Nokia x20

[MattyP]

Just picked one of these up!

After spending some time on Google's Pixel phones and my last one running out of support this year decided to move over to my favorite brand of years gone by. Nokia.

Whilst essentially the new Nokia phone company has little to do with the Nokia corporation other than its located in Finland and uses the Nokia branding - its actually an outfit called HMD behind the scenes. Still HMD do adhere strongly to the ethos of Nokia - great design, good hardware and good prices. Solid tech. So the phones look and feel like a Nokia phone should do!

So impressed so far. Paid £299 for it from the Nokia store - which gives you and exclusive device with 2GB more of onboard memory than buying elsewhere. So it has 8GB RAM/128 GB storage in total. Processor is a 5G octa core unit. Seems to perform well enough. Camera uses Ziess optics which are great with an array of lenses on the back for various purposes (macro, main, ultra wide etc). Main camera is 64mp. Returns great results from what I have seen so far. Front selfie camera is a 32mp unit that does wide shots etc. Will posts some shots here when I've given it more of a test.

Battery is great its a 4500maH unit which keeps it going for nearly TWO days which is great!

The other thing of note - and why I like the ethos of Nokia - is that they are trying to be more eco-friendly and cut down at least a bit of e-waste. So they don't supply a charger in box. You are encouraged to re-use your existing one and instead you are provided with a case - which is made of re-cycled materials and full compostable! (great so long as it doesn't biodegrade whilst in use!!!).

The other nice thing Nokia will do is plant 20 trees on your behalf when you register your device on their site. This is in partnership with Ecologi. Nice little initiative to give at least something back!

https://ecologi.com/nokia-phones?tree=6 ... 427846db0f

/\ My trees are on there! (Paul M).

Anyhow so far... so good... not missing my Pixel and feeling good about my new phone....

[Rhythm]

It's interesting you flag no charger as a good thing. I smashed my iPhone XS over the weekend so was talking to Three yesterday, trying to see if they could sort me a reasonably-priced replacement (spoiler: they can't). Whilst on with them they were trying to get me to switch up to a contract on a newer iPhone, heavily caveated with "yeah, and Apple don't supply chargers any more because they think it will help with carbon footprints so we put 2 in the package and a pair of headphones too"

Couldn't believe the approach they were taking with it. Big manufacturers are starting to come round to the idea that they shouldn't be putting useless extras in the box and then distributors are fucking it all up by adding even more plastic tat into the mix

[MattyP]

It's interesting you flag no charger as a good thing. I smashed my iPhone XS over the weekend so was talking to Three yesterday, trying to see if they could sort me a reasonably-priced replacement (spoiler: they can't). Whilst on with them they were trying to get me to switch up to a contract on a newer iPhone, heavily caveated with "yeah, and Apple don't supply chargers any more because they think it will help with carbon footprints so we put 2 in the package and a pair of headphones too"

Couldn't believe the approach they were taking with it. Big manufacturers are starting to come round to the idea that they shouldn't be putting useless extras in the box and then distributors are fucking it all up by adding even more plastic tat into the mix

Indeed... Why I bought directly from the manufacturer. Also the fact that I got a bonus in the memory upgrade too. Can't be bothered with the mobile phone companies anymore (other than getting SIMs from them!). Just rather save up and buy a phone outright.

[Cloudane]

Quick check of a review suggests it's a pretty solid Android phone and good value for money. Sort of akin to what OnePlus used to be

[MattyP]

Quick check of a review suggests it's a pretty solid Android phone and good value for money. Sort of akin to what OnePlus used to be

Well had it over a month or so now.

Great phone. Lovely build quality. Camera is OK could be better but generally takes great pictures. Note not as good as my old Pixel but good enough for me. Also has a few extra modes on the camera that I've been using a bit too... like the macro mode (it has a dedicated macro lens).

Not crashed once - which is great.

Screen is great.

Battery life fantasic. Can get two days out of it if I'm not hammering it all the time.

Also get a screen protector pre-applied and a case in the box with it.

Great phone. Also has the Nokia ringtone which makes me smile every time the phone rings (happy memories from my Nokia's of days gone!).

Nokia are shortly releasing a ruggedised version of this for those that use their phones out in the field or outdoor activities etc (think its labelled the XR-20).

[venusian]

I bought one.

It's big. My next one will be smaller.

It glitches playing videos in Twitter and other places. Do not know why. Cannot be bothered to fix.

The reviews I saw were all pretty down on it: "phone X is better value" or "for the prices it's missing this feature that phone Y has" but all the alternatives were equally compromised in one way or another.

It's okay. Wouldn't buy again.

[MattyP]

I bought one.

It's big. My next one will be smaller.

It glitches playing videos in Twitter and other places. Do not know why. Cannot be bothered to fix.

The reviews I saw were all pretty down on it: "phone X is better value" or "for the prices it's missing this feature that phone Y has" but all the alternatives were equally compromised in one way or another.

