 F.
| 3DMark - Wild Life Stress Test Stability | |
| Xiaomi Redmi 12C | |
| Motorola Moto G23 | |
| Nokia G22 | |
Speaker
Nokia G22 audio analysis
(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (81.1 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 31.5% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (10.6% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 4.4% away from median
(+) | mids are linear (5.6% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 3.4% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (6.6% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (23.7% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 51% of all tested devices in this class were better, 9% similar, 40% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 36%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 69% of all tested devices were better, 7% similar, 25% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 24%, worst was 134%
Xiaomi Redmi 12C audio analysis
(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (79.7 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 31% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (9.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 5.3% higher than median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (7.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 2.8% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (6.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (23.8% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 51% of all tested devices in this class were better, 9% similar, 40% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 36%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 69% of all tested devices were better, 7% similar, 24% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 24%, worst was 134%
Battery life
| Battery Runtime - WiFi Websurfing | |
| Motorola Moto G23 | |
| Nokia G21 | |
| Nokia G22 | |
| Average of class Smartphone (575 - 3244, n=202, last 2 years) | |
| Xiaomi Redmi 12C | |
Pros
Cons
Verdict - Good, but not perfect yet
The fact that Nokia is always thinking about how to make its products more sustainable is praiseworthy. Especially relatively inexpensive smartphones require creativity here.
Nokia's G22 is certainly another step in this direction, even though it will probably not completely take away the fear of opening the device for inexperienced users. The repair is still a bit too complicated for that and can damage the phone too easily.
It is a shame that the promise in terms of security updates is not quite kept. The older SoC can still keep up well and, together with the fast memory, ensures a mostly smooth system. The screen also offers a lot of brightness and good contrast.
Decent battery runtimes, a usable speaker, and stable Wi-Fi speed are also plus points of the sustainable smartphone.
Nokia's G22 is a solid mid-range phone with fast memory that puts a lot of effort into sustainability. However, it still needs some fine-tuning before you can really easily repair a cheap phone.
The predecessor Nokia G21 is now available for a low price (for example 155 Euros at amazon.de) and also offers good runtimes, but also a less bright display. The Motorola Moto G23 brings a lot of memory, an additional wide-angle camera, and many Bluetooth codecs.
Price and availability
In the USA, if you prefer a meteor-grey Nokia G22, you can buy it for around $300 at Amazon.
Nokia G22
- 05/02/2023 v7 (old)
Florian Schmitt
Transparency
The selection of devices to be reviewed is made by our editorial team. The test sample was provided to the author as a loan by the manufacturer or retailer for the purpose of this review. The lender had no influence on this review, nor did the manufacturer receive a copy of this review before publication. There was no obligation to publish this review. We never accept compensation or payment in return for our reviews. As an independent media company, Notebookcheck is not subjected to the authority of manufacturers, retailers or publishers.
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