Nokia XR21 5G Rugged Smartphone, Dual SIM

This started out as a great phone. It came with Android 12 installed, and lived up to it’s billing, it was a very durable reliable phone. No hardware issues despite rough use daily. Then I installed the RECOMMENDED UPDATE to Android 14. Result? A virtually BRICKED PHONE. It no longer will make or receive calls, just mobile data and WiFi. Hours of troubleshooting, device wipe and resets, and SIM card replacement has led us to determine the operating system update being the cause of failure. Not sure if the new outfit (HMD) will offer any help but this is ridiculous. A one year old phone, now useless because of THEIR recommended software update. My strong recommendation is to avoid this phone until HMD proves a new OS update is reliable. I will revise my rating if they correct it, but for now I have gone from a big fan to a very disappointed customer. Sad for Nokia, so much promise with this phone to become a paperweight.

I recently purchased a Nokia XR21 because i am a clumsy individual and i drop my phone often. I have always loved Nokia`s i purchased a Nokia phone in its glory days (pre Apple Era), Its bad days (Microsoft Lumai days) and now (HMD Global days) as long as Nokia phones will be made i will be front of the line to but a Nokia Phone.

What i love about the Phone:

– Its Rugged it feels like it has a cover on but it does not.
– The phone is responsive with a SnapDragon 695 it may not be the latest and greatest proccessor but can handle alot of games that struggled on my Nokia G50 which only had a SnapDragon 495.
– The Picture Quality is awesome with a rear 64 Megapixel A1 Camera and a 16 Megapixel front camera, my potriat/selfies had a proffesional look to them (Please make sure to select potrait mode to use the AI to help capture professional looking pictures
– It works with T-Mobile granted i have not tested the other networks you can head over to gsmarena.com and search for this phone it will tell you the network bands for 3g, 4g and 5g and to the person who said this phone had no VOLTE let me correct you there it does support VOLTE.

The only thing i do not like about this phone:

The battery life is bad but if you using this phone for calling, texting and web surfing the battery can last but i guess if you play any mobile games like with most phone the battery will not last especially playing games like Pokemon Go will really drain the phones battery . But that is the only draw back for me i love this phone

The Nokia/HMD XR21 is a solid choice for those looking for a rugged phone that doesn’t feel or look like a monstrosity. It has a design that’s easy on the eyes and that to the naked eye just looks like a phone on a case.

The water ingress and robustness of the phone will make it last. I tested the water resistance capabilities by using it in the rain, and regularly washing the phone with water and dishsoap after using it while eating. No functionality was affected, whether it was the charging port, the stereo speakers, or the 3.5 mm headphone jack – which is always a welcome feature in this day and age as it allows me to use my Nokia buds, which came with my previous phone, a Nokia 8.3 5G. Some water would remain in crevices but nothing a little blow dry wouldn’t fix.

The speed of the phone is adequate for daily use and even a resource intensive launcher such as a Windows Phone launcher without slowing down. The variable refresh rate screen also assisted in perpetuating the illusion of power, although the Snapdragon 695 lifted off the international Nokia X30 is no slouch either. It will play games such as Real Racing 3 and NFS Most Wanted 2012 no problems, although as per testing throw at it anything more recent such as Genshin Impact for the kicks and it may chug.

The camera may not be the best in class but turn on the Nokia/HMD exclusive pro mode by sliding up on the shutter button and get transported to the Nokia Lumia era thanks to the camera interface, which is easy to use and allows you adjust all important parameters of the photo such as white balance, manual focus if such is your persuasion, ISO, and Shutter speed to get away with some aesthetically pleasing pictures. Unlike many phones these days, the camera does not rely heavily on post-processing and AI trickery to achieve the picture. Just like the Nokia Lumias of yore, it’s all about raw power and using its two sensors to its advantage. And speaking of RAW imaging, the digital negatives this phone provides unironically will beat a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. It may not be a Nokia Lumia 1020, but this could very well be a phone you could theoretically use alongside your actual camera.

The battery will last the whole day without needing a charge even with heavy screen usage. But two days? Maybe by turning on battery saver as soon as you unplug it and barely touching it. The screen’s refresh rate is by default set to 60hz to save battery, but just turn the adaptive mode because it doesn’t make much difference when you know for certain you will be charging the phone later on in the day. Know this however, Nokias have a tendency to hang around in the bottom end of the battery pack for ages, and the XR21 is no exception, 15% and below seems eternal.

The phone supports 5G mmWave in major US telcos such as T-mobile. AT&T and Verizon are untested, but the phone is guaranteed to at least support those telcos 4G bands.

The phone is guaranteed monthly Android security updates, two guaranteed Android upgrades, and three years of security updates afrer that. Out of the box it will come with Android 13, but the Android 14 update has already rolled out and as soon as I booted it, it wanted to update to it. Next and last Android update will be Android 15. From there it’ll be security patches until 2027 (Bear in mind this phone released in early 2023).

Downsides of the phone are a lack of wireless charging (Available on its predecessor the Nokia XR20), absence of microSD expansion coupled with the meager onboard storage… And the price. This phone should not be retailing for 499 USD a year after release. For that price you can get HMD/Nokia’s latest premium midrange, the HMD Skyline… which is what I did.

Great phone. But paying the premium for the Nokia logo is not worth it, you can get this phone with a 50 dollar discount if you look for one with the HMD logo instead. If you absolutely must spend 499 USD, and are willing to live without a headphone jack and water and impact resistance, the Skyline is arguably a better phone within HMD/Nokia’s own offerings. And don’t even get me started looking at other brands.