Nokia T21 Tablet Specifications
It's a tough time to break into the tablet market, but the Nokia T21 has a chance to make an impact. With a sustainable design, good screen, long battery life, high speakers that work well as a sofa owner, and for business buyers, it offers second screen connectivity and SIM slot. There's a heavy caveat, the T21 is slow to charge and general use, but if you can get around this and you're in the market for a budget tablet, it should be one to consider.
Key features
Optional cellular connectivity With the optional SIM card tray, you can work and play wherever you want without a nearby Wi-Fi network.
High-resolution display The 2K screen is impressive, especially at the price of the Nokia T21.
Stock Android 12Nokia is known for delivering an experience that is as close to the Android stock as possible, and this is absolutely true with the Nokia T21.
Introduction
The tablet game suddenly became interesting again. For years, things have been the same, with Apple dominating high-end companies and Amazon at the lower end with its own offerings. However, over the past year the market has taken off with new types and categories of listings, from massive e-readers to super-premium devices and much more.
Among these, Nokia's T21 is a particularly interesting example. For IT buyers, it wants to be an enterprise-ready mobile workstation, and for the average Joe, it wants to be a ready-made entertainment solution – not an easy task either way. It also faces a host of competition, notably from Lenovo which has a pool of similar performers at the same entry point worth £200.
In an effort to scale to meet the needs of two completely different types of consumers, there are all kinds of potential risks, does the Nokia T21 have what it takes to make a hole in the market?
Design & Display
2K IPS LCD display
The back is covered with metal
Contains a 3.5mm headphone jack
The "tablet" as we know it is not a category suitable for bold or original designs. What the audience expects is a glass rectangle, and that's mostly what the audience gets. With the T21, Nokia faces another hurdle, which is to produce a device that is also suitable for the workplace - so light pink or any other fantasy flights are prohibited.
According to these criteria, T21 can be judged as successful. It is indeed a glass rectangle, but comfortable to hold and with a weight of 466 g, it is light enough to do it with one hand. The back is painted in solid metal and has a touch of taste with a two-tone design. The fact that both of these two solid gray tones are without consequences - it may not be a particularly interesting device to look at, but at the same price point, nothing so. A 60% recycled is also a great bonus.
He, of course, is not without error, with the initial problem being that he feels a little empty and weak. Especially since only "toughened glass" is used to protect the screen instead of regular Gorilla glass, this is a tablet that will benefit from a screen protector and case.
Fortunately, it also has a 3.5mm headphone jack and has an interesting feature in the possibility of the second screen. Work over WiFi and with some lag, this allows the device to become a useful utility for working on the go and useful for the likes of Powerpoint presentations.
For business buyers, the SIM slot option will make this an invaluable travel companion, while Active Stylus support will make the T21 an attractive potential option for budding artists.
The screen itself is fully functional if not great. The 2000 × 1200 resolution is enough to keep most content sharp, meaning it can work well as an e-book reader and miniature TV.
The out-of-the-box colors look a bit great, but this can be changed in the settings, and we found that the brightness was enough for most interior settings. Adventure outside was possible, but clarity in bright sunlight was a problem.
Fortunately, T21 has Widevine L1 support, which means it can stream the likes of Netflix in HD. There is no mention of HDR or any other marketing terms, but as for the price, this is a screen that pleases most of the time. The stereo speakers are loud enough to make most of the content stand out too.
Missing is the high refresh rate of any description. Although this may be far from standard at the price point for tablets, jumping to 90Hz will greatly help improve the device's "fluidity", making it feel a little faster and more amazing in everyday use.
Camera
8MP rear camera with autofocus and flash
Front camera 8 MP fixed focus
Lacks many smartphone camera functions
People on the planet who use tablets as primary imaging devices are certainly a minority, yet they are persistent.
No budget tablet is available today that puts image performance in the front and center, and the Nokia T21 continues in this direction without any deviation.
On the back, there is an 8-megapixel sensor with autofocus and flash, while on the front, there is an 8-megapixel stationary selfie tool that pulls the main task.
The images from the rear sensor are good, with the understanding that this is a camera used to scan documents and nothing more. Within this context, it works well enough, for anything else, suffice it to say that you should use your smartphone.
In the introduction, things are almost the same. In good lighting, there is sufficient detail, suitable colors, and sufficient dynamic range, provided that the use case is an impromptu zoom call. This camera is basically for video calls, nothing more. Low light conditions, as expected, pose a particular challenge.
Overall, against the main theoretical use cases, the Nokia T21 is successful. It won't replace the camera now or never, but for scanning documents and calling Zoom, it fits the bill.
performance
Runs Unisoc T162
Comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of eMMc storage by default
Mostly running on Android
The Nokia T21, for the tablet and especially for the price, has a lot to distinguish it from others. It is lacking in a few key areas, and among those overall performance is the biggest concern.
The Unisoc T612 powers the device, along with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of eMMC storage, the latter can increase in different configurations, but the RAM remains constant.
Qualcomm controls the smartphone chipset game, with MediaTek and a few others playing a distant second. Unisoc is relatively unknown, and while Nokia devices have used its chipset before, here we see why it does not rise in ranking.
The Nokia T21 is a slow tablet, not in a clear and dramatic way, but a device that gradually accumulates over time. When you open the application, it skips a rhythm, when loading a web page the same thing happens. Rinse and repeat a few dozen times a day, starting to grate the skin.
This sentiment was demonstrated by the results of Geekbench 5, where the T21 runs 321 in the single-core class and 1410 in the multi-core class. In very general terms, this puts it in the same category as the Snapdragon 660 sports hardware, a chip first announced in 2018. And this is hardly inspiring.
In the context of intended use cases, such as Netflix sofa browsing and light office work, T21 performance can be considered adequate. Outside of this strict definition, the picture is much less rosy.
On most tasks, such as scrolling through the interface, email, web browsing, and the like, there is no problem to be found - although this is the minimum that can be expected nowadays. Anything is more taxable than that and things are going down fast.
Required applications and some heavy web pages take a long time to load. Games like PUBG are charged at low settings, although they still don't offer the best experience. If you're in the small subgroup that wants a gaming tablet, the iPad might be a better value proposition.
The fact that the tablet is too slow out of the box does not bode well for future use, but with two years of promised software updates, there is hope that the image may improve over time.
As with other Nokia-branded devices, the T21 runs on an abstract version of the Android operating system that is mostly devoid of any features or trifles. In the case of the T21, this is very good, which makes the performance light. It also helps in that the changes Google has made to the Android tablet experience have been largely for the better over the past few years.
Battery life
8200mAh battery
Provides 18W fast charging via PD 3.0
Charges via USB-C
With a weaker processor usually comes a useful trade-off: longer battery life. This is a result of two factors, the first is that slower processors tend to sip energy in general use. The second is that with less processing power available, the user is less likely to engage in energy-hungry activities, i.e. fewer games and more video watching.
With these two factors in mind, the Nokia T21 attracts a powerful offer of the large 8200mAh power package, with a great condition that it will not be used for heavy gaming. Music via Bluetooth, almost eight hours of screen time over three days proved to be the norm. For most people, this tablet will be able to reach the end of the second day with moderate use. With an active SIM slot, this number will of course decrease.
Fast charging is available when the time comes, although no charger is provided in the box. At 18 watts, it is not the fastest, and in practice it proves to be slower than expected, moving from 0-100% in two hours. A charging schedule will be necessary if you intend to use the Nokia T21 while traveling.