There was a moment when, with a phone in several pieces in front of me, I thought I might have bitten off more than I could chew. It seemed like a simple repair: the back case of the phone to start with, and a battery swap if I was feeling a bit more ambitious. But then there were warnings on the instructions – don’t strain the cable, take care not to bend the pins on the fingerprint reader – and I was getting a bit nervous.
Nokia’s G22 smartphone is designed to be easily repaired by its owner, so you can carry out some of the more common repairs – screen, battery, charging port, the rear case. To make sure that it is, the company has linked up with repair service iFixit. The company will provide the spare parts you need, plus the tools and the guides to ensure you can follow the process step by step, and hopefully you will end up with a fully repaired and working phone by the end.
As it turned out, the phone survived my amateur attempt at a repair. The fingerprint reader, which was a fiddly piece of plastic attached to some cable, was my main concern, but once I had everything reconnected, it still functioned normally. Thankfully.
It’s not quite as easy as you might think, though. The phone isn’t like Lego, with bits to be snapped on and off easily; you need the proper tools, a steady hand and a lot of patience to unhook and remove all the fiddly electronics without breaking them – or losing a vital screw or two.
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Repairability aside, how does the G22 stand up against the competition? Reasonably well, once you remember that this is not being pitched as a Galaxy S23 or iPhone 14 Pro killer.
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It looks good, with a decent screen that clocks in at 6.52 inches and has Gorilla Glass 3 to protect it. Looks wise, there is a bit of a bezel at the bottom, which makes it feel a little off balance, but it is a minor quibble. Is it the most high-tech of screens? It’s a HD+ screen, which is lower quality than the previously mentioned flagships, but the difference isn’t very noticeable, especially when taking the significantly cheaper price into account. You get what you pay for, and in this case, it is a 90Hz refresh rate display.
The camera puts in a decent performance, too. It has a 50-megapixel main camera on the rear sitting alongside the 2MP depth camera and 2MP macro lens that lets you get up to 4cm away from the subject. Night mode looks after the lower light photos admirably, although you will get a little grain, which is to be expected. A low-light photo of the cat, for example, showed a good amount of detail in the fur, with a little smoothing here and there.
There’s an 8MP selfie camera, too, with AI portrait mode and tweaks to make you look either like a better version of yourself or a little alien, depending on how far you want to push those “beautify” settings.
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The phone comes with 128GB of internal storage, with 4GB of RAM and the whole thing is powered by a Unisoc T606 chip. This is probably the one thing that will give people pause for thought. It doesn’t have the same brand recognition as the Snapdragon chips, and it’s not as powerful as the more expensive chips, but it comes back to the same argument: you get what you pay for. In this case, you are paying for a decent chip that will perform well under normal use, as long as you don’t try to overtax it. Regular tasks, photography and video recording, some multitasking and a bit of gaming is all comfortably within its capabilities.
The upshot is that this is a budget-friendly phone that punches a bit above the weight of its price tag. And best of all? It has a headphone jack, so you don’t need to use Bluetooth headphones or ear buds unless you actually want to.
The good
As promised, the G22 is user repairable. Whether you will want to attempt it, or have the confidence to do so, is entirely a personal matter. But with the right tools and the useful walk-through guides on iFixit, you can attempt a simple repair at home.
It isn’t the first, or the only, smartphone that you can repair yourself. But price wise, the G22 is softer on your budget. Compared with a flagship smartphone from a rival Android manufacturer, the Nokia handset looks like a very attractive prospect.
Plus, the headphone jack will seal the deal for some people.
The bad
While the phone itself performs well, there have been a couple of compromises to get it to the very affordable price. That back casing looks okay but feels plastic. Though it’s unlikely most people would notice this as they’ll probably have it in the included clear case that should give it a measure of protection from the worst bumps. Plus it’s much easier to pop off a recycled plastic casing with some picks than get through layers of adhesive that would come with the metal phones.
The screen is fine, but not the highest quality. If you are looking for a 4K display, you’ll have to keep looking – and be prepared to pay more. Also, it is IP52 rated, which means it will cope with a bit of rain, but not much more. Also, no 5G support.
Everything else
Camera wise, the Nokia has a decent offering. And while Unisoc may not have the same immediate brand recognition as a Snapdragon chip, it performs well in day-to-day operations, as long as you don’t try to load too many power-hungry tasks on it. Storage is expandable, too.
Verdict
Repairable as promised, and without too much impact on your pocket.
