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 Nokia T21 review: What you need to understand

In spite of achieving a chunk of a legacy within the early days of Android, Nokia is in reality instead new to the pill sport in 2023. The firm took a long wreck – to be fair, Nokia in its entirety vanished for some of years – but the launch of 2022’s Nokia T20 pill become a able first step back into the fold.

The Nokia T21 is Nokia’s 2nd-gen price range pill. Most components remain the identical, together with the inclusion of a ten.4in, 2K decision (2,000 x 1,200) display, an 8MP rear digicam, 64GB of expandable garage, an eight,200mAh battery and 4GB of RAM, but there are a few matters that have changed.

Apart from the elimination of content material playback restrictions, the Nokia T21 is powered via a barely unique Unisoc Tiger T612 chipset (replacing the T610 of the original), it comes with Android 12 out of the container, and a brand new design.

Nokia T21 assessment: price and competition

Nokia is one of the leaders within the budget smartphone realm, so it’s no wonder that the firm is hoping to nook the low-fee pill marketplace as well. Certainly, at £199, the Nokia T21 is a chunk of a scouse borrow, even if it is £19 greater costly than the preceding version.

There aren’t many opponents round at this rate but the opposition that does exist – Amazon’s lineup of fire pills – is tough. The Amazon fire HD 10 is its closest rival in phrases of specs and rate, it has a lower-decision display than the T21 but is a lot less expensive. It charges either £a hundred and fifty or £one hundred sixty in case you want the model without lockscreen adverts.

Samsung is the most effective different finances Android pill maker of any amazing clout, with the Galaxy Tab A8 additionally costing £199. Like the hearth HD 10, the display screen on this version is decrease (1,920 x 1,2 hundred) however it uses a slightly faster Unisoc Tiger T618 CPU, which runs at 2GHz as opposed to the Nokia T21’s 1.8GHz.

Nokia T21 review: design and key features

The Nokia T21’s construct nice is what units it apart from these opponents, although that’s no surprise considering Nokia’s price range handsets often make a great impact on this regard.

It’s really superior on this department than Amazon’s fireplace capsules, with its all-aluminium chassis a actual highlight. It feels durable – as although it is able to withstand the occasional drop with out lots fuss – and its IP52 rating will guard it in opposition to water and dust ingress. As with its predecessor, it’s also instead mild for its length, weighing 466g, and it’s 18% slimmer than the Amazon fireplace HD 10 at 7.5mm as nicely.

The rear of the tablet now contains a vertical strip that runs from pinnacle to bottom and uses the equal ramped digital camera housing as its X- and G-collection smartphones. The digicam itself is the identical 8MP unit as the preceding version and it’s partnered with an identical 8MP selfie digital camera on the the front. It’s proper sufficient for the cash however don’t assume telephone ranges of quality. Video recording is restricted to 1080p video at 30fps as properly.

The Nokia T21 only is available in one shade inside the uk: a brown-tinted “Charcoal gray” that appears alternatively nicer than it sounds. It charges through USB-C, with charging speeds rated at 18W (up from the 15W on the Nokia T20) and it has a couple of stereo speakers, situated on both aspect in landscape orientation.

Nokia T21 assessment: display

The Nokia T21’s 10.4in IPS show has three display modes and a decision of two,000 x 1,2 hundred. The ‘Boosted’ mode is the maximum shade accurate of the 3, with a measured average Delta E of 2.04, an sRGB gamut coverage of 88.Five% and a total extent of ninety four%. In all, it appears miles better than closing yr’s show, which struggled due to a lack of vibrancy.

In fact, there’s certainly now not a good deal to bitch approximately right here. Viewing angles are as a substitute right, and you may now view HD content material with none restrictions, that's a massive bonus. I might have liked to peer a refresh rate above 60Hz – scrolling is as an alternative gradual – however that’s requesting a lot at this price.

Nokia T21 evaluate: overall performance and battery lifestyles

Overall performance is treated via an octa-center Unisoc Tiger T612 chipset, clocked at 1.8GHz. It’s no longer the fastest of capsules as a end result; in reality it’s ratings roughly similar to closing year’s model within the Geekbench 5 unmarried- and multi-center CPU checks.

Alas, I don’t have any records to immediately compare with the fireplace HD 10 due to incompatibility with the Geekbench 5 benchmark. What i'm able to say is that, while overall performance is satisfactory for maximum obligations, you will observe things slowing down as quickly as you ask an excessive amount of of it. Boot instances are gradual (around 45secs), and there's a momentary postpone when switching among applications as nicely.

Gaming performance is equally uninspiring. The Nokia T21 scored a mere 14fps inside the GFXBench manhattan three on-screen test, that is quite dreadful, and is clearly slightly down on closing 12 months’s Nokia T20.

The coolest information is that battery life has improved, although not via loads. With the display screen set to 170/cdm2 brightness and flight mode engaged, the Nokia T21 performed a looped video for 13hrs 9mins earlier than going for walks out of fee. That’s forty five minutes longer than the preceding version, and a pretty stable result standard.

Nokia T21 evaluation: Verdict

With the T21, Nokia has finished what it does excellent. This is a budget tablet that looks the element and performs moderately and the capability to sooner or later play video at resolutions above 480p method we subsequently have a Nokia pill that’s worth of a advice.

It can do with a quicker processor and, as a result, performance is basically equal to ultimate yr’s version, however the moderate development in battery life. It’s because of this that the Nokia T21 comes across as extra of a do-over than a right 2nd-gen launch.

But, as a good deal as i'd have favored Nokia to make upgrades across the board, there isn’t tons else to bitch about with the Nokia T21. If you don’t already own the preceding version and also you’re attempting to find something that’s of superior fine to Amazon’s fireplace devices, you can’t do an awful lot better for £200.