Despite being launched onto concrete and down flights of stairs this new phone from an iconic brand just won’t die.
If you miss the days where you could drop your phone, and the most damage it would suffer would be the back cover popping off or the battery popping out, you need to read this. With Nokia’s new release of the XR20 5G smartphone Nokia really lives up to their reputation of producing phones that are ridiculously durable.
Unboxing
In the box, along with the Nokia XR20 5G, is a charging plug, USB to USB-C charging cable, set up guide and earphones with a 3.5mm headphone jack. The earphones are an exciting edition as it means the phone also has a 3.5mm headphone jack which, even though many companies have removed this port, comes in handy more often than you think.
Display, specs and cameras
Notably, the phone has a generous 6.67” FHD+ display that’s covered in one of the strongest glass screens made of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. This is a lot of what makes the phone so durable.
The phone also has a tough plastic back (and sides) and although the design isn’t quite chic the phone definitely isn’t ugly or chunky and easily passes as your standard smartphone. Internally, the phone is running Android 11, has 128GB of storage with 6GB of RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 processor. These specs are decent but the 480 processor is usually found on budget phones for half the price. The phone still runs incredibly well though, you might just have the occasional pushback when trying to load highly intensive apps.
If you’re not looking to be impressed by the fastest processor though, you’ll be delighted by the phone’s additional features such as face unlock, fingerprint unlock, wireless charging, drop protection up to 1.5m, it’s IP68 water resistance and 4360mAh battery. The phone even has a three year warranty with four years of monthly security updates. Where this phone is lacking just a little is the camera. Photos and videos are quite nice with a 48MP and 13MP back cameras although they’re prone to overexposure. This means you might need to take a couple of extra shots to get things just right. The 8MP selfie camera is also nothing to write home about but it will still produce good photos to the average user. A feature that had good intentions that was unfortunately bothersome is the Google Assistant button. There’s a button on the side dedicated to activating your Google Assistant, which would be rather handy but unfortunately it’s easy to knock or press by accident – disrupting regular use. However, this button can be deactivated in settings so it’s no deal breaker.
Drop tests
I have truly put the XR20 through its paces. I’ve thrown this phone down concrete stairs, had it fall off the roof of my car, thrown it 10 metres in front of me on bitumen, kicked it and tossed it into the air and it has survived. At this point my XR20 definitely looks like it has taken a beating but it’s fully functional and the screen and camera module have not cracked.
There’s, of course, some heavy wear and tear on the back housing and sides but I am honestly impressed. Any other phone would’ve smashed or broken after one or two similar drops that I tried with the XR20. So if you’re worried about every day drops or fumbles, even onto concrete, I cannot see this phone taking much damage at all. It is ridiculously durable.
Should you buy it?
It sounds silly, but the feeling of freedom this phone has given me is incredible. It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen when it comes to durability.
In the past tough phones have been rather unsightly whereas this is an excellent all round smartphone that you can just ‘live life with’. It’s perfect for people who might have accidents or drops with their phone like parents of young children, tradies, health professionals wearing gloves and especially teenagers.
Although you can get better internal specs on other similarly priced phones, this phone will do the job well and you won’t have to worry about it breaking. And I think $879 is a small price to pay for a good all round experience and piece of mind.
Elly Awesome is an Aussie tech and lifestyle vlogger | @ellyawwesome | YouTube
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