Nokia XR21 review – Robust smartphone for everyday tasks with IP69K certification

The Nokia XR21 from HMD Global is the direct successor to the Nokia XR20 . The manufacturer keeps the same design concept, aiming to offer a particularly robust and long-lasting smartphone to the customers, without getting as bulky as classic rugged smartphones. This already worked really well last year, and HMD has improved the XR21 in many areas, particularly its robustness.

The battery capacity has increased, the refresh rate is higher, there is a new camera, and a more current SoC is also included. To make up for this, the MSRP has increased by 20 Euros (~$22) to 599 Euros (~$656), and the more affordable entry-level model with reduced storage is not available anymore. The Nokia XR21 is available in the colors Midnight Black and Pine Green.

At a thickness of 10. 45 mm (~0. 41 in), it definitely is not a slim smartphone, but it is still slimmer than a classic rugged phone such as the CAT S75 and especially also noticeably lighter.

However, the design still looks a bit aged, with the rather mediocre display-to-surface ratio of 77% also contributing to this impression. The rubberized smartphone corners aren’t very visible, but you can still feel them. HMD Global calls them dampening TPU shocks.

The back is made of shock resistant polycarbonate, and the front is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. The Nokia XR21 leaves a high-quality and particularly robust impression, presenting itself with clean workmanship. The smartphone is not only dust and waterproof according to IP68 but also offers an IP69K certification, allowing it to withstand a water stream with a pressure of 100 bars.

Drops from a height of 1. 8 meters (~5. 9 ft) won’t create any problems for the XR21.

According to the MIL-STD-810H standard, it is certified against drops from a height of 1. 5 meters (~4. 9 ft) and can be used in temperatures between -20 and +55 °C (-4 to 131 °F).

It can also be operated with wet hands or gloves. The case of the Nokia XR21 is made of 100% recycled aluminum, and HMD Global also makes a short environment impact profile of the smartphone available. In contrast to the XR20 , the Nokia XR21 only offers a USB-2.

0 port without giving the option for storage expansion via microSD card. But at least, the audio port remains. Since connected headphones also serve as an antenna, the port is also necessary to operate the analog radio receiver.

In addition, Bluetooth 5. 1, NFC, and two quick access keys are also available. The Nokia XR21 is still delivered with Google Android 12, which is kept very purely.

But there are also several third-party apps preinstalled, which can all be uninstalled. HMD Global promises three large updates for the XR21 and monthly security patches for four years, starting from the global market introduction. While this initially sounds good, unfortunately the XR21 isn’t delivered directly with Android 13, although version 14 is already in the starting blocks and the predecessor has even received the update already last year.

In addition, the plan to distribute the security patches monthly is already not working, since at the time of this test, our test unit is still at the level of March 5, 2023. The Nokia XR21 supports all the current mobile communication standards including 5G-Sub6, offering an extensive amount of frequency bands, so that it should be able to create a connection without any trouble in most parts of the world. The communication characteristics are good in the city environment during our test.

Nominally, the XR21 supports Wi-Fi 6 just like last year’s model. However, in the test with our Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 reference router, the transfer speeds turn out surprisingly low, even though they remain stable. The speeds are at the level of a rather mediocre ac WLAN.

Although the speed was already not outstanding in the XR20 , it was still significantly higher. Probably HMD Global will still make some improvements in this regard. The Nokia XR21 is able to use all global satellite networks and can even create a connection indoors.

Even though the latter takes more time, it still finds a fairly accurate location within several seconds. As expected, this works much faster and is more accurate outdoors. We compare the smartphone with a Garmin Venu 2 on a short bike ride.

The difference in the recorded route is 60 meters (~197 ft) over an almost 10 km (~6,2 miles) total route, but XR21 reported a significantly higher amount of altitude traversed. The route recording is fairly accurate in the detail view, allowing us to attest the Nokia smartphone with good locating capabilities. The Nokia XR21 offers full dual-SIM support, either with two physical Nano-SIM cards or alternatively, you can also replace one of them with an eSIM.

