Nokia G42 5G: Affordability, longevity, and performance delivered
The Nokia G42 5G. Picture: Noel Campion.
While most phone brands are releasing their flagship models with all the latest bells and whistles, Nokia is trying to differentiate itself by making affordable, sustainable and longevity devices as selling features. The Nokia G42 5G conforms to this ideology, but is it a device that customers will want to buy?
The G42 design will not win any awards, but my review unit's textured finish and lavender colour are quite fetching. The vertically stacked triple camera array on the rear is located on the top left, and I love the chrome accents rings around the camera lenses.
The phone feels comfortable in the hand thanks to the bevelled side rails’ and the back's chamfered edges that slop to the sides.
The left side has a dual SIM tray. On the right are the volume rocker and power buttons. The latter doubles as the fingerprint sensor, which works fast and reliably. On the bottom edge, you’ll find a 3.5mm headphone jack (headphones not included), a USB-C port and two holes for the speaker.
Nokia says the G42 is built to last and has been rigorously tested for durability against everyday knocks. It also stays current, with three years of monthly security updates and two years of OS upgrades, and it comes the latest Android 13 preinstalled. It’s always good to see companies committed to keeping software up-to-date and ensuring their customers can get longer out of their devices. However, Nokia went even further and partnered with iFixit by offering replacement parts for the G42 for five years.
It features QuickFix repairability, enabling you can replace damaged screens, bent charging ports, and ageing batteries. With iFixit kits, you get cost-effective replacement components starting from just €19.95. A new battery costs €24.95, while a screen replacement cost €49.95 and each of these kits come with the necessary tools required to do the work yourself, along with detailed guides on the iFixit website.
It’s not as easy as back in the days of the Nokia 6310 to replace a battery, but it’s great to do it yourself or ask a friend to do it for you.
The 6.56-inch IPS LCD is only 720p but has a smooth 90Hz refresh rate. Even at this price point, I would have expected at least a 1080p display, but the lower resolution does help to get extra performance from the battery. Although I noticed a tiny loss of clarity in some areas, such as small text, it wasn't a deal-breaker. Contrast and colour vibrancy look a little weak, even for an LCD panel.
The main rear camera boasts a 50MP sensor and f/1.8 aperture lens. The other two cameras are less significant, with one being a 2MP depth sensor employed to assist the portrait mode, while the third is a 2MP macro sensor. The selfie camera is 8MP and is fine for video calls with passable image quality.
The camera app is fantastic and has a nice combination of just the right features to make it easy to use. The only downside is the app is a little sluggish sometimes, especially when processing HDR, night and portrait modes photos.
The images captured from the main lens are quite good in good light. Night mode was better than expected, and I love that there’s a tripod mode to capture images with up to 45-second exposure.
Video capture is limited to 1080p at up to 60fps which is perfectly fine, but the quality is average.
In addition to conducting tests that show an overall battery lifespan that is 60% longer, Nokia claims to deliver a battery life of up to three days. In my experience, the 5,000mAh battery inside the G42 will easily last two long days of use and even longer, depending on how you use it.
Nokia doesn’t include a charger, only a USB-C cable in the box. It can charge up to 20W but doesn’t support wireless charging.
A Snapdragon 480+ chipset powers the G42, and while it doesn’t perform all that great in the benchmarks I ran, it doesn’t feel sluggish or slow in real-world use. Gaming performance is weak, and I wouldn’t recommend it for anything more than casual gaming.
You can choose between 4GB or 6GB of RAM, with the 6GB variant being the better option. This is combined with the potential utilisation of up to 5GB of virtual RAM from the 128GB storage, resulting in a combined 11GB capacity when required.
Nokia G42 5G impresses with affordability, longevity, and solid performance. Its design, though not standout, offers comfort and repairability. The cameras and display are decent, but performance, battery life, repairability and software support stand out.
Nokia G42 in So Purple and So Grey is available in 6/128GB storage and memory configurations €249 Nokia. Available in 4/128GB storage and memory configurations via Vodafone and Eir for €199.
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