Nokia T20
Present until now only on the smartphone market with its Nokia brand, HMD Global extends its catalog to that of touch tablets. Its first model, named Nokia T20, is robust and versatile.
Presentation
Still quite discreet on the phone market, where the latest statistics from Counterpoint give it less than one percent of the European market, Nokia hopes to find a new growth driver in the tablet segment. Driven by Apple, Samsung and Lenovo, this market is largely focused on the high-end. HMD Global's brand is therefore inviting itself to the slightly less represented affordable tablet segment, with a Nokia T20.
Ergonomics
Nokia adopts the same approach with its T20 as with its smartphones. The robustness promised by the brand is reflected in its design, which is simple and effective overall. The tablet is dressed in blue aluminum - which catches fingerprints a bit too much - and has an IP52 certification that guarantees its resistance to dust and splashes. The design is a bit basic, but it has the merit of not skimping on the connectivity: a jack is included in the lower right corner of the device. On the other hand, don't count on a fingerprint reader to secure the tablet: you'll have to use a pattern, a code or the basic facial recognition offered by Nokia.
Still on the subject of robustness, Nokia indicates that the screen of its T20 is covered with reinforced glass. This LCD panel occupies about 79% of its front: a very good score for a low-cost tablet, which does not claim to make its black borders disappear.
Finally, note that the T20 weighs 470 g, a relatively light weight considering its 10.4-inch format. Its dimensions of 247.6 x 157.5 x 7.8 mm make it easy to carry. On the other hand, no additional accessory (keyboard or stylus) enriches the experience which, from the outset, is reduced to the essentials.
The T20 has the merit of offering a jack. It delivers decent performance, although it lacks a little power and our crosstalk measurements were disappointing. Ozo speakers accompany it, and allow you to comfortably watch some videos.
Screen
The T20 is equipped with a standard LCD screen, which Nokia indicates is protected by tempered glass. For what use? If the brand remains rather neutral on this subject, we can imagine it being used in a professional setting, but also - and especially - in the hands of children: the resistance to possible shocks seems appropriate for this audience.
This screen provides a rather simple performance. The display is quite good, without any extravagant refresh rate (60 Hz only). With its 444 cd/m2, the tablet will not burn your retina nor provide particularly open viewing angles. Its reflectance of 47.4%, also in the average, does not allow it either. Let's add that its brightness can go down to 4.9 cd/m2 - we have seen better.
The display is a bit dull, but it compensates with a satisfactory contrast for its technology (1754:1). Not sure that this is enough to forgive a colorimetry not quite mastered, which translates into a delta E of 5.9, or a color temperature very fresh. Our probes found 8577 K, and, if no predefined mode is proposed, a temperature gauge is present, allowing to improve a little the final result.
Let's finish with the remanence time, 17 ms, and the touch delay, 77 ms, which classify the T20 among the correct products, without more: considering its price, however, these performances are not surprising.
Performance
While the chipset market is dominated by Qualcomm and MediaTek, in addition to the "in-house" chips of firms such as Apple, the choice of a Unisoc T610 is surprising. This octa-core chip includes two Cortex-A75 and six Cortex-A55, all clocked at 1.8 GHz, but also a Mali-G52 GPU (used for example in Huawei's Kirin 710), all of which is engraved in 12 nm and comes with 4 GB of RAM. So the tablet does not promise any power outbursts, but is geared towards everyday use.
Evaluated in our labs, the tablet was able to offer a good multitasking experience, which makes it very suitable for everyday applications. We found a score of 98, which is comparable to slightly higher-end products. However, the T20 falls short when it comes to games that require power: its index of 77 indicates an ability to display a maximum of 47 fps. It should be noted that the average speed is 43 fps, so stability is the order of the day.
Photo
The T20 has an 8-megapixel sensor on the back with a wide-angle lens opening at f/2.0. It allows him to make shots suffering from the classic defects of the genre (lack of general sharpness, smoothing), but located in the average. It is obviously not the type of camera that we will advise you to make your vacation photos.
Main module: 8 megapixels, f/2.0
In daylight, the results are still decent, but at night, the T20 goes into overdrive. Details disappear almost entirely from our test scene, which suffers from a very pronounced orange tone. Some details, such as our color ball test pattern, are almost monochrome when the light is missing. It should be noted that no tablet in its price range is able to do this, and if it can't perform miracles, this Nokia model is not particularly bad.
Front module and video
On the front, there is a 5-megapixel sensor that will allow you to film in 1080p. This will be enough for videoconferencing sessions if needed, but you'd better pass if your ambition is to make self-portraits worthy of the name. On the back, you'll also be able to shoot Full HD video if you feel like it.
Autonomy
The Nokia tablet promises a comfortable battery life, which our tests confirm. Our protocol simulating real-life use only came to an end after 18 hours 47 minutes. A good performance, but this does not hide a critical element: the time needed to charge the device. And on this point, the T20 is struggling with its 10W charger, while it is designed to accommodate chargers up to 15W. We had to wait 4 hours to get a full charge.
Interface & OS
As you can see by simply connecting to your Gmail account, the T20 is intended for family use. You will be asked if you are an adult or a child, in order to direct you to the Kids Space, highlighted on the home screen of the tablet. You'll be able to create an account for your child - on which he or she will have access to Play Store applications selected for his or her age group - and check the usage time or lock the device remotely. For the rest, the T20 relies on a stock version of Android, simple and efficient. At most, we note the addition of a few applications (ExpressVPN, Amazon, Spotify and Netflix, discreetly grouped in the same folder), as well as a tab serving as a multimedia center.
Conclusion
For its first attempt in the world of tablets, Nokia delivers a globally satisfactory T20. Located in a low-cost segment, it does make a few concessions: its 60 Hz screen could have been better calibrated, it lacks a bit of breath to be used as an auxiliary game console, and its charging time is decidedly too long. Nevertheless, this model with its robust design displayed proves capable of running everyday applications. It's durable enough and its no-frills software makes it a family device without complex settings. If you're looking for pure performance, you'll probably find better elsewhere, but for a simple tablet that you won't mind leaving in the hands of your children, the T20 is a relevant choice.
