Nokia G60 5G review

Nokia is back with another play for the budget 5G market, and the G60 5G is its finest effort in the category yet.

It’s running Android 12 out of the box and has a unusual rear panel that makes it a good-looking device as well as a huge display on the front. Its only real limitations come in the form of performance that won’t blow you away and a duo of basic cameras that flank its much more impressive 50Mp option.

Still, for $329.99/£249.99, it’s hard to imagine anyone being particularly disappointed with it.

Design & Build

• Feels great in hand
• Unique back panel texture
• Large display

The Nokia C21 Plus we reviewed last year, and the Nokia G21 before it, were hardly bad-looking budget phones, but the Nokia G60 5G is simply a cut above.

It’s sturdy, with no discernible creaking to be found anywhere, and it’s just the right weight at 190g; not too light to where it feels like it lacks a premium touch, but not too heavy where it feels like a brick.

The actual setup is pretty standard – there’s a huge 6.58in display that takes up the front, with a camera tucked into the bezel for selfies and for facial recognition. On the bottom, there’s a USB-C port and a headphone jack (the latter seemingly the sole domain of budget and mid-range devices nowadays), and on the side there’s a power button and volume rocker.

The back has a vertically stacked trifecta of cameras within a pretty refined bump, but the big eye-catching feature is the back panel itself. It’s hard to capture it in photos (I’ve done my best with the Black colorway review unit), but it’s a slightly textured finish with what looks like specs of reflective metal within the panel itself.

It certainly helps the Nokia G60 5G stand out amongst many identikit, cookie-cutter handsets – even if it’s not a traditional “feature”.

It’s also great to see that the back is built using 100% recycled plastic (60% for the frame) and it comes with a three-year warranty. There’s also an IP52 rating but that means it’s only splash proof.

Screen & Speakers

• 6.58in IPS panel
• 120Hz is a mixed bag
• Mono speaker lacks nuance

We’re starting to see larger and larger displays on budget and mid-range 5G devices as the tech becomes democratized, but there’s sadly no OLED tech on the Nokia G60 5G.

The IPS display is harder to complain about than on the C21 Plus or G21 before it though thanks to a resolution of 2400×1080 – just above what you’d define as Full HD. That makes it much more watchable for YouTube or your latest Netflix binge on the train, but you’ll naturally find more attractive devices at higher price points – blacks never quite have the right depth (something OLED is great for), but the colors are solid throughout.

Lloyd Coombes / Foundry

A big plus for the Nokia G60 5G is its 120Hz refresh rate, but the implementation could be better. At the time of writing, you can’t push that refresh rate to its upper limits, with the phone deciding when you need that smoothness.

That means it’s fine with scrolling sites and social media feeds, but you’re relying on the phone to identify what you’re doing to really unlock that potential. I imagine it’s largely to avoid the battery life falling off a cliff (more on that later).

Sadly, as we’ve seen on many Nokia phones (and mid-range options from other manufacturers), you’re better off connecting your headphones for audio playback. The single bottom speaker is just woefully underpowered for picking out any nuance in the sound at all.

Everything gets lumped in with the mids, so bass and treble can’t escape and everything feels messy. It does handle voice better, though, so podcasts are fine, as are speakerphone calls.

Specs & Performance

• Snapdragon 695
• 4GB of RAM
• Up to 128GB storage

Mid-range phones, particularly those packing a 5G chip like the Motorola Moto G82 5G tend to rely on their increased network speeds and capabilities to cover for a lack of on-device power.

While it’s true that the Nokia G60 5G isn’t going to match flagships and more premium options, I’m pleased to say that there’s enough under the hood where the device feels capable.

Lloyd Coombes / Foundry

This is thanks to Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 695 accompanied by either 64- or 128GB of storage. There’s a measly 4GB of RAM so don’t load too many apps at the same time.

Skipping through emails, firing off some tweets, and responding to messages was as smooth as you’ll find anywhere else, but I was most impressed by the gaming performance.

You won’t be hitting 120fps on that giant screen, but I was able to unwind with some Genshin Impact, Wild Rift, Legends of Runeterra and Marvel Snap at the end of the day without the phone ever feeling truly sluggish.

