IFTINFO – Nokia G60 hands-on review – iftinfo.com news Leave a comment

Introduction

Buying a smartphone is simple – you weigh the features against the price and try to find the best value. At least, that’s how the reasonable buyers do it.

Looking at the phone’s specs goes a long way, but it’s far from the full story. There’s more to consider – like HMD’s 3-3-3 promise for the Nokia smartphone lineup – that’s three years of OS updates, 3 years of security patches, and 3 years of warranty. That certainly enhances a phone’s value if you plan on sticking with it for a few years. Some buyers would even rate it higher than than a 108MP camera, or 5,000mAh battery.

Nokia’s name still carries a certain weight with buyers, especially those in Europe. Some people open Amazon, type in Nokia, and get busy ordering.

Those people would be happy with the Nokia G60 because it’s a solid phone with an okay price and the aforementioned stellar software support. But we’re different here at GSMArena. We’re the types to do thorough analysis and compose Buyer’s Guides to help those reasonable people get the best deal. And we’ll have our say before this hands-on is done.

Let’s first look at the Nokia G60 key specs.

Nokia G60 specs at a glance:

Body: 166.0×75.9×8.6mm, 190g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass 5), plastic frame, plastic back; Splash resistant.
Display: 6.58″ IPS LCD, 120Hz, 400 nits (typ), 1080x2408px resolution, 20.07:9 aspect ratio, 401ppi.
Chipset: Qualcomm SM6375 Snapdragon 695 5G (6 nm): Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Kryo 660 Gold & 6×1.7 GHz Kryo 660 Silver); Adreno 619.
Memory: 64GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 6GB RAM; microSDXC (uses shared SIM slot).
OS/Software: Android 12.
Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 1/2.5″, 0.7µm, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 5 MP, f/2.2, 1/5″; Depth: 2 MP, f/2.4.
Front camera: 8 MP, f/2.0, (wide), 1/4.0″, 1.12µm.
Video capture: Rear camera: 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
Battery: 4500mAh; 20W wired, PD3.0.
Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); FM radio; 3.5mm jack.

The Nokia G60 is placed in an increasingly busy segment around the €300 price point. Most of its competitors pack larger batteries, chargers in the box (not to mention fast ones), AMOLED displays, better secondary cameras, and sometimes, more capable chipsets.

Nokia tries to counter the specs inferiority with stock Android software, the promise of better support, and a focus on reducing the carbon footprint. The G60 comes in a box made of recycled paper, while the phone uses recycled plastic – the back panel is 100% recycled, while the frame is 60%.

This will matter to some buyers and surely to the planet. But they only matter if the final product is any good, so let’s have a look.

Design and handling

Nokia is very serious about its environmental footprint so it ships the G60 in a fully recycled box with a USB cable and nothing else. The box itself features placeholders for other accessories and Nokia ships the G60 with a 20W charger in certain markets.

The Nokia G60 is a conventional-looking device that’s big but not huge. It has a 6.58-inch 1080p IPS display complete with adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, which means it will toggle the maximum 120Hz when you interact with the display and go back down to 60Hz when it’s idle. Videos are automatically capped at 60Hz, while webpages are refreshed at 120Hz (while you’re touching the screen).

The panel is nicely sharp at 401ppi and retains most of its legibility when looked at from an angle. Colors are vivid and there is a great amount of contrast for an LCD. The panel has a blueish tint out of the box but there’s a white balance slider that’ll make things right when pushed to the Warm side the appropriate amount.

At 390 nits the display is sufficiently bright if far from blinding. There’s an aditional boost in Auto mode, that pushes the panel to 440 nits in direct sunlight. The glass atop the display is Gorilla Glass 5, while the 8MP selfie camera sits on a waterdrop notch.

The casing of the Nokia G60 is plastic. The frame, which is made out of 60% recycled plastic, is flat and grippy.

There’s a two-stage volume button on the right with a power button with a built-in fingerprint scanner underneath. The capacitive reader is snappy and without issues. The only thing worth mentioning is the tedious setup process – there are only so many ways I can twist my thumb for you, G60.

The phone is IP52-rated, which means it’s nearly dust tight and can deal with rain. Moving on to the left side of the phone, there’s a hybrid dual SIM and microSD card slot, which means you can have two cards at a time.

The left side and the SIM slot

There’s a secondary microphone on the top, while on the bottom of the G60, there’s a USB-C port flanked by the 3.5mm headphone jack and the only speaker.

The rear panel is made of fully recycled plastic. Nokia has added a tactile blotchy texture to the rear panel to perhaps solidify the feeling that you’re being good to nature, but it makes the phone feel better and different.

The back is also where you’ll find the main cameras. The main wide camera has a 50MP sensor and an f/1.8 lens, while the 5MP ultrawide unit has an f/2.2 lens and fixed focus. There’s a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor and an LED flash.

The Nokia G60 feels balanced in the hand. It’s not too heavy at 190g and the flat frame doesn’t dig into the hand.

