While the best Android phones are packed with cool technology, they also carry a price tag to match. It's not uncommon to spend the best part of £1,000 on a premium device these days. And while that may be fine, there are also times when having a more affordable handset is beneficial.
Perhaps you want to take a less costly device with you to a music festival. Or maybe you want to buy a device for a child. Whatever your reason for buying a cheap phone, the new Nokia G42 5G is deserving of your cash. The latest device in the Nokia lineup is their first to feature 5G on a repairable device, and is one of the lowest-priced 5G compatible devices on the market.
That repair-focused angle is a hot topic right now. Changes in EU legislation are forcing manufacturers to make it easier for users to repair their devices at home. We've seen Apple Self-Service come to the UK in recent years, as well as the Samsung Self-Repair program.
Nokia have been quietly offering the option for a while, partnering with iFixIt to offer replacement parts for five years after the launch of compatible devices. On the G42, users can swap out the screen, the back case, the charging port and the battery. Those have been identified as some of the most likely to fail, meaning easy fixes could dramatically extend the life of your handset.
It's easy to fix, too. The battery can be changed in as little as five minutes, meaning you won't need to block out lots of time to get your device up and running again.
So, what else do you get with the G42? Well, quite a bit. The brand have been building on three core themes this year – affordability, durability and repairability. It's safe to say they've hit all three, building in added drop protection to make the device more hardwearing. They've also improved compression testing, to help the screen survive impacts which would otherwise cause it to break.
In terms of specs, you'll find a 50MP main camera on the rear of the device. That packs in some of the AI algorithms from the brands' more expensive handsets, and should enable it to punch above its weight in terms of image quality. Nokia also claim it's good for up to three days of battery life. Plus, the battery has been tested for 60% longer life overall. That means it should get through more charge cycles before it starts to noticeably deplete.
You'll find a 5,000mAh battery inside, with 20W fast charging on offer. Everything is powered by a Snapdragon 480+ chipset. That's lower in the Qualcomm range than familiar processors like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, but should still give a decent account of itself.
You'll also get a display with a 90Hz refresh rate, an IP52 resistance rating and options for 4GB or 6GB of RAM. The 6GB option is the pick of the bunch. That pairs with up to 5GB of virtual RAM taken from the 128GB storage, for a total of 11GB when needed.
The outlay for all of this? Just £199. That's a remarkable amount of tech for around a fifth of the price of the best phones on the market. The Nokia G42 5G is available right now, in either So Purple or So Grey finishes.
