Nokia G21 debuts featuring 90Hz LCD, three-day battery life
Another first for the series is that it can stream Netflix in HD
Helsinki: Finnish multinational company HMD has unveiled a sequel to the Nokia G20 and it comes with improvements to the battery, screen and camera.
According to The Verge, the Nokia G21's top feature, running for three days between charges, is its 5,050 mAh battery. HMD has made improvements to its power-saving modes, making them less restrictive.
This has allowed the company to enable the first level of battery saving at 20 per cent, at 10 per cent you get the second level of power saving to extend battery life even further. It should be noted that the original G20 also came with a 5,050 mAh battery and also promised a 3-day battery life. HMD did increase the maximum charging speed, bringing it up to 18W.
However, the phone ships with only a 10W adapter in the box so users will have to buy their own charger to see a benefit. Another improvement is that HMD managed to make the phone 5 per cent slimmer, going from 9.2mm to 8.5mm.
The second big upgrade on the G21 is a high refresh rate display, 6.5" LCD running at up to 90Hz, a first for the G-series. Another first for the series is that it can stream Netflix in HD, which is all it needs since the display still has 720p+ resolution.
Also, if you want that 3-day battery life, you should enable adaptive mode for the display so that it can drop to 60 Hz to save battery when 90 Hz isn't needed.
Next up, the camera has a new 50MP sensor for the main cam. HMD is silent on lens aperture and sensor size detail, focusing instead on the Super Resolution feature that enhances the detail of captured images.
There is a Night mode too. All that is nice, but the 5MP ultrawide of the G20 has gone missing, leaving only a 2MP macro cam and a 2MP depth sensor. 5MP wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
The Nokia G21 does come with a noticeably more powerful chipset, an Unisoc T606. This 12nm chip has two Cortex-A75 cores and six A55 cores, quite a leap up from the Helio G35, which only had eight A53 cores. The GPU is a Mali G57 MP1.
Also, part of the chipset is a Cat. 4 LTE modem. The G-series may already have a 5G offering, but this phone sticks to 4G. Anyway, the chipset is paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of storage. This is a dual-SIM phone with a triple card slot, so one can always add more storage with a microSD card.
The G21 is "ready for Android 12", which is another way of saying that it arrives in 2021 running Android 11. As part of HMD's usual software support schedule, it will receive two OS upgrades and three years of security patches.
According to HMD, it releases twice as many security patches as the competition. By the way, the G21 will come with Spotify and ExpressVPN pre-installed, with a 30-day free trial for the VPN.
The phone has a side-mounted fingerprint reader like before. It also comes with an improved face unlock that can recognize you with and without a mask on.
The Nokia G21 will be available soon for EUR 170. The new model will come in two colorways, Nordic Blue and Dusk, and will include a 10W charger and USB cable in the box.
Some regions are also getting a headset, screen protector and a jelly case. Speaking of, the Clear Case for the G21 is made out of 100 per cent recycled materials.
The phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack, which you can use with the Nokia Wired Headphones with 40mm drivers, soft over-ear cushions and a foldable design. These will sell for USD 31 and have a wireless version with a 62-hour battery life and a USD 50 price tag.
As per The Verge, there are also the smaller Nokia Go Earbuds2+, a TWS headset with 24-hour battery life and an IPX rating. A fancier Nokia Go Earbuds2 Pro is also on the way with low-latency audio support.