Nokia G60 Full Review (2023): “Authentic” 5G” Smartphone That Is Environmentally Friendly

Introduction

Purchasing a smartphone is straightforward; you simply compare the features and costs to see which offers the greatest value. That’s how rational purchasers operate, at least.

Although looking at the phone’s specifications is helpful, it doesn’t provide the whole story. There are further factors to take into account, such as HMD’s 3-3-3 guarantee for the Nokia smartphone portfolio, which stands for three years of OS upgrades, three years of security patches, and three years of warranty. If you want to use a phone for a few years, that unquestionably increases its worth. A 108MP camera or 5,000mAh battery may even receive a higher rating from some customers.

Even now, purchasers, particularly those in Europe, still have some faith in the Nokia brand. Some folks launch Amazon, enter “Nokia,” and start placing orders.

As the Nokia G60 is a reliable phone with an affordable price and the aforementioned excellent software support, such folks would be content with it. Yet at GSMArena, we’re unique. In order to assist those rational individuals in finding the greatest price, we are the sorts to conduct in-depth study and create Buyer’s Guides. And before this hands-on is through, we’ll have our say.

The market for smartphones around the $300 price point is becoming more and more competitive. Most of its rivals have bigger batteries, chargers that are also quick, AMOLED panels, stronger secondary cameras, and even even more powerful chipsets in the box.

Nokia makes an effort to make up for the subpar specifications with native Android software, the guarantee of greater support, and an emphasis on lowering carbon emissions. The G60’s packaging is composed of recycled paper, while the phone itself is constructed entirely of recycled plastic (the frame is 60% recycled, while the rear panel is 100%).

The world will undoubtedly care about this, as well as certain customers. Let’s have a look, but remember that they only matter if the finished result is any decent.

Design and execution

Nokia takes seriously its responsibility for the environment, thus the G60 comes with a USB cord but no charger in a packaging that has been entirely recycled. The G60 comes with a 20W charger from Nokia in some areas, and the package itself has spaces for additional accessories.

The Nokia G60 is a conventional-looking, sizable but not enormous gadget. It boasts a 6.58-inch 1080p IPS screen with an adaptive refresh rate of 120Hz, which means that it will go to the maximum 120Hz when you engage with the screen and return to 60Hz when you are not. While websites are updated at 120Hz (when you are touching the screen), videos are automatically limited at 60Hz.

At 401ppi, the panel is fairly crisp and maintains the majority of its readability when seen at an angle. For an LCD, there is a lot of contrast and vibrant colors. The panel has a blueish tinge out of the box, however there is a white balance slider that, when moved to the Warm side just enough, will correct the situation.

The display’s brightness of 390 nits is enough but not yet blinding. In Auto mode, there is an extra boost that raises the panel’s brightness to 440 nits in direct sunshine. Gorilla Glass 5 covers the display, and a waterdrop notch holds the 8MP selfie camera.

The Nokia G60’s exterior is made of plastic. The frame is flat and grippy and contains 60% recycled plastic.

On the right, there is a power button with a built-in fingerprint reader and a two-stage volume button. The capacitive reader is quick and error-free. There are just a limited number of ways I can wriggle my thumbs for you, G60; the only thing worth mentioning is the laborious setup procedure.

The phone has an IP52 rating, making it almost dust- and rain-proof. The hybrid dual SIM and microSD card slot on the left side of the phone allows you to use two cards simultaneously.

On top, there is a second microphone, and on the bottom, the G60 has a USB-C connector, a 3.5mm headphone socket, and a single speaker.

Fully recycled plastic is used to make the back panel. Although Nokia may have included the tactile blotchy texture to the back panel to further the impression that you are protecting the environment, it really makes the phone feel better and unique.

The primary cameras are similarly located on the rear. The 5MP ultrawide camera features a fixed focus f/2.2 lens and an f/1.8 lens on the primary wide camera, which has a 50MP sensor. A 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor and an LED flash are present.

In the hand, the Nokia G60 seems evenly weighted. At 190g, it is not excessively weighty, and the flat frame doesn’t pierce the hand.

Almost stock Android 12

With the promise of three years of security upgrades, the Nokia G60’s use of Android 12 with a now-outdated August security patch is not very impressive.