Other functions such as VoLTE and WLAN calls are also supported. The voice quality is decent. In quiet surroundings, both conversation partners are easy to understand, sounding natural with a low amount of noise.

Minor noise interference is filtered out. In speaker mode, we hear some slight accompanying crackling noise, and the microphones record spoken words only quietly. The front camera of the Nokia XR21 has a 16-MP resolution, but since it uses pixel binning, the resulting pictures have a resolution of only 4.

1 MP. The pictures are fairly decent and able to impress with an attractive image composition. But the sharpness could have turned out a bit higher.

Videos are only recorded in Full HD at 30 FPS, and fast movements can also result in some visible streaking. The dual-camera system in the back uses a main sensor with a 64-MP resolution. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer optical image stabilization (OIS).

The images are characterized by a very natural color representation but in some places a bit dark. Although many details are lost in low light conditions, the resulting pictures are still decent with the objects still easily recognizable. You can only zoom digitally (8x max).

The quality is okay up to a 2x zoom level, but at higher levels the results are hardly usable. The ultrawide angle offers a lower resolution than that of the XR20 but still does a decent job. The depth sharpness is okay, but the images could also be slightly brighter here.

The Nokia XR21 also offers a Pro mode including RAW support. The full 64-MP resolution of the main sensor can also be used. Videos can be recorded in 1,080p (16:9) at 30 or 60 FPS at best.

The electronic image stabilization works fairly well, but unfortunately the autofocus refocuses from time to time. Using cinema mode, you can also record videos in 21:9 format at 24 FPS, with the user having the choice of recording at either 20 or 50 Mbps. Thanks to OZO audio, voices are recorded fairly clearly.

The box of the Nokia XR21 only includes a USB cable and a SIM tool. A corresponding charger is not included, but HMD Global optionally offers one for around 35 Euros (~$38). The XR21 has a 36-month warranty and a one-year warranty for replacing a defective display.

The capacitive touchscreen of the Nokia XR21 recognizes up to ten touch points simultaneously, implementing the commands quickly and accurately. The sliding characteristics of the glass surface are very good. The ERM vibration motor is powerful enough to be easily noticeable, but it has a rather spongy feedback.

The XR21 offers two quick access keys: one on top and another on the left side of the frame. Both can be configured individually and occupied with either system elements, apps, or an emergency function. The keys can distinguish a short or long press, allowing you to assign two functions to each of the keys.

A fingerprint sensor integrated into the power button is available for biometric security. While its speed is fairly decent, the recognition rates are rather average. Additionally or alternatively, you can also configure less secure face recognition using the front camera, which works very quickly and reliably.

The user’s face is still recognized in the dark, since the smartphone increases the brightness of the panel for this purpose. The LCD display of the Nokia XR21 has shrunk to 6. 49 inches and offers a high pixel density at Full HD+.

The refresh rate can be adjusted by the system, switching between 60 and 120 Hz automatically in this case. You can also set it directly to 60 Hz. Nominally, the panel supports the HDR standards HLG and HDR10, but this might be rather questionable due to the low brightness.

HMD Global specifies the brightness in sunlight at up to 550 Nits. We reach a maximum of 503 cd/m 2 in our measurements with the brightness sensor remaining deactivated. When we activate it, we are only able to get a maximum of 495 cd/m 2 from the smartphone.

At 0. 45 cd/m 2 , the black value is decent, resulting in a high contrast ratio of 1,118:1. The advantage of an LCD is that pulse width modulation (PWM) isn’t used to control the brightness.

Using our oscilloscope, we only see a high-frequency flickering, but this shouldn’t create any problems for even very sensitive users. The color reproduction of the display cannot be adjusted by the user, so we were very surprised that the white balance is at a very good level. Even though the color calibration isn’t quite as exact and successful, it is still at a good level.

