After being literally slapped by the Nokia X30 5G, which we were particularly disappointed with, I wanted to turn the other cheek by trying the Nokia G60 5G which instead gently caressed my technological passion, resulting in a decidedly balanced and pleasant smartphone to use, particularly appreciated for value for money. The device is about a year old but it is still current also due to the updates guaranteed for three years by the brand as well as making you beautiful people, because it is made with sustainable and recycled materials and its purchase also allows you to plant 15 trees. I tell you about it in this review.
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On offer on Amazon
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The green soul of the Nokia brand can also be seen in this Nokia G60 5G, which is offered with a sales package reduced to a minimum made of 100% FSC certified and 94% recycled paper. Packaging has been reduced to save on CO2 emissions from transportation. Effective phrases to say that nothing was found inside but the smartphone, a USB Type-C / Type-C charging and data transfer cable, respecting what will be the obligation for the future wanted by the EU, pin for removal of the SIM tray and manuals. No power adapter, to combat electronic waste, no protective cover, no earphones and no display protection film, items that can still be purchased and easily found for a few euros.
DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND MATERIALS
From Nokia G60 5G we cannot expect who knows what novelties in the aesthetic field, also because its presentation dates back to about a year ago (March 2022), but overall we are not disappointed. We received the device in a pleasant Ice Gray color, but the Black color variant is also available, in any case we are talking about a smartphone made of 60% recycled plastic in the body, while the back adopts 100% recycled plastic with small dimensions the right to allow use even with one hand as well as offering a decidedly excellent grip and not at all slippery. We are talking about measures equal to 165,99 x 75,93 x 8,61 mm and a weight of 190 grams. The adoption of recycled materials contributes to the firm grip of the terminal as well as the fact that the back, rough and sometimes sparkling, does not retain fingerprints and dirt at all. When placed on a surface it is not very stable due to the protruding cameras while the IP52 certification for water resistance should be emphasized.
On the lower frame we can enjoy the presence of the 3,5 mm audio jack, the main microphone, the Type-C input with OTG support but no video output and the mono speaker. The audio that comes out does not enjoy high volumes but overall the qualitative rendering is very good, without distortion even if we recognize a certain lack of bass, but we can always take advantage of wired earphones to better optimize the multimedia result, as well as afford to listen to the FM Radio, present here. The left profile features in the upper part the slot for 2 SIM in nano format with support for 5G NSA / Sa connectivity or a SIM and a microSD to expand the internal memory. If you wish, you can also benefit from the Dual SIM functionality by means of an eSIM, which is quite rare in the smartphone category.
On the upper profile we only have the presence of a second microphone for noise reduction in calls which also performs the function of reducing wind frequencies during video recording, with a truly impressive result. Finally, on the right side there is the volume rocker and immediately below the power button which integrates the fingerprint sensor. This is strategically positioned, making unlocking with both the right and left hand convenient, as well as giving instantaneous and always reliable unlocking. You can of course also unlock the device with PIN/pattern/sequence but also via Unlock Face, by means of the selfie camera positioned in a drop notch, where poco above there is also a good ear capsule, able to offer a clean sound from the interlocutor, as well as a brightness sensor (a bit conservative) and physical proximity.
DISPLAY
As already mentioned, the company does not offer a display protection film, but poco bad as Nokia G60 5G has a panel with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. We are talking about a 6,58-inch diagonal screen with Full HD + resolution (2408 × 1080 pixels) with IPS LCD technology and 120 Hz refresh rate and form factor in 20:9. Although we are not dealing with an AMOLED display, the color rendering for both whites and blacks is really pleasing to the eye, even in direct sunlight conditions counting on a peak brightness of 500 nits. We have support for Widevine L1 for viewing streaming content in high definition but unfortunately support for HDR and Dolby Vision is absent. Overall we are talking about an excellent panel that does not disappoint at all in any condition, offering good viewing angles and well-calibrated and realistic colors.
HARDWARE, SOFTWARE AND PERFORMANCE
A smartphone that respects itself can be seen above all from how it runs and the best results are obtained precisely from the combination of hardware with software. Under the hood of the Nokia G60 5G we find a snappy Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 chipset, an octacore solution with a 6nm production process and a maximum clock of 2.2 GHz, accompanied by the Adreno 619 GPU and 4 GB of RAM LPDDR4X 2133 MHz 16bit dual channel and storage 128GB UFS 2.2. In a market where the various manufacturers seem to compete to see who offers more RAM and Storage, Nokia G60 5G seems like a fish out of water, but I assure you that this endowment has nothing to envy to many devices I've tried, offering a very pleasant user experience, without slowdowns, fluid and at times superior to the many competitors in the category.
