Many budget phones have been unveiled in recent months and Nokia wants to catch up to these budget phones using a reliable and long-term device. Before the end of this year, Nokia releases its budget phone last October 9, 2020, The Nokia 2.4. The question is, is your money worth the value that this phone can give? Read along.
Pros
- Large Display
- Classic but Sturdy Build
- Great Battery
- 2-3 Years Android Support
Cons
- Offers lower performance on its price.
- Slower charging using the free 5W charger
- AI camera needs to learn more
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Table of Contents
Design and Build
We know that Nokia phones are known to be solid well-made phones but that is another story as we are now in the era of smartphones. Despite not being at the top of the list from its competitor, still they manage to make a smartphone with a promising classy and reliable build. The back has a matte finish and has a pretty good grip thanks to the parallel line texture on its polycarbonate plastic back. The camera module that is located in the middle is almost no bump. Below it is the fingerprint scanner and next to it is the reflective Nokia branding. The phone feels solid and sturdy it doesn’t have that tiny cracking sound when squeezed and that is a stand-out from the rest of the budget phones within the price range.
Around the frame we got a different style of button placements, the power and volume rocker are all on the right side while on the left is the sim tray with up to 512GB expandable storage slot and 2 nano sim slots. There’s also a dedicated button for google assistant which we will discuss later. Up top are the headphone jack and the secondary microphone. On the bottom is the speaker, main microphone, and unfortunately, it only has an outdated micro USBÂ 2.0 with a 10W charging capability.
Overall the build really feels it can last long, it is also thinner at 8.7 mm and just weighs 195 grams so it is a nice phone to carry. Holding it doesn’t easily slip on my hand and no wobble on the table and other flat surfaces.
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Display
Nokia 2.4 boasts a large 6.5-inch IPS LCD screen with HD+ (720px1600) pixels and with a nearly outdated waterdrop notch housing a 5MP selfie camera. The screen’s ratio is in cinematic 20:9 ratio but the bezels are a bit large especially on its chin. For my eyes, I really like the Nokia branding embedded on its chin. There’s always been that Nokia logo in front of all Nokia phones. A unique way of saying that it separates it from other smartphones.
The quality of the display is pretty fine and the colors are accurate thanks to the IPS LCD panel. There’s an option to adjust the color temperature of the screen, and choosing the warmer color makes the overall feel more premium. There’s also a dark mode that is not so black and not that reliable since it is an IPS LCD but good thing it has an option to enable it. Watching videos isn’t as sharp as the 1080p but it has the acceptable quality for the price point. The audio quality lacks in giving sound and has a distortion when playing at max volume but it is enough to fill a small room.
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Camera
The dual camera on the rear is a 13MP Main Camera and a 2MP Depth Sensor.
Daylight shots are a bit underexposed and have deep blacks removing some details but it can easily adjust in the viewfinder. It also has a decent dynamic range and HDR images have great enhancement for the overall exposure. The good thing in the main cam is it captures nearly true to life colors however it may depend on the detection of the color temperature. Nokia 2.4 struggles to detect the right white balance and it may result in washed-out color reproduction. Considering the price point, the overall images are fine and acceptable but the detection of its white balance is what holds it back. If it nails it, the overall output will be great and sharp.
Shooting at night time again white balance is a bit off sometimes but if we get the right value, it will output acceptable but softer night time pictures.
Moving on to portrait mode, you can adjust the blur and add more styles like the different bokeh shapes. The images however output grains indoors, but sharp. The edge detection is pretty decent with 93% accuracy.
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Switching to the 5MP selfie shooter, the portrait mode on selfie doesn’t have a beautification feature and it only appears in the normal photo mode. It also struggles to detect the right white balance of the scene but if we have decent lighting and a controlled environment it will output a nice good-looking skin tone. The sharpness is fine considering we only have 5MP quality. The subject to background separation looks like it’s feathered to make smooth edges.
On video recording, the max resolution is 1080p@30fps–standard social media posting. I wish they could at least bump it to 60 frames for better flexibility. The stabilization feature isn’t noticeable and it just makes the viewing angle narrower and softer. On the selfie, taking videos using a front cam, the highlights are blown out but it has an acceptable quality in the right amount of lightings though it isn’t that impressive. If you want to see the quality watch our video version of this review above.
