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I’ll admit it. I was ready to use HMD Global’s latest Nokia phone before I even got it out of the box. It costs $ 550, but it uses a processor you’ll find in phones as cheap as $ 240. And unlike the similarly priced Google Pixel 5A or Samsung Galaxy A52 5G, you don’t get an OLED display for those wonderfully inky blacks. Which give?
It turns out that focusing on these individual flaws takes away what is in fact a great Android smartphone. HMD has packed other perks like a headphone jack, expandable storage, customizable buttons, and wireless charging at a respectable price. It also conveys this classic Nokia ‘brick’ philosophy: it looks like a smartphone, but this thing is tough. If you tend to drop your phone, but hate using cases that add bulk, look no further.
Hard love
The XR20 is a robust phone, but it doesn’t look like most rugged phones. Do not mistake yourself ; the XR20 is still heavy, thick and fat. I wouldn’t say it’s pretty. But it’s much slimmer than the usual rugged designs, which are often thick and unnecessarily ugly.
It has a grippy polymer composite back welded to an aluminum core. (The edges are also aluminum.) It feels hard. The front display is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus, the strongest glass you’ll find on all Android phone, and it is IP68 water and dust resistant, so it will survive submersion up to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes.
On paper, that’s impressive protection for the money. But just because the XR20 uses Gorilla Glass Victus doesn’t mean that this screen won’t shatter. More expensive flagship phones also use the same material and crack if dropped. Thankfully, the lack of glass on the back of the phone means there’s one less area you need to worry about.
It’s not too often that a manufacturer announces the abandonment of a phone. But on the XR20’s product page, HMD says you can “drop it, get it wet, and even record your kid’s soccer game in bad weather.” So I let it go. Three times, to be exact, on a sidewalk, about 6 feet high. The screen … drum roll … Did not crack. There are a few minor scuffs on the polymer case, but the screen is immaculate. Obviously, that doesn’t guarantee that it will withstand your first drop, but the results are promising.
Other rare features include a place to attach a lanyard to the bottom of the phone, in case you want to hang the XR20 on your wrist or neck, and a dual SIM holder (it’s a hybrid SIM tray, so the slot MicroSD also serves as a secondary SIM slot). In addition to the power and volume buttons, there are two more on the left and top edges. The first activates Google Assistant, but the second is configurable.
I configured it to turn on the flashlight with one press and to launch an app with a long press. I’ve noticed that I use the flashlight more at night now that it’s much faster to access, and I regularly use the Google Assistant button to turn on my living room air conditioner before I get home.
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