Nokia has announced the latest smartphone to join the Nokia G-Series family. The Nokia G21 is taking over from the G20, and boasts a myriad of new features to play with. The G21 will come with a 3-day battery life along with a much-improved screen. The G21 will be perfect for those looking for a quality smartphone, but without having a massive budget.

Besides just having a good battery and better screen, the Nokia G21 offers plenty more than meets the eye. For starters, the base model opens at R3,500.

3-Day Battery

If what Nokia says is true, the G21 will be able to hold out without a charge for a full three days. Most of the latest phones around now can barely crack two days. And with all the talk of load shedding lately, this could be extremely handy.

Of course, for a phone at this price range, you can’t have everything in life. With the three-day battery life, it’ll take almost half that to get the thing charged. Well, not really, but it might feel like it. The G21 comes standard with 18W charging. In reality, this should only take just under two hours to go from 0% up to a full 100%. 18W is certainly not bad. And if the phone lasts as long as advertised, charging won’t be needed as often as it is with other smartphones.

Under the hood

On the inside, we’re dealing with 4GB of RAM (which is standard for both models on sale) and a 1.6GHz Octa-Core Processor to support it. This certainly isn’t going to break benchmark records but then you’re only paying R3,500.

Unfortunately, the G21 will only be able to connect to 4G and LTE networks, rather than the new standard of 5G. Luckily for us, 5G is taking it’s time to fully roll out in South Africa, so there’s still a good few years before 4G becomes totally obsolete.

On the front we’re looking at a 6.5-inch IPS FHD LCD Display which sports a 90Hz refresh rate. Compared to the G20, this is a huge leap forward. The 90Hz refresh rate will definitely create a smoother scrolling experience. The touchscreen has seen a small upgrade too, with increased touch responsiveness.

On the outside

The G21 is by no means ugly. It’s not going to win any design awards, but it will get the job done. You have two options available, the Nordic Blue (navy blue) and Dusk (dark taupe) colour options. These aren’t bright, which helps the phone keep a low profile while you’re out and about.

The camera setup on this budget device might be a little surprising. It comes with a 50MP triple lens camera. That might be a large number but there;s more to taking a good picture than how many megapixels you have.

The front camera is a little less impressive. The G21 is working with an 8MP front-camera, which should be fine in a pinch, but you’ll be happier using the rear camera for most of your photography needs. To help improve the quality slightly, the front camera has has some AI smarts that’ll play with the lighting and clarity to keep the image looking good.

Bonuses

Nokia have stated that the G21 will continue to receive security updates at least until three years after launch. Most sub R10,000 phones usually offer only a year or two. Now, the G21 will hold a little more of its value over the next three years.