Near-stock Android 12

The Nokia G60 runs a relatively unmodified version of Android 12 with a now-old August security patch, not exactly impressive given the 3 years of security updates promise.

The Nokia G60 packs a Snapdragon 695 chipset with 6GB of RAM. The device runs well with little to no hiccups and slowdown. In fact, we feel that the Nokia G60 runs considerably smoother than other Snapdragon 695-powered handsets with custom Android skins.

The UI and overall appearance are close to stock Android. That includes the new pill-shaped quick toggles in the notification shade. And once again, it does not include the toggle for automatic brightness, and you have to dig deep into the settings menu to enable or disable the feature.

No change in the recent apps menu that displays apps in a carousel formation and no change in the app drawer as well. The iconography in the general Settings menu has been revamped, though, so it might take some time to get used to.

Performance

Compared to the Snapdragon 690, the 695 has newer, more powerful CPU cores and GPU. The chip boasts 5G and is based on a reasonably modern 6nm manufacturing process by TSMC. The main two Kryo 560 Gold (Cortex-A77) cores are replaced with Kryo 660 Gold (Cortex-A78) cores clocked at 2.2 GHz while the six energy-efficient Kryo 560 Silver (Cortex-A55) clocked at 1.7 GHz remain the same. There’s only a change in the name, now called Kryo 660 Silver.

The Adreno 619L GPU has been replaced with a regular Adreno 619. The SD695 now supports faster LPDDR4X memory at 2133 MHz as well.

We’ve pitted the Nokia G60 against a bevy of similarly-priced opponents with chipsets ranging from the Snapdragon 778G, the Mediatek Dimensity 920, 900, and the Exynos 1280. In the G60, the Snapdragon 695 posted middle-of-the-pack results.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better


Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
2801


Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
2796


Realme 9 Pro+
2335


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
2225


OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
2157


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
2063


Realme 9 Pro
2020


Motorola Edge 30 Neo
1964


Nokia G60 5G
1908


Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
1900


Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
1891


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S
1873


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G
1820


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
1729


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
1662

GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better


Realme 9 Pro+
814


Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
771


Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
743


Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
742


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
736


OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
728


Realme 9 Pro
694


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
688


Motorola Edge 30 Neo
670


Nokia G60 5G
668


Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
603


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G
588


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S
526


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
511


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
376

AnTuTu 9
Higher is better


Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
506432


Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
504424


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
437872


OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
436640


Realme 9 Pro+
416031


Nokia G60 5G
402664


Realme 9 Pro
401894


Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
394918


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
382902


Motorola Edge 30 Neo
380818


Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
379313


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G
360255


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
319093


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S
308741


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
244526

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)
Higher is better


Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
19


Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
18


Realme 9 Pro+
17


Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
15


Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
15


OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
15


Nokia G60 5G
12


Motorola Edge 30 Neo
12


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
12


Realme 9 Pro
11


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G
9.2


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S
8.3


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
4.6

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better


Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
13


Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
13


Realme 9 Pro+
11


Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
10


Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
10


OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
10


Nokia G60 5G
7.8


Motorola Edge 30 Neo
7.8


Realme 9 Pro
7.8


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
7.8


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G
6.1


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S
5.5


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
3.1

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)
Higher is better


Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
20


Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
19


Realme 9 Pro+
16


Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
15


Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
15


OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
14


Nokia G60 5G
12


Motorola Edge 30 Neo
12


Realme 9 Pro
12


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
12


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G
8.7


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S
7.7


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
4.8

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better


Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
14


Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
14


Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
10


Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
10


Realme 9 Pro+
10


OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
9.4


Nokia G60 5G
8.2


Motorola Edge 30 Neo
8.2


Realme 9 Pro
8.2


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
8


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G
5.6


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S
5.1


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
3.1

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better


Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
28


Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
28


Realme 9 Pro+
23


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
22


Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
20


Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
19


OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
19


Nokia G60 5G
17


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
17


Motorola Edge 30 Neo
16


Realme 9 Pro
16


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G
13


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
12


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S
12


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
6.8

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better


Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
33


Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
33


Realme 9 Pro+
27


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
25


OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
24


Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
23


Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
23


Nokia G60 5G
20


Motorola Edge 30 Neo
20


Realme 9 Pro
19


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
19


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G
16


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
14


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S
14


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
8

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better


Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
49


Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
47


Realme 9 Pro+
41


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
38


Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
35


Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
35


OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
35


Nokia G60 5G
30


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
30


Motorola Edge 30 Neo
29


Realme 9 Pro
29


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G
23


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
22


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S
21


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
12

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better


Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
56


Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
56


Realme 9 Pro+
45


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
43


OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
40


Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
38


Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
38


Motorola Edge 30 Neo
35


Realme 9 Pro
35


Nokia G60 5G
34


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
34


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G
26


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
24


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S
24


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
15

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)
Higher is better


Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
69


Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
64


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
57


Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
56


Realme 9 Pro+
56


Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
55


OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
51


Motorola Edge 30 Neo
43


Realme 9 Pro
41


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
41


Nokia G60 5G
39


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G
36


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
34


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S
32


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
18

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better


Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
77


Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
77


Realme 9 Pro+
68


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
64


OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
61


Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
60


Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
60


Nokia G60 5G
47


Motorola Edge 30 Neo
47


Realme 9 Pro
47


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
47


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G
40


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
37


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S
37


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
21

3DMark SSE ES 3.1 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better


Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
5015


Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
5010


OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
3722


Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
3631


Realme 9 Pro
2946


Nokia G60 5G
2935


Motorola Edge 30 Neo
2921


Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
1316

Battery life

The Nokia G60 comes with a respectable 4,500mAh battery. Some of its rivals have 5,000mAh batteries but the endurance we got from the G60 doesn’t really warrant worry. We have just the onscreen tests in our hands-on review – the Nokia G60 scored 12:50 hours of constant video playback and exactly 18:00 hours of web browsing – a solid and an excellent result, respectively.

The phone locks its refresh rate at 60Hz when you watch a video or browse the web so the 120Hz maximum refresh rate didn’t really make an impact on endurance.

Camera

The Nokia G60 packs three cameras on the back – a 50MP main camera with 1.4µm pixels after 4-to-1 binning and an f/1.8 lens, a 5MP f/2.2 ultrawide without autofocus, one of those depth sensors, of 2MP resolution, and an 8MP fixed focus selfie camera with 1.12µm individual pixels and an f/2.0 lens.

Software-wise, the Nokia G60 brings smarts such as Capture Fusion for more detailed ultrawide shots, Dark Vision (aka Night Mode), and AI Portraits (aka Portrait mode). There’s Tripod Mode, which will detect if the phone’s on a stable surface and let the Night Mode run a bit longer for a brighter exposure.

Looking at the samples, the G60 does a good job of retaining detail, boosting contrast and rendering color. Output is punchy, there’s a wide dynamic range even if textures are overly-sharpened for you get a pleasing modern smartphone look to the shots. You could scuff at that oversharpening but you’d be wrong – if you’re a photo purist, you’d need to reach much deeper in your pockets and get a far more capable hardware, perhaps even a dedicated camera.

Main wide camera

The HDR is particularly impressive. The Nokia G60 captured a very wide range of tones and colors even when pointed directly at the sun.

The main camera does well in contre-jour

The ultrawide snaps very wide images. The good dynamic range carries over but the detail rendition is poor due to the step down in sensor and lens quality.

Ultrawide

Selfies from the 8MP front camera are excellent for the class. If you don’t go digging for per-pixel detail and just enjoy the photos at fit-screen size, you’ll love the output. Skin tones are excellent and the focal length is just right for one to two-person shots. The second image is a Portrait Mode sample – it deepens the contrast in the shadows and has an excellent dynamic range in the background. Edge detection isn’t perfect but it’s not the end of the world.

Selfies

At night, with Night Mode off, the wide camera has a dark and blotchy output. The sensor struggles to retain detail and will sometimes lose highlight information while at the same time will crush shadow data as well. You should shoot in Night Mode when the camera suggests it. Sadly, there’s no automatic Night Mode, the camera will show an onscreen prompt to suggest Night Mode, which is weird given that there is a setting for an automatic Night Mode.

Main camera without Night Mode

Dedicated Night Mode shots improve images dramatically. There’s much more information in the shadows, while the highlights get boosted. The camera brings back a little information in the extreme highlights (point lights and such) but still can’t quite keep those in check. Detail is much more refined though there is still some noise in the images. A little noise for a lot more resolution and detail is fine by us.

Main camera with Night Mode

The videos, on the other hand, are terrible. They max out at 1080p and the level of detail isn’t worthy of that resolution either.

On a positive note, the software does a fine job of stabilizing shaky footage.

Wrap-up

Putting it all together we can say that the Nokia G60 is a good phone and it won’t cause eventual owners much frustration. Should you buy it at its original €350 price, though? We’d argue no as at that price the HMD phone just can’t match the performance of the rivals from Samsung, Redmi, OnePlus, Oppo and Motorola.

Good thing then that it’s already down to around €310 at which point its competiveness is greatly improved.

A few alternatives to consider are the Samsung Galaxy A52s for €325 (6/128GB), the Galaxy A53 for €345 (6/128GB), the Galaxy A33 for €276 (6/128GB), the Galaxy M52 for €296, the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G for €252 (6/128GB), the OnePlus Nord CE 2 for €289 (8/128GB), the Realme 9 Pro for €262 (6/128GB), the Realme 9 Pro+ for €306 (6/128GB), and the Moto G82 for €305 (6/128GB). For context, most of those phones come better equipped with at least a charger, and in many cases, well, a case.

The Nokia G60 is a good phone and at its new price it’s starting to improve in the value for money department. If you value longevity a performance over the best possible camera or screen you should definately consider it. But if you don’t plan on sticking it in the long run you’ll certainly find smarter ways to spend your money.