The Nokia of yesteryear made incredible feature phones, some of which, like the Nokia 3310, were built so well that they attained cult status for their sheer ruggedness. The all-new Nokia XR20 is an attempt to rekindle that reputation with a design that doesn't look inherently rugged but will surely protect it from the elements.After a few weeks with the XR20, I have no doubts that the phone will last you for years, even with a steady stream of abuse. However, the specs might not weather the years as well.

SPECS

SoC

Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 5G

RAM

4GB/6GB

Storage

64GB/128GB (expandable via microSD card)

Display

6.67-inch FullHD+ (2400x1080) IPS LCD, Gorilla Glass Victus, Compatible with wet hands and gloves

Battery

4,630mAh battery, 18W wired charging, 15W wireless Qi charging

Camera

48MP f/1.79 wide + 13MP f/2.4 ultrawide + dual-tone LED

Software

Android 11 (three years of OS/four years of security updates)

Measurements

171.64 x 81.5 x 10.64mm, 248g

Biometrics

Side-mounted fingerprint sensor

Ports

USB Type-C, 3.5mm headphone jack, Google Assistant button, Programmable top button

Colors

Ultra Blue, Granite

Miscellaneous

Stereo speakers, OZO Spatial Audio capture with wind noise reduction, IP68 rating, MIL-STD-810H

Price

6GB+ 128GB - $549 / £449 | 4GB + 64GB - £399 (UK only)

THE GOOD

Rugged

The phone is a tough nut to crack.

Speakers

They get plenty loud, but just don't expect to enjoy high fidelity music at max volume.

Programmable button

Who wouldn't love it?

Software

Next to no bloatware and up to four years of updates.

THE NOT SO GOOD

Power

The Snapdragon 480 5G floats the boat but I'm skeptical about how it will hold up over the years.

Camera

Strictly average.

Buttons

The power button is difficult to locate and the Google Assistant button has a much lower activation force, leading to accidental clicks.

Design, hardware, what's in the box

You can make out most rugged phones from a mile away, but Nokia has put in clear effort to make the XR20 look more discreet. Thankfully, it doesn't look like it has a bumper case stuck to it permanently. It's still not ideal for one-hand use, though, and coming from the tiny Pixel 4a, it took time to adjust to its sheer dimensions and weight. The phone makes healthy use of a rubbery polymer composite (true to most rugged phones) all around, except for aluminum for the two sides and the inner core, giving it the sturdiness you'd expect from a rugged phone.

The back has diagonal lines going through it that add grip. That wasn’t enough to prevent the phone from falling on my face when in bed, and this is not a light phone at 248g. The camera module is placed right in the middle and has a raised boundary that should protect the camera glass from direct impacts, be that the ground or your face.

The left of the phone has a dedicated Google Assistant button which is a welcome addition to a rugged phone. The button is ribbed, making it easy to identify on an otherwise smooth aluminum side. Unfortunately, its activation force is pretty low, leading to accidental clicks every now and then. There's a programmable button at the top that can be configured to open your favorite app or do an action of your choice (like turning on the flashlight). I've set mine to take screenshots because Nokia doesn't have any intuitive gestures for that.

The opposite side has the volume slider and the power button, which I struggle to find by touch on the first go. It couldn't be ribbed since it also doubles as the fingerprint scanner, but Nokia should've definitely made it more pronounced in the frame. The bottom side of the phone is the busiest, featuring a USB Type-C port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a speaker, and an accessory loop.

I really wanted to know how it feels to use phones the way Max does, and so I did. I dropped the phone on concrete and stones at least a dozen times (a few from 1.5 meters), dunked it in water every opportunity I got, took it for a river rafting escapade, and even put it in the freezer for 20 minutes. The phone's polymer shell does bear some battle scars, but nothing has impacted the usability so far. I'm not really surprised since it's MIL-STD-810H and IP68 certified. The XR20 is temperature-resistant up to 131°F so if you find yourself out in the hot sun very often, rest assured it won't ask you to stop using it because of overheating.

The use of Gorilla Glass Victus also goes a long way in adding confidence — this material is usually restricted to flagship phones. It's really good at avoiding scratches and scuffs. Speaking of glass, there's a 6.67-inch IPS LCD for all your viewing needs. The panel surely isn't the best, and the colors can look washed out at times. But the powerful stereo speakers (the earpiece doubles up as the secondary speaker) do make watching videos on this phone a rather enjoyable experience.

Like so many other phones, the XR20 doesn't come with a charging brick but the USB Type-A to Type-C cable means you can probably use the adapter you already have.

