Nokia G10 - Review 2021 - PCMag AU

If you absolutely cannot pay more than $150, the G10 will get you through the day, but if you can scrape together another $20, the 2021 edition of the Motorola Moto G Play ($169.99) is a far better budget-phone buy.

The Nokia G10 is available in blue or purple, and there's not much difference between the two; our test unit was purple, but we found that in many lights it looked blue.

A prominent Nokia logo is etched in the center of the back panel. .

Bezels are minimal, save for the bottom edge, where you’ll find a small Nokia logo.

As with all the Nokia phones we’ve reviewed, the displayed colors skew cool, and the screen is not bright enough to use in direct sunlight. .

A representative for Nokia told us the phone is splash resistant and has a strengthened-glass display.

The Nokia G10 works on AT&T and T-Mobile's 4G (LTE) networks, but not Verizon's.

Although 3GB of RAM is the absolute minimum we’d recommend in 2021, a lack of RAM can't take all the blame for these issues; the Moto G Play performs much better with the same storage and RAM configuration. .

See How We Test PhonesSee How We Test Phones.

The Moto G Play scored a much more impressive 255 (SC) and 1,269 (MC) on the same benchmark. .

Nokia claims it will get you through three days between charges; if you don't use your phone much, that may be true.

Test photos were flat and muddy with extreme blooming.

Our test photos were flat, with significant fringing and blurring. .

It’s rare and refreshing experience to use a budget phone without constant notifications popping up. 

The G10 is one of the few Android One phones sold in the US

But the budget phone market has changed a lot over the past 12 months, and the G10 can’t keep pace with its competition

The Moto G Play comes in at just $20 more than the G10 and far surpasses it, with superior build quality, longer battery life, and a more robust mobile chipset.