It's okay. Wouldn't buy again.

Not had such issues here so guess you had a different experience.... I think for the price I have no complaints which coming from a Pixel 3 XL is something as I'm usually Uber picky about phones and experiences etc.

Would I go back to a Pixel after my experience with this? Possibly the camera and photo technology in Pixels is unquestionably better hit then it's a £500+ phone so you'd expect that.

It does the job well given the price. I'm happy with it and don't feel a compromise has been made over my old Pixel 3XL - the camera possibly slightly however saying that there are more camera features on this phone the give opportunity to capture different shots. So who knows.

I got the phone from the Nokia store where you can pick up the 8GB memory version which only Nokia sells.

[MattyP]

I bought one.

It's big. My next one will be smaller.

It glitches playing videos in Twitter and other places. Do not know why. Cannot be bothered to fix.

The reviews I saw were all pretty down on it: "phone X is better value" or "for the prices it's missing this feature that phone Y has" but all the alternatives were equally compromised in one way or another.

It's okay. Wouldn't buy again.

Not had such issues here so guess you had a different experience.... I think for the price I have no complaints which coming from a Pixel 3 XL is something as I'm usually uber picky about phones and experiences etc.

Would I go back to a Pixel after my experience with this? Possibly the camera and photo technology in Pixels is unquestionably better but then it's a £500+ phone so you'd expect that.

It does the job well given the price. I'm happy with it and don't feel a compromise has been made over my old Pixel 3XL - the camera possibly slightly however saying that there are more camera features on this phone the give opportunity to capture different shots. So who knows.

I got the phone from the Nokia store where you can pick up the 8GB memory version which only Nokia sells.

[Cloudane]

They're as much of a camera as a phone to me (and even then when I say "phone" I mean basically a PDA, it's very rare that I use one to make actual calls with) which is where I find a lot of Androids stumbling, either it's a cheapish one with a camera that is just not quite up to the standards I'm after (which sounds like the Nokia falls into) or it's a higher end decent one but just as expensive as an iPhone or even pricier and accompanied by an OS that I'm not fond of (looking at Samsung) so I end up just getting an iPhone...

I think if I swung back to Android again it'd have to be a Pixel for me, as tempting as that nostalgic lure of Nokia would be. It's the only one that guarantees a clean and up-to-date OS and a really good camera.

The OnePlus I last had was looking promising, the optics and sensor are good, but you kept having to fanny about with "GCam" and XML files to get good enough processing out of it and life's too short, I'd rather something "just work" with good results out of the box.

[venusian]

I got the phone from the Nokia store where you can pick up the 8GB memory version which only Nokia sells.

Likewise. And it was the extra memory that swung it for me. But basically, that I have one is your fault as I saw this post the day after I needed a new one.

My son broke his, and I passed on my 2 year old Nokia 7.1, so I knew what to expect from a modern Nokia phone.

[MattyP]

I got the phone from the Nokia store where you can pick up the 8GB memory version which only Nokia sells.

Likewise. And it was the extra memory that swung it for me. But basically, that I have one is your fault as I saw this post the day after I needed a new one.

My son broke his, and I passed on my 2 year old Nokia 7.1, so I knew what to expect from a modern Nokia phone.

Oh Apologies it it hasn't lived up to expectations for you... Personally it exceeded mine in that I paid well over £500 for a Pixel 3XL nearly three years ago and £299 for this.

Sure next time I might think about another Pixel but apparently they are going more premium next time and the 6 will be near £1000 which is too much for a phone for me. So more than happy with my Nokia and as long as they maintain this standard or better happy days here. It's user experience is as good if not better than the Pixel (love the screen swipe gestures for example). And it looks great to boot. Also Euro designed in Finland too.

[venusian]

I was joking, of course, it absolutely not your "fault". And really, the phone is fine.

[MattyP]

I was joking, of course, it absolutely not your "fault". And really, the phone is fine.

Aye no worries! Sometimes I do get possibly over enthusiastic about things....

[MattyP]

So my love affair ended with the Nokia earlier this year.

In short this a great phone if you don't mind it being a bit of a budget build really. After owning a Pixel 3XL and then moving to this:-

• The camera is just not as good. Period. Google's backend processing makes a big difference too. However I will say that I loved the manual controls in this and the camera interface in general and prefer it to Googles implementation on the Pixel. On the Pixel you have no manual control at all with the default camera app.
• Processor was a touch slow at times

On the plus point:-

• It was relatively cheap
• 5G
• Love the environmental stuff Nokia are doing (need to see how my trees are progressing!)
• Nice form factor and design a solidly built dependable phone

In the end if you need to have the best camera this is not the one for you. If you want a dependable 5G workhorse whose battery lasts for a day plus. Don't need any bells and whistles this might be worth looking at.

Just changed over to another Pixel (6 Pro) and well it feels like home again. I think this will be the last Nokia I try. Shame but the brand isn't what it once was.