Software, performance, and battery

Nokia keeps it simple with its software. The phone runs Android 11 out of the box with a few additions and two pre-installed, but uninstallable, apps: Spotify and ExpressVPN (with a free 1-month trial). The experience here feels a bit barebones compared to One UI or MIUI, but that’s better than having dozens of uninstallable services cluttering up your phone.

The hardware is built to last, and the software should do okay, too. The XR20 will get three Android OS updates and four years of monthly security updates, meaning it'll be good to use till 2025. For what it's worth, Nokia's updates don't land as quickly as they used to, but there's no other rugged phone out there that can match this promise. While this is appreciated, the internals are a concern.

The exterior will stand the test of time but the Snapdragon 480 might not age as gracefully.

The XR20 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 5G processor, which is the first 400-series processor to support 5G networks — it latched onto the T-Mobile network to get speeds as high as 637 MB/s. Paired with 6GB of RAM, the 480 handles day-to-day performance just fine, but it does stutter under higher-than-average workloads. The camera takes a couple of seconds to open up and games like PUBG are just playable. I'm skeptical that the phone will hold up well after two to three years of usage—this is still a mid-range phone, and even flagships can get sluggish after a few years.

Speaking of long-lasting, the XR20's battery won't have you hugging walls. The 4,630mAh unit easily powered me through a day's worth of use without breaking a sweat. Considering you probably won't game on this, there's a good chance it'll last you more than a day as well. There's support for 18W wired charging which takes less than 2 hours to completely charge. I wasn't expecting this, but Nokia has even thrown 15W wireless charging in the mix. The size of the phone makes it slightly difficult to align the coils on a compact wireless charge, but it's worth the effort — just wake up to a fully charged phone.

Cameras

The cameras won't tickle your fancy; there's no handy heat-vision sensor for you to measure your body temperature. What you do get is a 48MP primary sensor and a 13MP ultrawide to go with it. If you were expecting a lot from a rugged phone's camera, you should check your expectations yesterday. They do the job but they just aren't as good as the sensors on mainstream phones in its segment. Coming from the Google Pixel 4a, the impact was noticeable.

On a good day, the phone can produce sharp-looking images with decent dynamic range and pleasing colors. Take a look at the photo of the chocolate chip mint ice cream (It's the best summer flavor. Period.) and the sweeping image of the Smoky Mountains to see what I mean. But good days aren't most days. The software usually over-sharpens images, making them look a bit artificial. The dynamic range doesn't wow, and the images can get a bit too saturated in certain situations.

I took the phone for a river rafting trip, hoping to capture some rapids on the camera. The accessory loop was extremely helpful in this scenario as it let me harness the phone to my life jacket. The stuff I captured, though, was nothing to get excited about. There's no extreme stabilization mood to help shoot coherent videos in fast-paced situations like this, and the poor dynamic range blew out the background on several shots. The only way you’ll get a good photo in low light is to activate night mode. It can extract a lot more sharpness and detail than auto mode can, but it takes a few seconds to capture.

The ultrawide camera is sub-par; anything less than ideal lighting conditions, and the images suffer. There's not much detail, and it just walks a different path when it comes to dynamic range and color science compared to the primary sensor. There's no night mode support for this lens, and it's not even tapped to take ultra-stable videos. Nokia could've (and should've) done better here.

Videos with the rear camera are limited to 1080p@60FPS and the lack of EIS makes these videos a headache to watch; 30FPS videos are serviceable. The front-facing camera takes some decent portraits and the three LEDs at the back make for a good flashlight.

Should you buy it? Rating 7.5/10

Nokia XR20

Yes, if you’re hard on hardware but easy on software. In a way, Nokia has managed to pay homage to the 3310 with the XR20. It doesn't necessarily look like it'll survive being knocked around, but it’s been unstoppable in my testing. The Gorilla Glass Victus and one free screen replacement go a long way in assuring you of the phone's robustness.

Complementing this is the solid software support that guarantees three Android OS updates (it runs Android 11 currently) and four years of monthly security updates.

For all the longevity on offer, there are some sacrifices you'll have to accept. The display isn't the best, the Snapdragon 480 might not age well, the buttons are a disappointment, and the cameras are average.

But all in all, the Nokia XR20, though slightly underpowered for the price, is a good first attempt by HMD to make a rugged Android phone that isn’t ugly

Buy it if...

  • Software support is extremely important.
  • You're looking for a rugged phone with a design that doesn't scream rugged.

Don't buy it if...

  • You need a rugged phone that doesn’t compromise on performance.
  • You don't abuse your phone on a daily basis (mainstream phones got you).

Where to buy