TechPhonesNokia G21 review: Cheap and cheerful or a low-cost letdown?The Nokia G21 is very cheap to buy – but is it value for money or too budget for its own good?When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.(Image credit: Future)T3 VerdictFor its price, the Nokia G21 is a phone that impresses, particularly in terms of its design, build quality and battery life. Everything else, however, is distinctly average – and for not much more cash you could buy a Moto G instead.Reasons to buy+Very appealing price+Solid build quality+Excellent battery lifeReasons to avoid-Sluggish performance-Lacks 5G connectivity-Moto G series trounces itWhy you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
TechPhonesNokia G21 review: Cheap and cheerful or a low-cost letdown?The Nokia G21 is very cheap to buy – but is it value for money or too budget for its own good?When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.(Image credit: Future)T3 VerdictFor its price, the Nokia G21 is a phone that impresses, particularly in terms of its design, build quality and battery life. Everything else, however, is distinctly average – and for not much more cash you could buy a Moto G instead.Reasons to buy+Very appealing price+Solid build quality+Excellent battery lifeReasons to avoid-Sluggish performance-Lacks 5G connectivity-Moto G series trounces itWhy you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
The Nokia G21 is very cheap to buy – but is it value for money or too budget for its own good?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Future)T3 VerdictFor its price, the Nokia G21 is a phone that impresses, particularly in terms of its design, build quality and battery life. Everything else, however, is distinctly average – and for not much more cash you could buy a Moto G instead.Reasons to buy+Very appealing price+Solid build quality+Excellent battery lifeReasons to avoid-Sluggish performance-Lacks 5G connectivity-Moto G series trounces it
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
T3 VerdictFor its price, the Nokia G21 is a phone that impresses, particularly in terms of its design, build quality and battery life. Everything else, however, is distinctly average – and for not much more cash you could buy a Moto G instead.Reasons to buy+Very appealing price+Solid build quality+Excellent battery lifeReasons to avoid-Sluggish performance-Lacks 5G connectivity-Moto G series trounces it
T3 VerdictFor its price, the Nokia G21 is a phone that impresses, particularly in terms of its design, build quality and battery life. Everything else, however, is distinctly average – and for not much more cash you could buy a Moto G instead.
T3 Verdict
For its price, the Nokia G21 is a phone that impresses, particularly in terms of its design, build quality and battery life. Everything else, however, is distinctly average – and for not much more cash you could buy a Moto G instead.
Reasons to buy+Very appealing price+Solid build quality+Excellent battery lifeReasons to avoid-Sluggish performance-Lacks 5G connectivity-Moto G series trounces it
Reasons to buy+Very appealing price+Solid build quality+Excellent battery life
Very appealing price
Solid build quality
Excellent battery life
Reasons to avoid-Sluggish performance-Lacks 5G connectivity-Moto G series trounces it
Sluggish performance
Lacks 5G connectivity
Moto G series trounces it
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
On paper, the Nokia G21 is a contender for ourbest cheap phoneslist: this is a very affordable handset indeed. Typically, Nokia is a brand that can be relied on for providing maximum value for money with its devices – but does the G21 also fall into that category?
Our in-depth Nokia G21 review will tell you everything you need to know about this budgetAndroidsmartphone, from the sort of battery life you can expect, to the quality of the images you can get from its camera, to the time you’ll be waiting for apps to load up.
Nokia G21: price and availability
We weren’t kidding when we said the Nokia G21 was affordable. The handset can be yours in the UK for a mere £149.99, which you can also think of as less than a fifth of the starting price of theSamsung Galaxy S22flagship.
The G21is available from all the usual places, includingAmazon,Argos, andNokiadirectly. At the time of writing, we’ve not heard anything about availability or pricing in the USA, which suggests this budget phone won’t be available in that region.
Today’s best nokia g21 deals$299ViewWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best nokia g21 deals$299ViewWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best nokia g21 deals
$299View
$299View
$299View
$299View
$299
$299
We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Nokia G21: design and display
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
You never want a budget phone to look like a budget phone, which is where the Nokia G21 does a respectable job of appearing to be less cheap and cheerful than it actually is. We like the textured plastic back of the casing, as well as the compact rear camera module, and the handset feels well built and solid when you pick it up.
