Play the long game. The Nokia X30’s keyboard suggests it’s eco-friendly, and Nokia calls it “its greenest phone yet.” This includes recycled (and recyclable) materials where possible, as well as a 3-year warranty and software support. And in a lineup that lacks a true flagship, as others understand, the X30 must bear that responsibility. The X30 isn’t powered by a flagship – the Snapdragon 695 is anything but. A camera system without a telephoto doesn’t scream “high-end.” Some minor omissions, such as stereo speakers and wireless charging, still place the X30 in the mainstream mid-range.

But for around 450 euros for the basic 6 GB/128 GB version, you can get some pretty interesting technical information. Adequate protection against dust and water is still a rare sight in the mid-range, as is Gorilla Glass Victus screen protection – both are here. And since we mentioned it, the display is now OLED – it’s been three and a half years since Nokia last had one.

Going back to the cameras and looking at it from a price-adjusted perspective, things don’t look so bleak. Most notably, the 50-megapixel main unit on the back uses the same sensor as the Galaxy S22 – enough for a flagship. The other two cameras aren’t all that remarkable – the 13MP ultra-wide camera lacks autofocus and is seemingly fast without dedicated macro assistance, and the 16MP selfie camera is neither here nor there – but it’s all very reasonable. setting up. The term “Reasonable” can also describe other parts of the X30. Small at first glance, the battery capacity should be enough for not too demanding internal devices, and the charging power of 33W seems to offer a fast enough charge without going to extremes. Alongside the OLED display, a fingerprint sensor can also be seen below the display.

Design

The aluminium that makes up the phone’s body is recycled, which is of course a good thing. Probably just as good is the touch of metal when handling the smartphone, and the exposed flat rails around the X30 ensure that. A satin finish on the large aluminium surfaces hides blemishes better than a high-gloss finish, but the frame’s thin bevelled edges show some polishing—enough to accentuate, but not too much to worry about. how does this long game go on? The back panel is also recycled, but only partially  – 65% and it’s plastic, not “something premium”. Still, it’s pretty good, we’d say, and it helps the X30’s longevity by being less prone to cracking if the phone suddenly hits the ground. The elegantly minimalist camera setup is in the top left corner, but a little further back than most phones. A two-level island of the same aluminium rises from the back panel,  gently washing its shores. The “50MP OIS camera” tag refers to the main camera, which, as we later find out, is more than that. Having only two cameras helps keep things organized. On the front, we are back to some high-quality things – the screen is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus, Qualcomm’s latest design, which is available to everyone (as opposed to the Samsung-acquired version of Victus). The X30’s competitors are a generation or two behind it. The phone’s IP67 rating means it should survive submersion in a meter of water for up to 30 minutes. Now we know (from experience as well as reading the fine print) that intrusion protection tends to degrade with age and use, so maybe dip the X30 in the earlier days rather than the end. three-year warranty.

Display

The X30 is the first Nokia with an OLED display since the 9 PureView until early 2019. As a non-display phone, the X30 seems like an odd vehicle to return to the  OLED line, but we’re not complaining. The 90 Hz 6.43-inch panel has a  resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels with an aspect ratio of 20:9 and a pixel density of 409 ppi. Nokia promises a typical brightness of 400 nits and increases to 700 nits when needed. Our measurements back up these claims, with 442 nits with the slider to the right and 746 nits with adaptive brightness enabled and the phone in direct light. It’s an OLED panel, so it didn’t show light when it turned black – unlike the G60’s LCD. The X30 had a minimum brightness of 2.1 nits – perfect for night viewing. In the X30, colour reproduction is done in a very simple way  – there is only one colour temperature slider in the “White Balance” menu of the display settings. The lack of colour spaces means there are no custom settings for sRGB content, and the panel always seems to be in wide spectrum mode. The default white balance has a noticeable blue shift to grayscale test points that turn pink when the slider is up to warm, and the settings in between aren’t spotty either. The average dE2000 of the samples we test is around 3.0, which isn’t half bad.

Nokia doesn’t mention the HDR feature of the X30’s display. We really couldn’t even get an HDR stream from YouTube, let alone Netflix, although the latter supports at least Full HD streaming thanks to the phone’s Widevine L1 certification. The X30 has a simple two-choice setting for refresh rate in standard and adaptive mode. The first is simple – it keeps everything at 60Hz. Adaptive, on the other hand, allows a maximum frequency of 90 Hz, but drops to 60 Hz at idle, which is the behaviour for most usage scenarios. The notable exception is games that support high frame rates, where Nokia maintains a 90Hz refresh rate even when you’re not actively interacting with it.

Software and Performance

The Nokia X30 runs Android 12 in its Android One flavour – stock Android, if you will, although it’s still a step behind the latest version of the operating system. As part of its “Play the Long Game” policy, the X30 promises three years of OS updates and security patches, so you should prepare for the foreseeable future. Regardless of the number you’re playing (if it’s relatively recent, as in this case), Android One looks familiar. In version 12, you get oversized bubble-like quick toggles to alert you of microphone or camera activity, a privacy panel, exact/approximate location settings, and a green dot. The settings menu has been changed to monochrome, so if you were used to the previous colour-coded settings, you will have to remove them. What we use to call the power button on the right can be configured to launch  Google Assistant on any screen or in standby mode. Note that some older Nokias (the G21 comes to mind) had their own Assistant key on the left, which is not the case here.  If you want to turn off your phone (which, admittedly, is getting harder and harder to figure out among manufacturers lately), there is a tutorial that explains the different ways.