The toughest customer was open-world RPG Genshin Impact, and even that ran promisingly, which felt a little surprising after seeing the modest benchmarks.

Cameras

• 50Mp main camera
• 5Mp Ultrawide
• 2Mp depth camera
• Solid night performance
• Main camera is great for this price range

There may be a trio of cameras on that handsome back panel, but sadly there’s definitely a golden child among the trio.

Lloyd Coombes / Foundry

The 5Mp ultrawide is fine, doing a decent job at framing what you’re aiming at with enough detail from the surrounding areas, but the depth camera doesn’t help much when it comes to taking portraits.

Thankfully, the 50Mp primary sensor holds up its end of the bargain and then some. I tested it in snowy Montreal and was impressed by the amount of detail it was able to capture both in the daytime and on a winter night. I will concede that it takes some time to line up those dark mode shots just right, however.

On the front camera, it’s very much business as usual – the 8Mp sensor is no better or worse than pictures taken on similar devices.

Battery Life & Charging

• 4500mAh battery
• 20W charging
• No adapter included

I was impressed by the Nokia’s PCMark 3.0 benchmark for battery life, which hit 14 and a half hours of screen-on time, but in general use, it feels like it just keeps on going. I was able to get almost two days out of it, and that’s with a 4500 mAh battery – which certainly had me wondering if there’s the potential for a 5000 mAh one instead given the size of the phone. Still, it’s a small nitpick.

As you may expect, there’s no charger in the box in a bid to reduce e-waste, instead offering a USB-C to USB-C cable. If you do pick up a charger, you’ll be able to take advantage of fast charging up to 20W. In my testing, plugging the phone into an adapter, I saw 14% after 15 minutes of charge, and 26% after 30 minutes.

Software & Apps

• Stock Android 12
• Three years of updates to come

One of the best parts of Nokia’s approach to more affordable hardware is that the company doesn’t load them with bloatware. Whether it’s social apps you’ve never heard of or bizarre third-party partner apps, plenty of manufacturers add plenty of things to uninstall.

The Nokia G60 5G remains very respectful of the user, offering stock Android 12 (although 13 is the latest version). Even after the initial setup, the apps are nicely uncluttered and it’s usable from the jump which is really positive.

Lloyd Coombes / Foundry

The downside is that it doesn’t offer anything truly new on top like the minimalist Moto overlay, but I’ll take the basic layout over potential gimmicks any day.

On the plus side, Nokia promises three years of OS upgrades which is more than many pricier phones. Often cheap phone get no updates guaranteed.

Price & Availability

The Nokia G60 5G is very reasonably priced given the features on offer at just £249.99 when purchased from Nokia.

You can also buy it from Amazon, Argos and John Lewis in the UK. It’s not officially available in the US but you can buy an international version from Amazon from $329.

There are two configurations, with a 64GB and 128GB version available. You’ll pay a little extra for the additional storage, but even then it’s still good value, and there are two color options available: Black or Ice. Whichever version you pick up, you’ll get 4GB of RAM.

That means, for the cheaper model, it just fits into our budget phone category. However, there a lots of great mid-range phones that don’t cost much more you might want to consider.  

Verdict

With so much competition in the affordable 5G handset space, the Nokia G60 5G stands apart by nailing the basics – it’s a solid-feeling device with a HD display that’s big, if not overly beautiful.

There’s plenty of onboard storage and decent performance, one impressive camera, and it’s a nice cheap way to get on board with Android and get 5G speeds.

If you can look past the dull speaker and very basic camera setup (aside from the main snapper), it’s well worth a look.

Specs

• Android 12
• 6.58in 20:9 LCD display with 120Hz refresh rate
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G
• 4GB RAM
• 64/128GB internal storage
• 8MP front camera
• 50MP main camera, 5MP Ultrawide camera, 2MP depth camera
• Fingerprint scanner
• Face Recognition
• 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax-ready (2.4/5G dual band)
• Bluetooth 5.1
• GPS
• NFC
• 5G
• Headphone jack
• USB-C
• 4500mAh non-removable battery
• 20W fast charging
• IP52 dust & waterproof rating
• 8.61mmx165.99mx75.93mm
• 190g
• Launch colours: Black or Ice