Nokia X30 review

28 November 2022

T
Tom209
0p}
30 Nov 2022

Carol, 30 Nov 2022Oh, the world comes to an end! Where did you get your facts... moreThe X30 has UFS 2.2 - and a rather slow performing one at that. It does not have UFS 3.0

Also, the SAR and other specs can easily be obtained online as evidenced by other reviewers.

Look - I'm not pro brand. I have NO loyalty to any brand whatsoever, whether it's HMD, Realme, Samsung, Honor, Xiaomi etc.

But what I am is PRO CONSUMER and PRO value. I care about people and their money, just as much as my own, and I dislike huge corporate entities ripping people off. If I see it, I'll call it out and express my grievances.

M
Muthu
Fvc
30 Nov 2022

Swaraj, 30 Nov 2022nokia overpriced. but nobody says anything when oppo , viv... moreNobody says anything when Oppo/Vivo overprice their products? - Are you sure??? Do you even read the comments section in GSMA?

M
Munem
6uN
30 Nov 2022

Anonymous, 28 Nov 2022While $500 is definitely overpriced this can be a good buy ... moreFor $300 dollars you have A52s and many more powerfull phones to choose.

F
Fade.
nmN
30 Nov 2022

This would've been a great phone if it had a better processor. Cause at this price range 695 just isn't it. Everything else is good enough. Kinda mediocre, but good enough.
They just dropped the ball, by putting that processor in there and not taking full advantage of the cameras. Also the display should be 90HZ minimum at this price range

c
cryoverspecsheet
Hkt
30 Nov 2022

AnonD-546724, 30 Nov 2022I appreciate this little essay of yours. To which I'... more"Nokia 8.3
Snapdragon 765G, LCD screen, plastic frame, MSRP was EUR659 at release.
I'm confident I don't need to argue anything more about that one."

you said it so easy. but have you even held it? . do you even know how many types of plastic there are ? do you know a 5000mah battery with 300 charging cycle costs one third of a price of a battery with 800charging cycle ? how can you say a phone is bad without ever using it??

by your logic iphone se has miserable spec . what's in it ? lcd display , 1800mah battery , nocharger . so we must file lawsuit against apple for selling it at such high msrp?

?
Anonymous
7MX
30 Nov 2022

This is normal.

Let those specialising in manufacturing do the heavy lifting, then you focus on marketing efforts to sell the product.

M
Muthu
Fvc
30 Nov 2022

Minu, 30 Nov 2022Agreed, but it may not apply to our market since it's ... moreI assumed you are from India and did not realize that the smartphone options are limited in different markets. Thanks for the clarification. Yeah, you choose the best option available in your market. Your posts make lot more sense than the other person's (Carol's) posts.

S
Swaraj
Hkt
30 Nov 2022

nokia overpriced. but nobody says anything when oppo , vivo sells helio p35 phone for 12000 rupees 🤣 . at least nokia's stock os won't wear out cpu like color os

Samsung a13 with exynos 850 costs 13000 . any comment on that ? haters keep their tra p sh ut cz they are big company making flagships. but when a start up makes same product everyone is spitting hate in comment section. you'll be happy when only 2 company exist and they charge you 10 dollar for a dongle

M
Minu
IWS
30 Nov 2022

Muthu, 30 Nov 2022Guess what - if you are happy with buying a smartphone from... moreAgreed, but it may not apply to our market since it's a bit non-competitive unlike India and China.

I purchased what I could afford at the time, but I don't think it's a bad purchase. Not that I hate Chinese brands or anything though.

What I'm using is what Nokia made to compete with the OnePlus 5, HTC U11, Xiaomi Mi9 and Honor 9 etc. Most weren't available here (and the others are grey imported) so I ended up with a Nokia 8

M
Muthu
Fvc
30 Nov 2022

Minu, 30 Nov 2022Not defending HMD by any means but so far, my experience is... moreGuess what - if you are happy with buying a smartphone from the current avatar of HMD/Nokia, you would be far more happier with any other smartphone purchase, at a much lower cost.

M
Muthu
Fvc
30 Nov 2022

AnonD-546724, 30 Nov 2022I appreciate this little essay of yours. To which I'... moreWell said. Very detailed reply to a person who does not seem (want) to understand the actual reality of smartphone business in general and how pathetic has HMD been in the last few years.