The phone’s 6.5-inch, 720 x 1,600 pixel LCD display is reasonably bright and sharp, though it obviously doesn’t have the premium levels of resolution you’ll find in other low-end and mid-range devices. It’s perfectly fine for watching movies, browsing the web, and viewing social media, while its 90Hz refresh rate is an unexpected smoothness bonus that helps to keep blurring and ghosting down to a minimum.
The bezels around the edges of the G21’s display are nice and thin, except for a rather thick chin – something we often see on budget phones – and there’s a small teardrop notch at the top where the front-facing camera hides.
Data transfer and charging is handled via a USB-C port at the bottom, while the fingerprint sensor comes built into the power button. As is often the case on Nokia phones, there’s a dedicated button for launchingGoogleAssistant, which can come in handy.
Nokia G21: performance and battery
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
The Unisoc T606 processor and 4GB of RAM under the hood is just about enough to run the Android 11 software that comes on board the Nokia G21. Put it this way: we wouldn’t want to try and run Android 11 on anything less. The operating system is thankfully free from bloatware and extra complications, keeping things nice and neat.
But that lower-end processor did mean we noticed some lag and occasional pauses when switching between apps and opening menus during our testing. You also might find occasional glitches with some of the most demanding games and apps on Android, but for everyday use the Nokia G21 will serve you well enough while clearly not breaking any speed records.
Nokia reckons you’ll be able to get up to three days between charges with the 5,050mAh battery, and that’s not beyond the realms of possibility. We noticed a drop of 11 percent from an hour of video streaming with the screen on full brightness (so around 9-10 hours in total), and a drop of just 4 percent from half an hour of GPS navigation, with the screen on medium brightness. With some careful management of your phone usage, you should be able to get a couple of days of use or so from the G21.
Nokia G21: camera system
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Camera systems are usually where corners are cut on budget phones, and the Nokia G21 isn’t really any different in this regard. The rear camera comprises a triple-lens 50-megapixel main, a 2MP macro for close-ups, and 2MP depth sensor, so there’s no ultra-wide and no optical zoom here.
On the front of the device there’s a single 8MP camera, which does a basic job of capturing selfie photos and videos – and not much more than that.
Pictures snapped on the rear camera come out looking pretty good but you need decent light and a steady subject – unfortunately the time we spent testing the phone coincided with a period of overcast and rainy weather, which meant that our photos were never going to be stunning.
Nevertheless, colours and details are captured reasonably well, and these pictures are more than decent enough to use for social media, for example, despite the not-so-versatile system generally lacking in other regard.
Image1of11
We tested the Nokia G21 during a drab, wet week, but the photos it captures aren’t bad(Image credit: Future)
We tested the Nokia G21 during a drab, wet week, but the photos it captures aren’t bad(Image credit: Future)
We tested the Nokia G21 during a drab, wet week, but the photos it captures aren’t bad(Image credit: Future)
We tested the Nokia G21 during a drab, wet week, but the photos it captures aren’t bad(Image credit: Future)
We tested the Nokia G21 during a drab, wet week, but the photos it captures aren’t bad(Image credit: Future)
There’s enough colour and detail in the snaps to use them on social media(Image credit: Future)
There’s enough colour and detail in the snaps to use them on social media(Image credit: Future)
There’s enough colour and detail in the snaps to use them on social media(Image credit: Future)
There’s enough colour and detail in the snaps to use them on social media(Image credit: Future)
There’s enough colour and detail in the snaps to use them on social media(Image credit: Future)
With no optical zoom, you’re stuck with digital zoom unfortunately (2x zoom here)(Image credit: Future)
With no optical zoom, you’re stuck with digital zoom unfortunately (2x zoom here)(Image credit: Future)
With no optical zoom, you’re stuck with digital zoom unfortunately (2x zoom here)(Image credit: Future)
With no optical zoom, you’re stuck with digital zoom unfortunately (2x zoom here)(Image credit: Future)
With no optical zoom, you’re stuck with digital zoom unfortunately (2x zoom here)(Image credit: Future)
With moving subjects, like flowers blowing in the wind, the camera starts to struggle noticeably(Image credit: Future)
With moving subjects, like flowers blowing in the wind, the camera starts to struggle noticeably(Image credit: Future)
With moving subjects, like flowers blowing in the wind, the camera starts to struggle noticeably(Image credit: Future)
With moving subjects, like flowers blowing in the wind, the camera starts to struggle noticeably(Image credit: Future)
With moving subjects, like flowers blowing in the wind, the camera starts to struggle noticeably(Image credit: Future)
