Nokia XR20 (2021)

Don't expect 3310 level reliability – This review is aimed to be a testament to Nokia smartphones in general. Smartphones have an average lifespan of approximately 24 months now, so when Nokia rebooted with their Android offerings, including their flagship XR series, I went for it instantly. The phone was marketed to be tough, and boasts that the casing meets MIL-STD-810H "military… Read more

standard", and they were so confident about their devices that they offered 3 years warranty. So I thought "Great - I had a 3310 like every kid back in the day. I know this phone can finally stand the test of time and not die out before its processor, RAM and storage fails to keep up with modern software" right? Wrong.

Because housed within this incredible MIL-STD-810H casing are other failure points that just instantly puts you back to square one along with all other phones (that I've used so far). For references, I bought the phone on 09 Jan 2022 (just shy of 24 months at the time of writing).

Firstly, the Fingerprint sensor. This died in May 2023. It stopped working. Their diagnostics tools failed to even detect there was such a thing as a fingerprint sensor. Quite inconvenient, but not a showstopper.

Secondly, for about a few months (so roughly October 2023), the USB-C connector started to dramatically degrade. Now it can no longer secure a cable properly and charge. It has lost its tactile "snap" when plugged in and you have to wiggle the connector around to find the sweet spot where it can establish that electrical connection to begin charging. And because that sweet spot is so hard to find, you basically need to put the phone in a stationary position before you put in the cable, and once it starts charging, it would be in your best interest to not even touch it until it's charged. Now, I don't connect this phone to anything other than a charger, and I charge on average 1.2 times a day (to Nokia's credit, the battery appears to be quite strong even after 24 months). So that works out to be under 1,000 connects and disconnects worst case for it to fail. That's quite poor quality hardware.

Thirdly, and this might not be Nokia's issue per se, but I'm the only Nokia user in the family and my phone is the only problem - RSL club sign-ins. After some software update, the Service NSW app no longer works to register the QR code when signing into venues. This happened after the whole COVID check-in thing so I'm not sure if the same thing would have happened (but the RSL sign-in is still a current practice, and judging by the reactions of all the staff from all the different RSL clubs I've been to, no other phone has ever had this issue, because they are absolutely CONVINCED that it CAN'T not work).

Lastly is the maintainability aspect. They claim to offer 3 years warranty, but what does that really involve? It involves dealing with only ONE authorised repair centre (Roadhound, all the way in Cardiff, NSW). It involves a lead time of a few business days to them receiving your phone, plus another day of assessment, where they will hammer your phone with every possible excuse to not honour that warranty (excuse my pessimism, that's just the way things are, more on this later*), and by their company policy (admirable, but very inconvenient), they flush out ALL your data completely even though the issue themselves are not related to memory or storage) before performing the necessary repairs and sending it back. All in all, 2-3 weeks of getting your phone back, plus another few weeks all up to account for all the tinkering to backup, restore, and finally rebuild all your apps and settings back to the way things were. They recommend having a "backup phone".

To me, these days, money is less of an issue as much as a seamless convenience. So even if they did repair the phone free of charge, the thought of spending weeks to rebuild the entire phone (installing all the apps, signing in to all the apps, restoring all files and settings, and there will always be a few things that cannot be replicated) back to the look at feel of what it was initially is the same hassle as buying a completely brand new phone and rebuilding that (plus add to the risk you're spending all this effort on a phone that's already 24 months closer to obsolescence than a new one). So yes, while they do "offer" an impressive 3-year warranty. But I'm here to tell you that, no, this is just another phone that will only last approximately 24 months, just like EVERY OTHER phone.

*So with the warranty, I spoke to a rep from Roadhound, and the first thing they mentioned was that a device will be disqualified for warranty if there are signs of it being dropped or water damaged. This directly contradicts with Nokia's website, where it claims "you can drop it" and "get it wet". It even markets that you can "just clean it with soap and water". So it's a pretty bad look if even their authorised repair centre will try to sniff (sorry, fitting verb for them) that out from the very start and claim any signs of water presence as "water damage" (as I'm sure they will). I'll post a screenshot of Nokia's website in case they try to pull it out and deny the claim.

Ultimately, I decided not to bother with the warranty process, given all that's involved. For now, I will just use a wireless charger, unlock my phone with the traditional Android pattern, and fallback to using my plastic driver's license to sign into RSLs. All the while, I will search for my next phone that hopefully lasts a bit longer, and more chance than not, it will not be a Nokia.