T
Tom209
0p}
30 Nov 2022

atichko
M{V
30 Nov 2022

It's kind of funny to read the battles between the pro and contra commentators. On the border of bashing... I do like the device and I also accept the many negative comments as most of them are true. But at the same time it's true as well that many competitors who, at least on paper (and maybe in real life), offers better value for money (let's be honest, it's not a cheap device) but the all have their share of quirks and issues. As always, it comes down to personal preferences, if you don't like the X30 then it's fine, if you do like it, fine as well.
What do I like about the X30? As usual it's a well build device with a real durability for the hardware. If we speak about the hardware in terms of SOC then I also have question how well the device will fare after a few years knowing that the OS and all the apps only get heavier and more demanding by the year (while they all shout otherwise). I had a very good experience with the SD695 and it's GPU on near stock Android devices (don't know about heavily skinned ones with the same SOC) but it does not have endless reserves in terms of power.
I do like stock or near stock Android devices but I do agree that they are a bit boring as well (but hey, IOS is the textbook example of an uber boring OS but I don't hear people nagging about...must be because it's expensive and exclusive...then it's all fine)
I do like the overall day-to-day experience of all the Nokia's I had. It's smooth (most of the time) and does what it has to.
What don't I like? In this case, the battery capacity. I just don't like the trend of putting smaller batteries in a device under the excuse that the chip-set is much more power efficient than older versions. We all know that no matter how efficient they are (on paper) all batteries will degrade and if you have a small battery from the start, you will end up dragging a power-bank all the time to get through the day very soon.
I miss the nice features Motorola (Motorola app) has to alter the style a bit, Nokia's limit themselves to what Google dictates (I think this is why Motorola decided to leave Android One)
The fact that Nokia also decided to sell phones without charger (but hey, all other OEM's are as hypocritical to use the Eco excuse to not give a charger but at the same time they increase the purchase price...)

M
Minu
ter
30 Nov 2022

AnonD-546724, 30 Nov 2022I appreciate this little essay of yours. To which I'... moreNot defending HMD by any means but so far, my experience is positive. I don't care about a lot of features or specs but at least I bought a phone which perfectly fits my needs, if not, more than what I need. It all depends on your use cases, as Xenotyro pointed out.

Btw, all HMD phones before the Nokia 8.3 appear to be designed in-house or by Foxconn, and the Xperias appear to be designed and manufactured by Foxconn, despite not being mentioned in most articles. The camera islands used in Sony phones since the Xperia 1 is essentially a CTRL+C CTRL+V of the camera island of older Nokias like the 6610i upto newer phones such as the Nokia 8 and 4.2

D
AnonD-546724
SYF
30 Nov 2022

Carol, 29 Nov 2022First of all, if someone wants to support a european brand ... moreI appreciate this little essay of yours.
To which I'm gonna answer by scraping each and everyone of its poor arguments.

By the very paper I've quoted, it appears the only designs made in-house by HMD are the reboot of Nokia's originals, such as the 3310 4G. But even such releases appears to be of poor quality. Far, far from the bulletproofness OG Nokia devices are known for.

Of course, every smartphone manufacturer uses ODMs. For their entry level, generic, uninspired devices for the masses. But the interesting stuff, do you think it's from ODMs ?
12S Ultra ? Xperia 1 MKIV ? S22U ? This is all in-house.

And you don't need to shell out 4 figures to get the proper intern development & design : Phone 1, A52s, Pixel 6/6A/7.

There's a bunch of affordable mid-rangers that are far from the usual "chineses devices flooding the market" that you quoted, and offers OG designs and much better specs at same pricing if not cheaper than any HMD release.

You may not have your own factories but still come out with some OG designs such as the Pixel 7. Because ODM doesn't means not having your own factory but rather browsing through a catalog of pre-existing designs you never had any input into, and picking one. Doing that is one thing, pretending it's refined Finnish-made design is another.

Now let's talk about whatever Nokia innovation HMD brought to the table. I'm just gonna talk about theirs flagship wannabe devices, as whatever below that isn't worth mentioning.

Their first entry, the 2017 Nokia 8, albeit complete and decent, was a play-it-safe approach. Play it safe isn't Nokia, but at the time HMD was just getting started wo we'll gave them a pass.

Second release, 8 Scirocco. Gorgeous build, outdated specs, screen bleeding more blue than a smurf in a car crash and so-so cameras.

Third release, the much anticipated 9 Pureview that you quoted. With big name, comes big expectations, and Pureview is a huge one in mobile photography. The 808 still trade blows with devices released this year and that's a decade old device.

9 Pureview is a total mess. So much in fact, that the company behind its development, Light, went bankrupt and doesn't exist anymore. Taking a pic often overheat the phone and take a toll on battery. One. Single. Picture. 128GB, no SD slot. Snapdragon S845 in the S855 year. Front design is a CTRL-C + CTRL-V of the LG G6 from 2 years prior.
Poor battery life overall.

And finally, we have it, the elephant in the room, picture quality. All that 7 modules fanfare, and yet not even on par with the P20 Pro & Pixel 4 released this year. Because yes, that was clearly what the 9 Pureview aimed for.

