The sum of all parts makes the Nokia 5.4 a solid performer
Nokia 5.4.
Nokia has become synonymous with high-quality phones at a reasonable price that provides outstanding value. Nokia phones come with stock Android and a three-year upgrade guarantee, which is something that not all manufacturers have.Â
However, not everyone likes a vanilla version of Android and if you’re looking for the latest and greatest in tech then the budget to mid-range Nokia 5.4 isn’t the phone for you.
The Nokia 5.4's polycarbonate back is polished to look like glass and features textured pattern lines at a 45-degree angle that changes colour as the phone is angled in the light. The edge rails are also plastic but this is not unusual for a budget phone and the build quality is excellent. The 'glass-like' back looks cool, but it easily picks up fingerprints and dust, just like glass.
The quad-camera system is housed in a raised circle with an LED flash to the left. Just below the cameras is a fingerprint sensor that works well and is reasonably fast and accurate. You can also use the latter to swipe down to show notifications.
The back isn’t completely flat and slopes towards the edges making it nice to hold and easy to grip.
On the left edge is a dedicated Google Assistant button which you can turn on or off but not remap to another function. Above this is the dual SIM tray which also includes a micro SD card slot — something that's being removed from a lot of flagship models. The latter is a welcome addition to the Nokia 5.4, which comes with only 64GB of storage.
On the top edge is a 3.5mm headphone jack and on the right are the volume up/down and power buttons.
The front has large but not unsightly bezels with a larger chin on the bottom which has the Nokia logo on it.Â
The top left of the display houses the small hole-punch cutout for the selfie camera. The corners are rounded on both the phone and screen and there’s a decent pre-installed screen protector to help keep the glass free from scratches right out of the box. The bottom edge has a USB-C port for charging and a bottom-firing speaker which provides okay quality and loudness but means you’re only getting a mono sound.
The Nokia 5.4 has a 6.39-inch HD+ (720 x1560 pixels) display that looks sharp but doesn’t get as bright as I’d like especially when outside on a sunny day. The colours are not oversaturated and the contrast is as good as I’d expect from an IPS display in this price range.Â
Unfortunately, viewing angles aren’t fantastic and I did notice the screen would get darker when viewed off-centre.
The Nokia 5.4 is more than capable of offering a decent experience for watching your favourite TV shows and movies on the go, thanks to its larger screen and support for Google's Widevine DRM platform, which allows for higher than 480p resolutions on streaming platforms like Prime Video and Netflix. However, the lack of stereo sounds means a pair of headphones is a must.
The display has a standard 60Hz refresh rate which is not surprising for a budget phone but at least 90Hz would have made the phone feel a little zippier than it does.
The Nokia 5.4 is a solid performer thanks to the 4GB of RAM and Snapdragon 662 Mobile Platform. Less demanding users will be happy with how this phone performs and I only experience a few slowdowns during my time of testing.Â
However, those looking for a good gaming experience on a budget should look elsewhere. This isn’t to say the Nokia 5.4 can’t play games, in fact, it will run the likes of Candy Crush and similar flawlessly, just don’t expect a smooth experience while playing more demanding titles.
With light use, the 4,000 mAh battery can last two days without needing to be charged. Even with heavy use, the battery easily lasted a full day.
The camera system consists of a 48MP f/1.8 main camera, a 5MP ultrawide f/2.2, 2MP macro and a depth-sensing camera used in Portrait mode. By default, the main camera is 12MP with pixel binning and support for auto HDR.Â
When you switch to 48MP mode, you lose HDR, and the dynamic range isn't great, nor is there four times more detail in the photo. Image quality is excellent in good light but really struggles in low light and high dynamic range scenes. Colour and contrast are consistent between the main and ultrawide cameras which are not typical in budget phones.
Portrait mode is good as long as the light is good and edge detection is usually good too. Under less than ideal lighting, image quality falls apart though and the LED flash doesn’t help to turn it into a better photo.
Video capture is up to 1080p but supports 60-fps. Unfortunately, the video captured at the latter frame rate isn’t as smooth or stable as I would have liked but most people will be happy with1080p and 30fps.
There’s also a Cinema mode with 24-fps for a more cinematic quality but I thought the standard mode looked better.
The Nokia 5.4 is a decent all-around performer that doesn’t excel in any particular category. However, the sum of all its parts means it should suit those who want a good phone at an affordable price.
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