Remember this was an overcast day – the Nokia G21 has done a decent job of balancing the lighter and darker areas(Image credit: Future)
Remember this was an overcast day – the Nokia G21 has done a decent job of balancing the lighter and darker areas(Image credit: Future)
Remember this was an overcast day – the Nokia G21 has done a decent job of balancing the lighter and darker areas(Image credit: Future)
Remember this was an overcast day – the Nokia G21 has done a decent job of balancing the lighter and darker areas(Image credit: Future)
Remember this was an overcast day – the Nokia G21 has done a decent job of balancing the lighter and darker areas(Image credit: Future)
At night, however, the shortcomings of the camera become apparent (this is the same field from the previous photo)(Image credit: Future)
At night, however, the shortcomings of the camera become apparent (this is the same field from the previous photo)(Image credit: Future)
At night, however, the shortcomings of the camera become apparent (this is the same field from the previous photo)(Image credit: Future)
At night, however, the shortcomings of the camera become apparent (this is the same field from the previous photo)(Image credit: Future)
At night, however, the shortcomings of the camera become apparent (this is the same field from the previous photo)(Image credit: Future)
Night mode helps a little, but not much(Image credit: Future)
Night mode helps a little, but not much(Image credit: Future)
Night mode helps a little, but not much(Image credit: Future)
Night mode helps a little, but not much(Image credit: Future)
Night mode helps a little, but not much(Image credit: Future)
With closer subjects, the camera does better in low light – even without night mode(Image credit: Future)
With closer subjects, the camera does better in low light – even without night mode(Image credit: Future)
With closer subjects, the camera does better in low light – even without night mode(Image credit: Future)
With closer subjects, the camera does better in low light – even without night mode(Image credit: Future)
With closer subjects, the camera does better in low light – even without night mode(Image credit: Future)
Night mode means a longer exposure time, but you can get better images(Image credit: Future)
Night mode means a longer exposure time, but you can get better images(Image credit: Future)
Night mode means a longer exposure time, but you can get better images(Image credit: Future)
Night mode means a longer exposure time, but you can get better images(Image credit: Future)
Night mode means a longer exposure time, but you can get better images(Image credit: Future)
Once you get to moving subjects and low-light conditions, the Nokia G21 is in trouble though. There’s a lot of image noise and blurring, and the dedicated night mode doesn’t help things out much. You can see from the photos that we snapped, featured above, which show you what we’re talking about.
However, HDR processing (high dynamic range) is capable enough, with darker and lighter areas of the frame well balanced – but you’re going to get much better pictures if you can afford to shop in the mid-range section of the phone market and spend a few more quid.
As with everything else in this review, you have to weigh the camera performance against the price, so it’s hardly a surprise that results aren’t a glimmering success.
Nokia G21: verdict
(Image credit: Nokia)
(Image credit: Nokia)
Delivering a verdict on a phone at this price isn’t easy: of course, it’s a long way behind thebest smartphoneson the market, but then it’s also a fair margin behind otherbudget phonesthat for only a small sum more will deliver much greater results.
In terms of its performance and camera quality we might give the Nokia G21 two stars out of five, but as far as value for money goes it’s more like a four-star phone. Still, that sums it up as a low-cost letdown overall.
That said, if you’re not going to ask much from a basic handset – and this Nokia will send messages, take calls, and browse the web happily enough – then the G21 may find a place with some buyers where it fits the bill.
Nokia G21: also consider
Anything down at the budget end of the market is a competitor to the Nokia G21, and there are a few phone makers besides Nokia who specialise in value-for-money handsets. One is Motorola: theMoto G31costs a whisker more, but it far better in operation.
Then there’s theXiaomi Poco M4 Pro– this is a little more expensive, so you’ll need to find a touch of extra cash, but you do get improvements in just about every area and the bonus of 5G connectivity.
Sign up to the T3 newsletter for smarter living straight to your inbox
Get all the latest news, reviews, deals and buying guides on gorgeous tech, home and active products from the T3 experts
Vollebak pushes the limits of outerwear with Double Graphene Puffer and Shielding SuitThe company continues to weave innovation into every thread
The company continues to weave innovation into every thread
Netflix is making a huge surprise change for hit spy show’s new seasonThe Recruit is taking a global trip this time out
The Recruit is taking a global trip this time out
This case turns your iPhone or Android phone into an e-reader, but there’s a catchActually, there are a couple…
Actually, there are a couple…