Overall I like that they have a pretty nice customizable watermark and it makes the photo more stylish looking. It lacks the Pro Mode feature though so you may stick around with the normal mode and just point and shoot.
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Performance
Now heading to its performance, Nokia 2.4 is equipped with MediaTek Helio P22, an octa-core processor with 12nm build with 3GB of ram and 64GB of internal storage. Internal memory is just enough to install the right apps you need. It has a good multitasking performance thanks to the 3GB of ram. However, there is some stuttering when navigating through online apps as it loads some parts from the internet. Basic social media browsing like Facebook or Instagram works well, even zoom meetings and other video conference app does not make the phone lag.
Playing casual games on the Nokia 2.4 phone is fine we have no problem playing RTS games like Mobile Legends and League of Legends: Wildrift. Playing games with high-end graphics will introduce stutter but it still has the power to perform the task so it is still acceptable.
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Software
It is in the Android 10.0 with Android One OS or the basic stock Android skin–it is lightweight and clean. The OS includes the stock google apps. While giving the stock android feel, Nokia promises to also give 2 years of Android upgrade and 3 years of security patches to the users. It can be upgraded up to Android 12 in the future so it has a lot of future proof optimization and security.
The best part about the Nokia 2.4 is the easy navigation thanks to the dedicated Google Assistant button. It is a reliable tool to talk to google assistant and it gives a less hassle user experience. Google Assistant is one of the best assistants for this device and by just pressing a button you can speak to google assistant to do almost anything for you. Also, the fingerprint scanner has a simple swipe gesture to view the notification which is a pretty good addition to the user experience.
Talking about biometrics, it has fingerprint security and face unlock. The fingerprint scanner is fine, it is not the fastest scanner I tried but most of the time it doesn’t fail to recognize my prints, and I’m pretty sure it is working. Face unlock, however, struggles to detect faces in lowlight but in decent lighting, it is reliable even with a fairly slow recognition.
Overall the user experience for me is great and by holding it with just one hand I can just constantly check the notification, unlock the device with ease and navigate things inside this phone without touching the screen thanks to Google Assistant voice command.
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Battery
For the battery Nokia 2.4 is backed with a 4500mAh battery, the battery performance is good considering we have Google apps and Google Assistant running in the background that may drain our battery. It still endured a screen time of 8hrs and 15mins using our endurance test. It can also last for 2 days straight in casual use even with google assistant and google sync runs in the background. The somehow disappointing is the free power brick, it only comes with a 5W charging brick in the box. We tested it and it fully charged the device from 0%-100% in 4hrs and 21mins. We also tried other charging brick with 10W capability to see the potential and we got a lower charging time of 2hrs and 58mins.
Verdict
Overall for the price of P6,990, there’s a lot of smartphones within the price range that offers more reliable specs, but Nokia 2.4 isn’t just a typical device. It is a trusted brand that offers 2yrs of Android upgrade, it has a solid and sturdy build, it has easy navigation, and clean UI. For us, if you want to have a budget smartphone that can last longer than expected, this phone’s durability will give you peace of mind and will promise to keep you safe thanks to the 3-year security patches. Just don’t drop it to from the second floor.
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Specification
| Nokia 2.4 | |
| Design | 195g |
| 8.7mm | |
| Plastic Back | |
| Fjord, Dusk, Charcoal | |
| Display | 6.5″ IPS LCD |
| 720 x 1600 pixels, 20:9 ratio | |
| 80.6% STB ratio | |
| 270PPI | |
| Camera | 13MP Main Camera |
| 2MP Depth Sensor | |
| 1080p@30fps | |
| Selfie | 5MP Front Cam |
| 1080p@30fps | |
| Performance | Mediatek Helio P22 (12nm) |
| PowerVR GE8320 | |
| Android 10.0, Android One OS | |
| 3GB RAM | |
| 64GB, eMMC 5.1 | |
| expandable storage (up to 512gb) | |
| Battery | 4500mAh |
| 10W Charging | |
| Features | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n |
| microUSB 2.0 | |
| Bluetooth 5.0 | |
| Fingerprint (rear-mounted) | |
| Google Assitant Dedicated Button | |
| Face Unlock | |
| Price | P6,990 (3GB + 64GB) |
