I have been using a 32GB Nokia 6.1 for the last 3 years. Nokia 6.1 was an Android One phone which gave me two Annual Android updates (from Android 8 to Android 10) and 3 years of security patches. The security patches stopped with the April Patch. This was the time I decided that I must now look for a new phone to continue to get monthly security patches and Android updates.
Nokia G20 is not the ideal phone to replace a still sturdy Nokia 6.1. I did not see any other suitable Android One phone in the market to meet my expectations, so I settled on the Nokia G20 because of its ready availability.
My 32 GB Nokia 6.1 was very tight on storage space and I had to regularly delete some files I would have preferred to keep. So I wanted a Nokia phone with 128 GB of storage that started with Android 11. Currently, I did not find any. So I compromised on a 64 GB Nokia G20.
Before using the new phone I merged the contents of my and my wife's camera and WhatsApp pictures using a PC. I did this so that I can continue to maintain them using the Google photos storage captured from two different phones. Now I had all the pictures taken on my wife's phone as well as the pictures she received on her WhatsApp. The merged contents from a 64 GB Nokia 6.1 and a Nokia 32 GB Nokia 6.1 could fit within a 64 GB Nokia G20 after deleting short-term Good Morning type messages.
When the Nokia G20 arrived I charged it and copied the contents of my old Nokia 6.1 contents on the Nokia G20 from Google Cloud. This process did not go through as smoothly as my past experiences were. I did a factory reset of the Nokia G20 couple of times and still, it did not help. Things were not smoothly installing from Google Play Store. A few Apps did not get installed because they were very old and Google decided that they will not work in a new environment. Some old Apps, though they were working on my old phone had been removed in the Play Store and could not be found. Because of these anomalies, the automated restore process did not go through smoothly, and the App icons did not get restored on the screen. So I manually installed all the remaining Apps from the Play Store and copied the App Icons to their familiar place on the screen. After restarting the phone everything seemed fine.
Now I started WhatsApp on the new phone and restored the WhatsApp backup and it worked okay. Till now my sims were in the old phone and now I moved the sims to the new phone and everything seemed fine. After taking a WhatsApp backup and Google backup I was now ready to copy merged contents from the PC.
The copy process from the PC to the phone took a long time because of the large number of small files. Everything now works fine and I can see the merged photo gallery. I once again backed up WhatsApp and Google photos to the cloud and now everything is fine and I still have 26 GB of storage for future expansion.
Some of my observations:
Moving from the 1080x1920 Nokia 6.1 to the 720x1600 Nokia G20 is restricting the screen area. I knew that I will be making this compromise because of my other choices.
For many years now I have been used to the fingerprint scanner on the back and it took a little bit of time to get used to the one on the right largely used with the thumb,
In my earlier phone, the VI connection was almost always absent while the Airtel connection was active through the WiFi calling option and VoLTE enablement. I was surprised to find that in the new phone both the sims supported WiFi calling and VoLTE. So my VI connection now has better connectivity in the new phone at my location.
Earlier when I read about the Mediatek G35 chipset I noticed that the chipset supported only a 13MP +13MP or 25MP camera and I was wondering how could it support a 64MP camera. Taking pictures I have figured out that the phone normally takes 4000*3000 pixels or 12 MP photos with 1.60-micrometer pixel size. My Nokia 6.1 had Zeiss 16 MP camera with 1.0-micrometer pixel size and this was again a compromise. I will retain my Nokia 6.1 if I really need to take 16 MP pictures. It is possible to take a 48MP pixels picture using 0.8-micrometer pixels. At this low pixel size, image quality is expected to be poor because of the smaller pixel size and the interference between the adjacent pixels. When 12 MP photos are taken four 0.8-micrometer pixels join together through a process known as pixel-binning to function as a single 1.6-micrometer pixel.
I have now been having this phone only for the last 3 days and my impression of the phone is based on what I have read and observed. I don't think I will be able to use this phone for full 3 years as I have used my Nokia 6.1. Whenever my service providers start supporting 5G at that time I will have to replace this phone with a 5G phone from Nokia. Till then this is a good cheap phone with some compromises because of my need for monthly security patches on an Android 11.
I am satisfied with the new Nokia G20 as it meets my needs. I don't think I will run out of storage very soon as new pictures will only be 12MP and not 48MP about which I was concerned earlier.
| OS | Android 11.0 |
|---|---|
| RAM | 4 GB |
| Product Dimensions | 16.5 x 7.6 x 0.9 cm; 196 g |
| Batteries | 1 Lithium Ion batteries required. (included) |
| Item model number | Nokia G20 4G MTK Helio G35 Octa Core |
| Wireless communication technologies | Cellular |
| Connectivity technologies | WiFi Bluetooth;USB |
| GPS | GLONASS |
| Special features | Dual_Sim, Camera, GPS |
| Colours displayed | 21:9 aspect ratio, 60 Hz refresh rate, with a teardrop display and a brightness boost. |
| Other display features | Wireless |
| Device interface - primary | Touchscreen |
| Other camera features | Quad camera (48MP + 5MP + 2MP + 2MP)|8MP front camera |
| Audio Jack | 3.5 mm |
| Form factor | Bar ; Side Finger print sensor; 5050 mAh Battery with 5V2A Charging |
| Colour | Silver |
| Battery Power Rating | 5050 |
| Phone Talk Time | 27 Hours |
| Phone Standby Time (with data) | 29 Hours |
| Whats in the box | Nokia G20 Device, Type-C USB cable, Charger, Quick start guide, SIM Pin, Screen protector (applied already), Protective case |
| Manufacturer | LAVA INTERNATIONAL LIMITED |
| Item Weight | 196 g |
