It’s no secret that Nokia’s smartphone priorities have shifted in the past couple of years, with the company focusing on winning consumers via the more affordable Android handset market. With that in mind, we’ve seen a ton of wallet-friendly Nokia phones, and the company’s newest one isn’t an exception either. Announced just recently, the Nokia G42 5G comes with a pretty standard feature set, at least for its price bracket – what does it bring though?
External Design
The Nokia G42 5G is clearly meant to be a budget smartphone, and it’s rather evident in its design. As with a ton of other Nokia handsets over the past few years, the phone is made entirely out of polycarbonate, save for the glass on the screen. One big selling point that Nokia’s made about the G42 is its lively colour option, which comes in a vibrant purple hue – there’s also a more subdued grey variant of the phone, if you’d prefer a more minimalist look.
Take a closer look and the G42’s price becomes more apparent. The phone comes with a side-mounted fingerprint scanner for biometrics, a microSD card slot for expandable storage options, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack. Some might argue that these features are too old at this point, but given the target demographic, these hardware elements will mostly come in handy.
The front of the phone packs a large 6.56-inch IPS display, with a 90Hz refresh rate and a 720 x 1612 pixel resolution. Nokia has also included Gorilla Glass 3 protection, adding to the device’s overall durability. It should be said that water drop notches look dated at this point, and it would have been nice to see a hole punch display on the G42 for a cleaner look.
Hardware and Cameras
The budget-ness extends to the insides of the Nokia G42, which is powered by a modest chipset – Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 480+ 5G chip is responsible for handling performance on the G42, and is aided by either 4 or 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of internal storage. Given the recent launch of Qualcomm’s newest 4-series chip, it would have been nice to see it make an appearance on the G42, although the handset was undoubtedly in development long before the announcement Snapdragon 4 Gen 2.
In any case, the 480+ 5G should be enough for your usual smartphone tasks such as communication apps, web browsing and social media binges. Gamers will want to look elsewhere though, as we don’t expect the 480+ to run intensive titles like Genshin Impact or GRID Autosport. Thankfully, the phone does ship with Android 13, so buyers are getting a more up-to-date device, at least in terms of software. There’s also a 5,000 mAh battery inside, which supports 20W charging speeds.
On the rear panel you’ll find a triple-camera setup which comes with a 50MP main camera, and a couple of 2MP macro and depth sensors, with an 8MP selfie camera in front. It’s a setup that’s commonly seen on entry-level devices, so no surprises there – the same can be said for video quality, which maxes out at 1080p resolution at 30fps.
Price
Should you wish to get your hands on the Nokia G42 5G, you’ll have to shell out £200, although you can trade in older devices on Nokia’s online store to get a discount on the G42’s price. It’s currently available now for buyers in the United Kingdom.
