Nokia T20 Tablet review – Style and Build on a Budget

Nokia have long settled into their own niche in the smartphone industry; good-looking well-built devices that offer peace of mind while opting out of the specs arms race. Suitably, Nokia T20 tablet follows this philosophy to the letter. A frankly gorgeous, budget device that feels remarkably solid in its 10.4″ 5:3 screen format.

Belying its Budget

Nokia T20 tablet wears a signature style that ties it to its smartphone stablemates. The rounded sweeping corners that meet straight edges and the choice of colour marry the device to the range.

The ‘Deep Ocean’ colourway sits in the same icy and intriguing pool as the Nordic Blue worn on Nokia G21. The Ultra Blue of the fisherman’s friend Nokia XR20. Or the tease of oceanic blue seen on Nokia Clarity Earbuds.

The deep blue looks magnificent on the aluminium rear. The lightest of frosted texturing raises a bright blue bloom when confronted by highlights.

READ MORE: Nokia XR20 review – Rugged Mid-Range Rambler

The gentle texture feels nice in the hand, resists fingerprints and aids greatly in gripping the tablet. At 470 grams, it feels dense, solid and well-built.

That aluminium chassis gives Nokia T20 tablet superb rigidity and a feeling of robustness despite the slimline 7.8mm depth. This is not the visual or tactile experience you expect at €199. Even by Nokia standards, the aesthetic and build quality is excellent for this price.

Laid Out

The layout of Nokia T20 is simple but ergonomic. The stereo speakers are correctly oriented in landscape mode, the drivers are located well above the natural point on which you would the device. You won’t find your palms blocking the speakers.

Similarly the power button and volume rocker occupy the same corner, though 90 degrees apart. The pair reside away from natural holding points in both landscape and portrait. Away from the USB-C charging port and the front-facing lens.

The 3.5mm headphone socket is on the extreme lower edge when in landscape. Again, outside of the area where your hands will naturally reside.

To borrow a phrase; it just works.

Clear and Present

The stereo drivers are competent for most media consumption. TV, YouTube, gaming are all served by a clear sound that produces enough low end to avoid sounding tinny. Nokia T20 isn’t particularly loud but it produces enough din to be heard at tablet distance.

The IPS LCD 10.4″ display wears a 5:3 aspect ratio that works well as a compromise on dexterity, display size and media consumption. That display is also sharp with a resolution of 2,000 x 1,200 pixels on the go.

The display is otherwise about average in its price range. It’s just about bright enough for all applications at 400 nits (typ.), holds its colour to decent angles and has enough vibrancy to present wholly acceptable videos and still images.

Nokia T20 doesn’t support HDR, though its ‘just adequate’ colour rendition probably wouldn’t do the extra dynamic range any justice.

Built to Tab

The innards of Nokia T20 are not particularly impressive. The chipset is weak compared to phones of a similar price but their use cases are different and I didn’t really notice anything amiss when using the tablet for what it was designed to do.

For instance, I wrote this review on the tablet. With the touchscreen and all. It was exactly like writing on a tablet with a touchscreen. Media playback was perfectly fine; YouTube on the speakers, Spotify via Bluetooth while working on this review.

Opening large or demanding apps or switching between apps comes with a little lag. This is something you will notice more when coming from a more powerful phone or tablet.

The 4GB of RAM in our review model is about enough to handle most of what Nokia T20 will the used for.

Gaming is the tablet’s weakest suit. While involved 3D games are playable, they generally run at low settings with still mediocre frame-rates. Lighter 3D and mostly 2D titles run well.

A Lot of Battery

Nokia T20 sports a massive 8,200 mAh battery. When combined with the IPS display and modest chipset, the stamina of the tablet is impressive.

Nokia promise all-day stamina and I managed to sail past nine hours of near-constant use at moderate intensity. A little less demand and I imagine it would do eleven or more.

However, if you are a tablet casual, the device will easily do few hours of work or play every day for a week.

The 10W charging system is poor considering the massive battery. Over three hours of charging is required to juice up from 0 to 100%. For those who tab on the go, being stuck to the train or bus charger will be a frequent occurrence without some foresight.

Ignorable Cameras

While the camera capabilities of tablets are rarely at the same level as smartphones, the front and rear lenses on Nokia T20 are sub-par. The main camera images look a little washed-out at the best of times. A little too much or too little light and it becomes uneven and unnatural. Low-light is noisy yet still dim.

Video capture on the main camera tops out at 1080p30 and is passable is the best of conditions but suffers from a dim image with noticeable noise and lack of detail.

The selfie-cam is just that little bit worse. It lacks detail, has unnatural and almost leached colours and is hard to get a sharp snap with any movement.

I must point out that the fixed focus is set to a workable distance and generally left me about as sharp as it could get most of the time. For video calls, this is a nice bonus but generally the decline in selfie video quality is noticeable on the other end.

Specifications

The robust, considerate and visually striking design of Nokia T20 tablet make the device competitive at the price. The solid feel and three years of Android security updates make this perfect for those who want something reliable on which to do the basics for a really long time between charges.

There are more powerful tablets out there for the money but as a media or light work tablet, T20’s grunt is more than adequate.

Nokia T20 tablet starts at €199 for a WiFi-only model with 3GB RAM and 32GB of on-board storage

Review model (4GB RAM, 64GB storage with LTE) at an an RRP of €229 and was provided by Nokia

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