Nokia T20 Review: Best Budget Tablet?

HMD Global, primarily known for its Nokia-branded smartphones and feature phones, has been venturing into different categories lately. The company recently launched true wireless headphones in India, and is now foraying into the tablet category. HMD Global, which holds the license for the Nokia brand, has brought its T20 tablet to India to take on players including Samsung, Lenovo, Realme, and Motorola in the budget segment. We’ve recently seen a lot of activity in the Android tablet space, giving buyers a lot of new options to choose from. The Nokia T20 tablet promises two years of Android updates and three years of security updates to distinguish itself from the competition. So is the Nokia T20 worth considering? I put it to the test to find out.

Nokia T20 tablet price in India

The Nokia T20 is available in Wi-Fi-only and 4G + Wi-Fi variants in India. There are two Wi-Fi only options, one with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, and the other with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. These are priced at Rs. 15,499 and Rs. 16,499 respectively in India. The 4G-enabled variant is only available with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage and is priced at Rs. 18,499. The Nokia T20 is only available in a Deep Ocean colour.

Nokia T20 design

The Nokia T20 has a big 10.4-inch display with sizable bezels all around. This makes it convenient to hold the tablet without touching the screen accidentally. The Nokia T20 has a metallic body and it feels sturdy to the touch. The weight is manageable at 465g.

The Nokia T20 runs Android 11 out of the box

When holding the T20 tablet in landscape mode, the selfie camera is above the screen and is camouflaged quite well. The top has the volume buttons, two microphones, and a slot for a Nano SIM (on the 4G model only) and a microSD card for storage expansion. On the left is the power button, while the right has a USB Type-C port and 3.5mm headphone jack. The Nokia T20 has two speakers with one on either side.

At the back, The Nokia T20 tablet has a single camera, and the module is very slightly raised. The back panel is bare with only a Nokia logo in the centre and antenna lines running along the top. This tablet is IP52 rated for dust and water resistance.

Nokia T20 specifications and software

The 10.4-inch display on the Nokia T20 has 2K resolution (1200×2000 pixels). HMD Global claims that the Nokia T20 has toughened glass to protect this display. Powering the tablet is a Unisoc T610 SoC with two ARM Cortex-A75 cores and six Cortex-A55 cores, all clocked at up to 1.8Ghz. The T20 has two main configurations: 3GB RAM with 32GB of storage and 4GB of RAM with 64GB of storage. The base model is Wi-Fi-only while the latter can also be had with 4G LTE connectivity.

There is support for Bluetooth 5 and dual-band Wi-Fi. The 4G-enabled variant gets support for GPS as well. HMD Global has managed to pack in an 8,200mAh battery. This tablet is capable of 15W fast charging, but you only get a 10W charger in the box.

The Nokia T20 has an aluminium body

Just like Nokia smartphones, this tablet too runs stock Android 11 with no customisations. It is also promised to get two years of software updates and three years of security updates. My unit was running the August Android security patch which was slightly dated at the time of review. The Nokia T20 comes with Google apps, Kids’ Space, Spotify, and Netflix preinstalled. A right swipe from the homescreen brings up Entertainment Space, which lists a number of shows and movies that you can watch through supported providers. It also lists installed games and showcases popular titles that you can download from Google Play.

Nokia T20 performance and battery life

The Nokia T20’s 10.4 inch display has good viewing angles and it was bright enough indoors. The colour temperature is on the cool side but I was able to tweak this in the display settings. The dual speakers are just about loud enough to make watching videos engaging on the Nokia T20. I also found face recognition to be far more consistent than on the Lenovo Yoga Tab 11 (Review), which I recently reviewed. However, it might still take a second or two to unlock this tablet.

While using the Nokia T20, I found the Unisoc T610 SoC to be capable of handling casual usage and gaming without any issues. My review unit had 4GB of RAM and it could multitask between multiple apps without needing to close them.

The Nokia T20 managed to score 161,604 in AnTuTu, and 7,575 in PCMark Work 3.0. It also scored 346 and 869 in Geekbench 5’s single-core and multi-core tests. In graphics benchmark GFXBench, it managed to score 29fps and 6fps in the T-Rex and Car Chase tests respectively.

The Nokia T20 has a single 8-megapixel camera at the back

Battlegrounds Mobile India defaulted to the HD graphics and High frame rate settings, and was playable without any issues. After gaming for 30 minutes I noticed a six percent battery drain which is acceptable. The tablet was barely warm to the touch after gaming.

The Nokia T20 has an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera for video calls and selfies. It has photo, video, and portrait modes to shoot in, and also has filters and beautification options. Camera performance was strictly average.

HMD Global has packed in a big 8,200mAh battery, and so this tablet offers good battery life. With my casual usage, which consisted of playing Clash Royale, watching a few videos, and browsing the Web every day spread across 2-3 hours, the T20 managed to run for 3-4 days without any issues. Charging however was painfully slow with the supplied 10W charger. It took around five hours to charge the tablet completely. If you intend to buy this tablet, I would recommend also picking up a 15W charger to cut down on charging time a little.

Verdict

The Nokia T20 is HMD Global’s first tablet to launch in India, and is positioned in the budget segment where it goes up against the Realme Pad (Review). The Nokia T20 really stands out with its aluminum body and stock Android software experience. It also promises two years of software updates and three years of security updates which gives it a slight edge. During the review period, I found that the big 8,200mAh battery offered very good battery life but charging was slow. Performance is adequate for casual usage but if you are looking at gaming, the Nokia T20 might not be ideal. If you want better performance without spending too much more, the Realme Pad could be a worthy alternative.