You might be perplexed as smartphone screens get bigger and wonder why you’d ever need or want a tablet. Why strain your eyes and squint while attempting to watch some of the best TV shows and movies available on different streaming services?
A inexpensive Android tablet might be a tempting option if you’re searching for a portable screen with a few more functions, especially if you don’t like the idea of iPadOS.
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Hardware andamp; Design
When I initially took the Nokia T20 out of the package, I questioned why $250 tablets could feel and appear this wonderful. I’m surprised by how excellent the fit and finish are at the price point. The Deep Ocean blue color scheme enhances the aluminum unibody’s outstanding appearance and excellent tactile feel. I absolutely equate cheap tablets across the entire spectrum of Android with a comforting heaviness and little to no body flex.
While the iPad has had an influence on the front of the chassis, the T20 sits in the middle thanks to its rounded corners and smooth contours. A single USB-C connector and an outward-firing speaker are located at the device’s bottom, while a 3.5mm headphone jack and an additional outward-firing speaker are located at the top bezel.
Although a little flat, the speaker sound profile is acceptable. Front-facing speakers would undoubtedly be helpful on a tablet with such huge bezels, thus it is very bothersome that sound is shot out from you into your surroundings. The location of the 3.5mm headphone port is peculiar. Plugged headphones start to obstruct the view in landscape mode.
The locations of the remaining hardware buttons are quite familiar, and the single back camera, which is located in the upper left corner, is suitable for a package of this size. Don’t think that the eight megapixels are only there to fill up the numbers. Beyond that, the camera system is, well, there if you need it. The five-megapixel selfie camera will work just fine for Google Duo chats or perhaps sporadic conference meetings.
PRESENT
Beyond the superb fit and finish, the display is the only reason to purchase the Nokia T20. For such a low-cost piece of technology, it is simply lovely. Is that the finest you’ll ever see? No, but it more than does right to practically all of the video content you’ll watch to make it worthwhile.
Its display is far from ideal, but it is reasonably bright and brilliant, has acceptable viewing angles, albeit with a tiny off-axis color shift, consistent bezels, and a resolution of 2,000 x 1,200, which is not exactly 2K as HMD Global would have you believe.
Even in cloudy Britain, I discovered that outdoor viewing was challenging because the glossy LCD easily attracts fingerprints and the auto-brightness seemed out of step with the surrounding environment. Once I switched the brightness controls to manual and stayed around the 75% level indoors, the situation changed.
This is actually just a little bit higher than 1080p, but it means that things look extremely sharp when material is set to stream at a little bit higher resolutions on compatible providers. The Nokia T20 cannot stream YouTube videos at resolutions higher than 1080p, which is a drawback in this situation.
Performance of software
The Nokia T20 is hardly a portable office powerhouse. Stutters, lags, and lag from the Unisoc Tiger T610 processor detract from the otherwise excellent package, occasionally becoming more than just an irritation. That might be seen as being overly zealous considering that this is, after all, a tablet that costs less than $300. Although they could be faster, things are about as I anticipated them to be. As long as you aren’t attempting to run a ton of programs at once or multitask as you would on a desktop or laptop, everything should be fine.
The fact that Nokia has chosen to maintain things as closely as possible to the Android One builds and that my own tablet is running the November 2021 security patch is a saving grace. Although Netflix and ExpressVPN were already loaded on my review device, there is little to no clutter.
The Nokia T20 is at home when exploring the world of Google Entertainment. In my opinion, you should spend the most of your time here as entertainment is front and center. If you’re unfamiliar with Entertainment Space, this takes the place of the Google Discover Feed and imitates the user-friendly Android TV UI. It functions similarly when you plug in your preferred content providers for TV, movies, games, and e-books.
I stayed with the tried-and-true trio of streaming providers, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and YouTube. I tried playing some Call of Duty: Mobile for gaming, but the lengthy loading screens and inability to play at the highest graphics settings made it not very enjoyable.
I had a blast using my expanding collection of cloud gaming apps, which includes Stadia, GeForce Now, and Game Pass. A secondary screen with high resolution excels in this particular situation. Thanks to the Nokia T20, I can completely immerse myself in games like Cyberpunk 2077 on Stadia, Guardians of the Galaxy on GeForce Now, or Forza Horizon on Xbox Game Pass.
Many of the problems are more directly related to the woefully inadequate Android tablet app library. Even though many apps are still sized for smartphones, at least they function. It won’t be a problem if you can deal with extended interfaces.
On paper, HMD Global’s promise of two years of upgrades and three years of ongoing security patches sounds wonderful, but the company’s track record with keeping its word with prior Nokia products isn’t the best. Updates are less important on a tablet like this, but they are still crucial, and we can only accept this at face value at this point in the product lifetime, at the risk of seeming like an apologist.
On this tablet, Nokia has further introduced software-based Face Unlock as the only biometric security access mechanism. In my experience, the selfie camera’s recognition of me while I’m in front of it has been generally good but occasionally slow. Although I personally would have preferred a fingerprint scanner on the power button, this is still an improvement over nothing at all.
CHARGER
The Nokia T20’s 8,200mAh battery gave me an all-day runtime, but I have to admit that it didn’t quite impress me as much as I had hoped it would before using it for a while.
The majority of the time, I would recharge every three days, with irregular web browsing and cloud gaming being my main uses. I never had to worry about running out of power, but when I did need to recharge after falling below the 10% mark, it took nearly 2.5 hours on my 30W Google charger.
My first impression is that this ought to be sufficient to keep someone entertained for as long as necessary to binge-watch the full Lord of the Rings trilogy with some time left over.
LAST THOUGHTS Some technological advancements must fulfill specific requirements in order to be considered worthwhile. For the majority of consumers, an Android tablet’s screen quality and battery life are key features. The Nokia T20 tablet, in my opinion, shines in those two crucial categories and is only let down by the below-average performance.
When the only use of a tablet is to consume material while on the go, not everyone needs a high-end one. Families with young children may be interested in the Nokia T20 because it is affordable and also has a luxury design. The only reason I haven’t given it my complete endorsement is that a newer iPad might provide you a better overall experience and a longer lifespan for many people.
Although the Nokia T20 has outstanding build quality, I doubt it could resist the daily abuse and use that a young child may dish out. You should focus on a robust tablet for youngsters like the Fire 7 or Fire HD 8 Kids tablet , both of which cost under the $150 barrier . The Nokia T20 is a good option for anyone else searching for a low-cost Android tablet with a beautiful screen and a design that doesn’t resemble a Tupperware lid.
HOW DO I BUY A NOKIA T20 TABLET? It costs $249.99 and is offered by a few online merchants, including Nokia.com and Amazon directly.
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