The Nokia X30 is powered by the Snapdragon 695 chipset, a 5G-capable mid-range Qualcomm chip manufactured using a 6nm process. Its octa-core processor has a 2 6 configuration (2 x 2.2 GHz Kryo 660 Gold and 6 x 1.7 GHz Kryo 660 Silver), while the GPU is labelled Adreno 619. It is the same SoC that you will find in the more small Nokia G60. and it’s the fattest silicon on a Nokia phone right now.  Two memory variants are available – the already well-designed 6GB / 128GB base model and the more generous 8GB / 256GB option (according to our review). Compare that to the G60, which maxes out at 6GB/128GB. The Snapdragon 695 inside the Nokia X30 is a bit too modest for its asking price and therefore not quite on par with the competition. From a performance perspective, much better deals can be found elsewhere.   The flip side of the coin is that the Nokia is remarkably stable under constant load. Whether it was the CPU stress test or the 3DMark Wildlife stress test, the X30’s performance was virtually unaffected.

Camera

The camera phone in Nokia’s current collection, the X30, is not affected by the number of imaging modules it contains. It has only two cameras at the back with a selfie camera attached. The X30’s main camera is based on Samsung’s GN5 sensor, a 1/1.56-inch unit with a nominal resolution of 50 megapixels, 1.0 µm pixels and a quad-pixel filter. It’s the same camera setup as the Galaxy S22, but paired with a different lens here – the specs show an f/1.9 aperture and the EXIF ​​data gives us a 24mm equivalent focal length (on the Galaxy it’s f/1.8 and 23mm). As different as it is, the lens is still firmly attached, as the camera tube advertises. The ultra-wide camera uses the OmniVision OV13B1 sensor – a conventional design (non-tetra pixel/Quad Bayer) with a 1/3.06″ optical format and 13 million 1.12 µm pixels. Its front lens covers a 123-degree field of view and has an f/2.4 aperture. Its focus is unfortunately fixed. Here – no telephoto, no depth sensor, not even a macro camera. OmniVision also takes care of selfies thanks to the OV16A1 sensor – a 4-element design (OV designation for Quad Bayer), 1/3.06″ optical format, with a nominal resolution of 16 megapixels and a pixel pitch of 1.0 µm. The camera app is one of the few custom apps on the Android One Nokia X30. It’s been slightly redesigned from the G21, but there’s no difference between it and the other camera apps – as you’d expect. It’s as usual – by sliding the viewfinder through the side modes one at a time, you can switch between multiple types by sliding the actual mode dial. The Add box on the left contains additional spaces and an Edit button that lets you rearrange things. By swiping down the viewfinder, you’ll see quick settings, not global, and from there you can enter the full settings menu. It has a Pro mode that you can access from the More tab or in normal photo mode by simply sliding up the shutter button. It lets you adjust exposure, focus, and white balance, but it’s only available for the main camera and doesn’t have niceties like focus height, histogram, or zebras.

Battery and Charging

The Nokia X30 is powered by a 4200 mAh battery, and the capacity of 2022 is modest – for example, the Galaxy A53 uses a 5000 mAh power supply, the Nothing phone (1) and the vivo X80 Lite have 4500 mAh. even  Pixel 6a’s cell capacity is 4410mAh. However, this figure is not too unreasonable, considering the not-so-demanding chipset and the smaller than most 6.43-inch screens. As a caveat, the X30’s battery life proved to be consistent, with standby times below average for the hardware and class, ultimately lowering the overall score. Besides, we have no reason to complain. With almost 21 hours of offline gaming (at 60Hz), the Nokia is as good as any other phone in its class – half an hour to a full hour better if you demand accuracy. The Wi-Fi browsing result of 14:13h (running at 60Hz as Nokia put it) is shorter than the Pixel and the phone (1), but better than what the A53 managed. The average duration of a voice call was 27:23, respectively. The Nokia X30’s overall durability rating then comes in at 94 hours – the same as the Pixel 6a, but lagging behind other potential competitors.

The Nokia X30 doesn’t come with a charger in the retail box, but the phone can draw up to 33W via USB Power Delivery 3.0. We tested it with a 65W adapter we had on hand, and our meter peaked at 26W – pretty close. The download speed is quite respectable on the X30 as well. The 30-minute charging period started with a steady charge showing 69% on the status bar, while the 100% mark reached 1:03 hours after plugging it in.

Price

The Nokia X30 5G was launched in India on February 14, 2023, and starts at ₹ 36,999 for the 8GB RAM and 256GB storage variant. It comes in two colours: Cloud Blue and Ice White. The  Nokia X30 5G is priced competitively compared to other mid-range 5G smartphones on the market. For example, the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G costs ₹ 34,499 for the 6GB RAM 128GB storage variant and the OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G costs ₹ 24,999 for the 6GB RAM 128GB storage variant.