The reviews did state that a few tweaking here and there in Adobe Lightroom would drastically improve the quality.
So you're basically doing yourself whatever the camera software development team failed to achieve.
And I don't know if the biggest mess is the device itself or the team behind it but HMD failed to deliver Android 12 on the 9 Pureview. So much for that quality software promise.

Nokia 8.3
Snapdragon 765G, LCD screen, plastic frame, MSRP was EUR659 at release.
I'm confident I don't need to argue anything more about that one.

After another dumpster fire of LCD 60hz x SD480 x depth sensors x EUR550 phones we finally get this X30, first OLED, supposedly decent HMD Nokia in years.

Gone is the LCD, and depth sensors. But SD695 (legit should've been named SD495) isn't much of an improvement, if any, over SD495, S22 Cameras fails to deliver consistend quality, and then pricing. Yes, pricing. A joke, nothing less.

You did said, and I quote, "Manufactures that innovates had to stop doing it, to be able to survive". "HMD bought nothing, they licenced the name"

Well they did bought something then. :)

As a wise man once said, you either die a hero or live long enough to becoming a vilain.
Nokia should've died a hero, but HMD had others plans. :)
Like milking a legendary name until there's nothing left. FACTS.

C
Carol
skK
30 Nov 2022

Tom209, 30 Nov 2022Other negative attributes I've dug up online for the X... moreOh, the world comes to an end! Where did you get your facts from? Come on man, it has UFS 3.0 is enough. High SAR? And how is it compared to the other phones you talk about? Or you just compare where it fits? Anyways, would like to see your resources...

C
Carol
skK
30 Nov 2022

Tom209, 30 Nov 2022Are you a HMD rep or something? You seem very passionate a... moreI work for nobody in the business, are you? With the lies you try to spread here about g60, who knows. I like it tough, that you had it and not anymore, it does give a aura.... Never heard of call problems on that device, so keep it up, it gets funnier with each and every comment, like the party off all trolls, well, probably the same usual ones, just changing some nick names as always. Now when someone goes outside GSMarena, this 2 devices are suddently very good, and users are quite happy, strange right? I mean here must come some serious users.... they all know and used every nokia devices since hmd, or most of them, and also all of them had really big problems. Funny cause i use x30, great device, have nokia 9 and nokia 8, great devices. My wife had nokia 6.1 and now x20, my brother has the 7.2, my sister the x10. None have problems, or serious problems besides a bug here and there. So yeah, get a life, for havens sake.

T
Tom209
0p}
30 Nov 2022

Other negative attributes I've dug up online for the X30:

- High SAR value

- 92hz Pulse Width Modulation flickering rate (Possibly the lowest rate I've recently seen for an amoled smartphone)

- No DC dimming mode

- No Ram Expansion (Though possibly a gimmick, but still good to of had nonetheless)

- Mediocre internal storage speed (Nothing phone 1 is 128% faster, pixel 6a is 68% faster, budget nord 300 is 34% faster)

- Slow Wifi speeds

-Bluetooth 5.1 (when budget devices are being sold with 5.3 - e.g nord 300)

Where I'm located - the X30 is sold for the same price as an Honor 70, Nothing phone 1, Honor 50, Motorola Edge neo, Reno 8 5g, and all the usual popular Samsung/Xiaomi phones within this price range.

I'm sorry, but the X30 is definitely Flatline- D.O.A

David 040882
spe
30 Nov 2022

Carol, 29 Nov 2022You forgot i mentioned the same quality, then specs. cause ... moreWhat same quality? Same recycled-phone quality? Dude, Nokia is at a lower level than Xiaomi or Oppo. I will compare Nokia phones with other brands' phones that are about the same level, not Sony or Samsung which are years ahead of Nokia. And I told you phones that are not only at a higher level, but also cheaper. And what great premium quality got the X30? Aluminum frame and recycled plastic back, which even GSMarena says it is nothing premium. And besides, the most important thing in a phone are the specs. You could have an amazing, metal frame, sapphire glass and whatever you want. But if the specs would be of a Blackberry from 7 years ago, would it be worth it only because of the build quality? I'll tell you, this phone is good, but the only problem is that it way to pricey for its level. And you can find better phones at lower prices

S
Swaraj
Hkt
30 Nov 2022

Tom209, 30 Nov 2022Are you a HMD rep or something? You seem very passionate a... morethey are a start up . supposed to be inconsistent. every Chinese product isn't trash . one plus made great pieces of tech sourced out of China. but I get what you mean . hmd made some terrible phones . but they made some great ones too . nokia 4.2 , nokia 7 plus , 8 sirocco , nokia 1 , nokia 6.1 2018 were all unparallel built.

you chose to cheap out and buy phones like nokia 6.1 plus . you got what you paid for . hmd should have used samsung naming strategy. like samsung a series have good parts but m and f series are trash .

6 of 11