Nokia made some of the most elegant-looking, all-metal midrange phones in the market. Now, the company is stepping it up with a rugged device, the Nokia XR21.
The new Nokia XR21 comes with the highest IP69K dust and water resistance certification and MIL-STD-810H military-grade rating. Besides regular water and dust, it can also handle high-pressure and high-temperature water and be dropped into concrete.
It also has Corning’s toughest glass, the Gorilla Glass Victus, which we’re only used to seeing on high-end smartphones.
That glass sits on top of the decent 6.49-inch IPS screen with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. The display works even if you have wet hands or wearing gloves. Clearly, this device is made for the outdoors.
The rest of the specs look pretty standard for a midrange phone. It is powered by the trusty Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 processor, with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
It has a 64-megapixel main camera on the back, joined by an 8-megapixel ultra-wide — no depth sensor or macro, which we really appreciate. A 16-megapixel selfie camera sits on the front.
The battery is surprisingly small, especially for a rugged device. It has a 4,800mAh capacity with 33W charging.
Another bizarre characteristic is that it ships with Android 12 out of the box instead of the latest Android 13. But being Nokia, it’s guaranteed to receive three major Android updates and 4 years of monthly security patches.
The Nokia XR21 has a price of EUR499 (~Php30,4000). That price tag isn’t surprising considering that Nokia’s other Snapdragon 695-powered phone, the X30 5G, already has a price of Php27,990 in the Philippines. Going back, the XR21 will be available in the United Kingdom in June. No word yet if it’s coming to other markets.
Nokia XR21 Specs
- Android 12
- Dual SIM, Dual standby
- 6.49-inch FHD+ IPS display, 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution, 406ppi
- 120Hz refresh rate
- Corning Gorilla Glass Victus
- 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 octa-core processor
- 6GB RAM
- Adreno 619 GPU
- 128GB internal storage, expandable via microSD
- 16-megapixel front camera
- 64-megapixel (f/1.8, PDAF) + 8-megapixel (ultra-wide) rear cameras, LED flash
- Side-mounted fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
- Stereo speakers, Headphone jack
- IP68/69K dust/water resistant, Drop-resistant
- MIL-STD-810H certified
- HSPA+, 4G LTE, 5G
- WiFi 6, dual-band
- Bluetooth 5.1
- dual-band GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, NavIC, BDS
- NFC
- USB Type-C
- Dimensions: 168 x 78.6 x 10.5mm
- Weight: 231g
- Colors: Midnight Black, Pine Green
- 4,800mAh non-removable battery, 33W fast charging