The brightness sensor responds a bit sluggishly to changing light conditions, but this can be tolerated. Unfortunately, the maximum brightness isn’t particularly high, so that you can hardly see anything on the display in bright sunlight. In terms of the colors, the viewing angle stability of the LCD is very good.

Even from very steep viewing angles, there are hardly any color inversions, but the brightness drops sharply. In the dark, there are neither any noticeable ghosting effects nor halos. The Adreno 619 is already an old hat, and unfortunately this is also noticeable in the benchmarks, with the Nokia XR21 placing more at the lower end of the comparison field in the GPU benchmarks.

Surfing the web works without any problems with the Nokia XR21, but more complex websites tend to take a bit more time, which is also reflected in the benchmarks. The Nokia XR21 offers 128 GB of UFS 2. 2 storage, which turns out slower than we might expect from the specifications.

However, this can be traced back to the SoC, since we have been observing the same behavior in all the smartphones with the SD695 . Although the integrated Adreno-619-GPU is already somewhat aged, it continues to be completely sufficient for most casual games. However, things can look very different with graphicly demanding games, two of which we analyzed in more detail with GameBench .

In PUBG Mobile, you can select the HD setting at best and that is then also limited to 30 FPS. But at least those remain stable. In Genshin Impact, you should forego the highest detail level, since there continue to be some clear stutters with that setting.

On the other hand, if you use the medium detail settings, you can already play fairly comfortably, even if the frame rates are reduced. While the surface temperatures of the Nokia XR21 give absolutely no reason for concern during idle operation, they increase under constant load. We simulated this using the Burnout benchmark, reaching higher than the 50 ºC mark (122 ºF).

However, since such a high load will only very rarely occur in everyday operation, we don’t consider this critical. The SoC is not impacted by all the stress tests, always delivering a stabile performance. The two speakers of the Nokia XR21 can get very loud, although their sound is only average.

Particularly at full volume, they sound very tinny and make clanging noises. But if you don’t turn up the volume too high, you will still get an acceptable quality. The sound output via the 3.

5 mm audio port (SNR: 70. 21 dBFS), which is able to deliver a decent signal-to-noise ratio, is better. For a wireless connection, you can use Bluetooth 5.

1, which supports a wide range of audio codecs (SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX TWS+, and LDAC). The power consumption of the Nokia XR21 is not too high overall. However, it could have been lower at the maximum brightness level, even though it isn’t very bright.

The battery has a capacity of 4,800 mAh and can be charged at up to 33 watts. To do that, the charger has to either support QC 3. 0 or PD 2.

0. Using a fast charger that fulfilled this requirement, the smartphone is fully recharged after 136 minutes. The 25% mark is reached after 17 minutes, the 50% mark after 67 minutes, 80% after 96 minutes, and 90% after 103 minutes.

In terms of the battery life, just because of its large battery, the Nokia XR21 is able to leave many competitors in the comparison field behind. While it also delivers good run times during our test, the battery life of up to two days advertised by HMD Global can probably only be reached in practice, if the smartphone is used moderately. The Nokia XR21 doesn’t really want to be seen as a real rugged smartphone but more as a robust companion for everyday tasks.

With its IP69K certification, shock proof construction, and wide range of operating temperatures, the smartphone from HMD Global can easily fulfill this aspiration. In addition, the manufacturer also includes two quick access keys for a total of four different actions on button press. The powerful 4,800-mAh battery also delivers a really good battery life.

The Nokia XR21 is a tough everyday companion with a potentially long life. With the competitors, you will also look in vain for a similar expanded warranty of 36 months with an additional warranty on the display. The nominally long update periods is slightly marred by the fact that the XR21 is still delivered with Android 12, even though the XR20 predecessor has already received Android 13.

The WLAN speed also turns out slightly slower than expected. On the other hand, you get full dual-SIM including eSIM support. Only the display could have been brighter.

With an even more modular design, the Gigaset GX6 presents itself as an alternative, and the Galaxy XCover 6 Pro is probably also an interesting choice. The Nokia XR21 can be purchased directly from the manufacturer’s online store for ~$500 . .