Nokia claims its latest phone is life-proof


Nokia's parent company HMD Global announced a major Nokia phone revamp earlier this year, and now the company has officially announced that the first Nokia X-series phone will arrive in the US next month.

The $ 550 XR20, which launches Aug. 24, is the most expensive phone in Nokia's updated portfolio. Nokia claims that the XR20, which boasts strong specs and potentially better durability than other mid-range phones, is the company's first "life-proof" phone.

HMD / Nokia released a teaser on Twitter last week hinting that the XR20 is an attempt to live up to the legendary durability offered by old Nokia feature phones.

The XR20 has a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus screen, which is said to be four times more resistant to scratches than a typical smartphone screen, and a body that HMD says can withstand drops of up to two meters without a case.

HMD also claims that the XR20 has been tested to operate in temperatures as high as 55 degrees C or as low as -20 degrees, with water resistance capable of withstanding submersions of up to 1.5 meters for one hour. In a stunt to demonstrate how tough the XR20 is, Nokia / HMD gave the phone to famous soccer players Roberto Carlos and Lisa Zimouche to kick the phone on various surfaces and conditions.

The XR20 features a 6.67-inch 2400 x 1080 display with a Snapdragon 480 5G chip with 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a built-in microSD card slot. For cameras, it has an 8 MP selfie camera on the front and a 48 MP main camera, and a 13 MP ultra-wide camera on the rear. The XR20 also supports some of Nokia's OZO spatial audio and noise cancellation technologies.

Like all budget and mid-range phones, the XR20 also features a USB-C port for charging and a 3.5mm jack for wired audio, plus 15-watt Qi wireless charging and a 4,630 mAh battery. And in what could end up being the least appreciated update, HMD says the XR20 will receive four full years of monthly security patches along with up to three years of software updates.

The XR20 isn't as flashy or innovative as some of Nokia's more premium phones in recent years , but it's good to see Nokia / HMD trying to get back to its roots with a simple, well-designed phone that's built to last.

The Nokia XR20 will be available in two colors (Ultra Blue and Granite Gray) when it arrives next month.

Post a Comment

0 Comments