A Snapdragon 695 processor with 6GB of RAM is used in the Nokia G60. The system functions without many hitches or slowdowns. In fact, we believe the Nokia G60 performs noticeably more smoothly than comparable smartphones with Snapdragon 695 processors and custom Android skins.

The user interface and general design resemble stock Android. This features the brand-new fast toggles in the notification shade that resemble pills. Again, the automatic brightness toggle is missing, so you must delve deep into the settings menu to enable or disable the function.

Both the app drawer and the recent apps menu, which arranges applications in a carousel, remain unchanged. Whilst it can take some time to get used to, the iconography in the main Settings menu has been updated.

Performance

The Snapdragon 695 boasts newer, more powerful CPU cores and GPU than the Snapdragon 690. The chip uses TSMC’s relatively contemporary 6nm manufacturing technology and features 5G. The six energy-efficient Kryo 560 Silver (Cortex-A55) cores remain the same, while the two primary Kryo 560 Gold (Cortex-A77) cores are replaced with Kryo 660 Gold (Cortex-A78) cores clocked at 2.2 GHz. Just the name has changed; it is now known as Kryo 660 Silver.

A standard Adreno 619 GPU has been added in place of the Adreno 619L GPU. The SD695 now also supports LPDDR4X memory that operates at a faster 2133 MHz.

The Snapdragon 778G, the Mediatek Dimensity 920, 900, and the Exynos 1280 are just a few of the chipsets we’ve compared the Nokia G60 to. The Snapdragon 695 performed in the center of the pack in the G60.

The highest refresh rate of 120Hz has no effect on endurance since the phone locks its refresh rate at 60Hz while you view a movie or surf the web.

Camera

Three cameras are housed on the back of the Nokia G60: a 50MP main camera with 1.4 m pixels after 4-to-1 binning and an f/1.8 lens, a 5MP ultrawide with an f/2.2 lens and no autofocus, one of those depth sensors with a 2MP resolution, and an 8MP fixed focus selfie camera with 1.12 m individual pixels and an f/2.0 lens.

The Nokia G60 has clever software features including Capture Fusion for wide-angle photos with enhanced detail, Dark Vision (also known as Night Mode), and AI Portraits (aka Portrait mode). The Tripod Mode detects whether the phone is resting on a solid surface and allows the Night Mode to run slightly longer for a brighter exposure.

The G60 performs a decent job of preserving detail, enhancing contrast, and portraying color, according to the samples. Although textures are overly-sharpened, the output is punchy and has a broad dynamic range, giving the images a nice modern smartphone look. If you’re a photo purist, you’d need to go considerably further into your money and get far more sophisticated gear, maybe even a dedicated camera. You could scratch at that oversharpening, but you’d be incorrect.

The front camera’s 8MP resolution produces the best selfies in its class. You’ll appreciate the results if you just view the photographs at fit-screen size and don’t hunt around for per-pixel detail. The focal length is perfect for one- to two-person photographs, and skin tones are superb. The backdrop of the second image, which is a Portrait Mode example, has a great dynamic range and enhances the contrast in the shadows. While imperfect, edge detection is hardly the end of the world.

The output of the wide camera at night is dark and blotchy when Night Mode is not enabled. The sensor struggles to hold onto detail and will occasionally lose highlight information while also crushing shadow data. When your camera proposes using Night Mode, you should do so. Even while there is an option for an automated Night Mode, there is sadly no such thing. Instead, the camera will display an onscreen dialog suggesting Night Mode.

Images are substantially improved by dedicated Night Mode shots. The shadows have a lot more detail, while the highlights are enhanced. While the camera can somewhat control the extreme highlights (point lights, for example), it still struggles to do so. Although there is still some noise in the photos, detail is significantly more polished. We don’t mind a little noise in exchange for far greater clarity and detail.

Summary

All things considered, we can conclude that the Nokia G60 is a nice phone and won’t cause its future owners too much trouble. No, we’d say, as the HMD phone just cannot match the performance of the competitors from Samsung, Redmi, OnePlus, Oppo, and Motorola at that price.

Good thing, therefore, that it has already dropped to about €310, where its competitiveness has significantly increased.

The Nokia G60 is a nice phone, and at its increased price, it’s beginning to provide better value. You should give it serious consideration if performance and durability are more important to you than having the greatest camera or screen. But if you don’t intend to continue with it long-term, you’ll undoubtedly discover more wise ways to spend your money.