Also thanks to the excellent general success is the software, which Nokia on its G60 5G recently updated to Android 13 with the May 2023 patch, keeping faith with the 3 years of promised updates. So this device will still get major updates up to Android 15. The basic software is the stock one from Google, in Pixel style, without duplicating apps and with a decidedly ideal ease of use even for those who have never handled a smartphone. Fluidity is the term that resonates in the experience of using the Nokia G60 5G, in fact we can switch from one application to another without suffering from reloads, in addition to not suffering from bugs, slowdowns or anything else in general. Even in gaming, I was not disappointed, bringing home excellent satisfaction even with games with more intense graphics. In terms of connectivity, in addition to the aforementioned FM radio, there is also an NFC sensor for mobile payments, GPS / A-GPS / Beidou / Galileo / Glonass, WiFi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac / ax-ready ( 2.4 / 5G dual band) and Bluetooth 5.1, accelerometer, gyroscope, compass and finally the aforementioned 5G NSA + SA connectivity, which offers truly remarkable performance even with 4G + navigation only.
BATTERY AND AUTONOMY
Although the battery capacity of this smartphone has a capacity of only 4500 mAh LiPo, therefore lower than the 5000 mAh generally offered by competitor devices, the autonomy is not affected in the least, even reaching two full days of use without having to resort to refill "bottles". There is no wireless charging and the charging power reaches 20W, but the choice adopted by the company is forward-looking, precisely to preserve the battery performance that Nokia guarantees for 800 charging cycles. The optimization of the device and the software contribute to this record autonomy, also due to the fact that the temperatures are kept at bay in the most extreme conditions, such as in gaming for example, thus also avoiding thermal throttling phenomena. In short, Nokia G60 5G can easily be defined as a battery phone, but in the body of a human-sized smartphone.
PHOTOGRAPHIC AND VIDEO RETURN
The photographic sector in general is perhaps the weakest area of the so-called mid-range smartphones. Well in the case of Nokia G60 5G, the experience as a creator didn't go so badly, counting on three cameras, the main one with a 50 MP 0.7µm (1.4µm 4-in-1), f/1.8 sensor , 1/2.5” to which is added a 5 MP f/2.2, 1/5” wide-angle lens and a 2 MP f/2.4, 1/5” lens useful for calculating the depth of field. The camera that allows you to take selfies instead relies on an 8 MP, 1.12µm, f/2.0, 1/4" sensor.
I announce that you can further improve the quality of photos and videos, by installing the GCam mod, easily available on the net, which gives an edge to the final result of shots and videos, adding further definition and details, as well as a better white balance and color fidelity.
Having said that, we are not in the presence of a camera phone, but the images are really pleasant even in night conditions, with the appropriate mode whose only flaw is that of returning too much brightness to the immortalized scene. The portrait mode is good even if sometimes the blur is too incisive and creates a bokeh effect even on the contours of the face of the photographed subject. The videos can be shot up to a maximum of 1080p 60 fps but if you want to benefit from digital stabilization you will have to go down to the resolution of 1080p 30fps, while at any resolution you can benefit from the wind noise function, with a really high quality rendering. The thing I liked is that the stabilization can also be used for video selfies, although even in this case the only resolution allowed is 1080p 30 fps. On the other hand, it is not possible to switch from standard to ultrawide optics during recording. At the software level, there is no shortage of functions such as Flash Shot, ideal for taking clear photos of moving subjects, slow motion, time lapse, panoramic, Dual Sight to have the vision from the rear and front camera in a single video.
On offer on Amazon
PROJECTED IMPACT
Nokia G60 5G is available both on the brand's official store and on Amazon, currently on offer at the price of €249,99. In my opinion, a price in focus for what this smartphone offers, which is overall balanced but above all that never disappoints. In fact, if it is true that he does not excel in any area, even if in terms of autonomy we are in the presence of real records, it is also true that there is no aspect in which he is insufficient. Reliable, always up to date, good performance and zero compromises in the multimedia field and if you really want to give it a boost for photos and videos, you can easily install a dedicated GCam. Nokia G60 5G is therefore aimed at those looking for a lot of autonomy in an elegant and practically all-rounder device with an affordable and correct price, but above all Nokia G60 5G is a long-lasting product, with updates guaranteed for at least the first three years.
