Nokia X20 Review – Nokia’s take on the mid-range phones market

Nokia X20 Review – Nokia 3320 was my first phone and in fact, I still kept the box for nostalgia moments. But after a handful of iPhone and Android phones came out, the Lumia 800 was the last Nokia phone I’ve ever held in my hands.

I’m glad that they have moved to using Android OS and even though they don’t seem to be in the market of high-end Android phones, their mid-range phones like the X20 and XR20 are still interesting to be looked at.

The Nokia X20 that I have for reviewing here comes with an integrated ZEISS lens, good battery life, design, and of course, that iconic Nokia tune as soon as you turn the phone on.

Nokia X20 Review – Packaging and Unboxing

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There is an included hard case with a screen protector already applied on the phone, so you do not need to spend more on accessories.

Nokia X20 Review – Design & Features

Nokia X20 has a large 6.67″ FHD+ IPS screen with 1080×2400 resolution, which is a similar screen size to the iPhone 12 Pro Max (6.7″). It is a great size for consuming content though not so much if you want to operate the phone with just one hand. I’m used to using large phones so the X20 feels like home to me.

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The phone is powered by the Qualcomm SM4350 Snapdragon 480 5G processor with 6GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage. It offers good enough performance and also runs the latest Android 11 operating system with the promise of a 3-year warranty and having both security and software updates for up to 3 years.

Performance wise, it’s easy to see that the X20 is a mid-range phone with good performance for using the phone as a daily driver. It’s quite responsive when browsing your social media feed or even while playing games. The loading time of the apps (and games) is definitely slower than higher-end smartphones and opening an app would take about half-a-second or so.

After playing with a lot of mid-range phones, I do wish Nokia can offer at least a 90Hz refresh rate display. Many other mid-range phones have this (and sometimes offering 120Hz) which makes the experience much smoother – especially if the phone is powered by a mid-range processing power. Without this, scrolling your social media feed has that stutter that detract the feeling of smoothness.

There is a fingerprint and facial unlocking in Nokia X20 and the fingerprint sensor is embedded underneath the power button so when you turn the phone on, you’ll also unlock the phone. It’s a good way to save time and if you are resting the phone on a table, there is still that facial unlocking for convenience too.

Nokia X20 Review – Camera

Thanks to the 64MP quad camera system with ZEISS Optics, shots are pretty good with the X20 but not exceptional. The quad camera system consists of a 64MP main camera, 5MP ultra-wide, 2MP depth, and 2MP macro. There is also a 32MP front-facing camera for taking selfies and Nokia’s Dual Sight multi-cam mode.

The phone can take decent shots in different kinds of situations and assuming it’s not too low lit, photos are quite good to be shared on social media. Portrait shots can be a hit and miss with the algorithm but expected of a mid range phone (unless you have that advanced Google’s computational photography on the Pixel phones).

Shooting the same scene a few times also give inconsistent results (in terms of post-processing) and the same scene can feel different with the colour tone & white balance.

Here are some photos taken with Nokia X20:

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Nokia X20 Review Conclusion

Nokia X20 is a solid, mid-range phone from Nokia that can take decent photos, supports 5G, and has a large screen for content consumption. It has a premium and elegant design, quad camera system, long battery life, and a promise of three years of both OS and Security updates. For those who don’t change their phones every year, it’s a good deal.

At AU$599, there are similar phones that offer more such as a 90Hz refresh rate display or a faster processor, but Nokia X20 does offer a vanilla Android OS (compared to other manufacturers that throw in their UI skins on top, like OPPO’s ColorOS and Huawei EMUI).

So if you are a fan of Nokia phones and love the experience of having a stock Android OS (with up to 3 years of Android OS updates), you might love the Nokia X20.

Nokia X20 is available now for purchase from Nokia Australia website and also participating retailers.

Disclosure: Nokia X20 review sample was supplied for reviewing