Nokia G60 5G Ultimate Review: Back with a Bang

In India, The Nokia G60 is available in a single memory configuration of 6GB/128GB and two colour options: Black and Ice. The Nokia G60 costs INR 29,999 ($362/€365) and can be pre-ordered at leading retail outlets and Nokia’s official website until November 7, with open sales beginning on November 8 at selected retail counters, Nokia.com, and online portals.

Specifications 

Table

Design

The back of the case has a distinct appearance, which is available in black or light grey and contains plastic particles that shimmer in the light. The matte plastic frame blends seamlessly into the back, and the screen is well-fitted as well, resulting in narrow gaps and barely noticeable transitions. The Nokia G60 handles pressure well on the case. Only when the screen’s liquid crystal is twisted do visible spots appear, but they quickly disappear. The chassis is IP52-rated for splash water and dust protection.

There is 128 GB of mass storage on board. Unfortunately, inserting a microSD card to expand memory takes up one of the two SIM card slots. With our reference microSD card Angelbird V60, we get the impression of a very slow card reader that produces erratic CPDT results.

Display

Unfortunately, the Nokia G60’s 1080p screen is not very bright, so reading the display outside on bright days will be difficult. In our tests with the spectrophotometer and the CalMAN software, we noticed a distinct blue cast. Although the black level is good, the contrast ratio is only mediocre due to the low maximum brightness, and the colours appear dull. At the very least, the display does not exhibit PWM flickering even at very low brightness, making it ideal for people who are sensitive to flickering.

Communication, software and operation

The Nokia G60 is a 5G phone, but it does not cover as many 4G frequencies, so you may not be able to use it for mobile Internet when travelling abroad. In terms of Wi-Fi, Nokia calls the phone WiFi 6-ready, but there are no advantages above other phones in the price range with Wi-Fi 5 in terms of speed: In our tests with the reference router Asus ROG Rapture AXE11000, Nokia’s G60 achieves consistent transfer rates of around 350 MBit/s. That is in accordance with the class standard.

Camera

Nokia relies on Android One, which is pure Android and does not pre-install any advertising apps. Security updates are expected to be available for three years, and OS updates for the same period, putting Nokia in a good position in this price range. Furthermore, at the time of testing, the security updates from September 2022 are quite current. Omnivision supplied the sensor for the main camera, which has a resolution of 50 megapixels. Photos are typically recorded at 12.5 megapixels to use larger, more light-sensitive pixels. If desired, full resolution can be enabled in a special mode.

Outdoor detail photos are frequently gloomy and blurry, but they offer a good variety of details and colour nuances overall. In low light, brightening only works at the expense of a blotchy representation of larger colour areas and very low sharpness. There is also very little drawing in the very dark areas.

Videos can be recorded in 1080p at 30 frames per second. The brightness adjustment is effective, but the autofocus is extremely slow. The wide-angle lens can also be used for video, but the camera cannot be switched while recording. Speaking of wide-angle, the 5-megapixel camera takes brightened photos that aren’t too grainy, but distant objects are only displayed as pixel mush. They can be used as snapshots, but they do not meet higher standards. In good lighting, the front-facing camera takes decent selfies, but don’t enlarge them too much, or grainy colour areas will be visible.

Performance and Battery Life

Nokia relies on an extremely popular mid-range SoC with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G. As a result, the Nokia G60 provides adequate performance for its price range and can even outperform the previously more expensive Nokia X20, which is still powered by the slightly older Snapdragon 480. In most cases, the power is adequate for smooth system operation in everyday use. Stuttering occurs only in more complex apps.

The bottom-edge speaker cannot get that loud as well as sounds quite thin during music and speech. External devices that can be connected via Bluetooth or a 3.5 mm port provide better sound. Bluetooth supports modern aptX codecs such as aptX Adaptive.

The Nokia G60 does not come with a charger, but various chargers from other manufacturers worked flawlessly in our tests. The phone can be charged at a maximum of 20 watts, which takes about 2 hours to recharge the empty 4,500 mAh battery. Due to the obvious smaller battery size, the G60 must make compromises in terms of runtime: 14:31 hours is still a respectable runtime, and with moderate use, you can even go two days without plugging in.

Verdict

Nokia’s G60 is a fairly average mid-range smartphone that attempts to differentiate itself in a few ways: on the one hand, there is the longer update promise, which itself is actually not bad in this price range. Pure Android is also impressive.