Nokia 5.4 Review | Trusted Reviews

For a number of years now, the HMD World resurrected Nokia smartphone model has been providing a sure kind of no-nonsense package deal made up of strong construct high quality, pure Android software program, and inexpensive worth tags. That’s all most actually true concerning the Nokia 5.4.

The Nokia 5.4 occupies one of the aggressive areas of the smartphone market – aiming to be among the best low-cost telephones. At £159.99/$249.99/€189, it’s in direct competitors with the likes of the Motorola Moto G30 and the Realme 7, each of which give one or two stand-out options for a modest sum of money.

In comparison with such robust rivals, the Nokia 5.4 runs the chance of mixing into the background. As competent because the cellphone is, it fails to face out in any significant approach.

Nokia 5.4 design and display – Workmanlike in all departments

• Stable however uninteresting all-plastic design
• Somewhat heavy given the supplies
• Poor 720p LCD display

We’re properly aware of the trendy Nokia design language by now. Scan by our earlier critiques and also you’ll in all probability see phrases corresponding to ‘strong’, ‘reliable’ and ‘unshowy’ bandied round.

The Nokia 5.4 matches all three of these descriptions. It’s an all-plastic affair with a shiny rear panel and a matte rim, hinting on the extra premium glass and steel supplies you are likely to get additional up the market. There’s a good quantity of flex to the cellphone whenever you give it a strong twist and squeeze with each fingers.

Regardless of the intensive use of plastic, it is a surprisingly heavy system at 181g. It’s thick, too, at 8.7mm.

It’s a wonderfully positive design as low-cost telephones go, though I’d fairly see producers of low-cost telephones actually lean into the plastic aesthetic and correctly put off the shiny steel and glass-aping finishes. They’re not fooling anybody, and it solely attracts greasy fingerprints.

Speaking of fingerprints, the Nokia 5.4’s biometric sensor is stashed on the again of the cellphone, slightly below a distinguished centrally mounted digicam module. It’s dependable sufficient, though it’s additionally fairly shallow and tough to seek out in a snap. It may be extremely gradual to unlock, too.

The entrance of the cellphone provides you a deeply underwhelming 6.39-inch show. It’s an LCD, and never a very nice instance at that. Colors are dim and muted, and it solely will get to 400 nits of brightness.

In the meantime, a decision of 720 x 1560 makes video and photograph content material look disappointingly fuzzy. I’ve stated it earlier than, however 1080p (or FHD) actually must be the naked minimal by now, actually on units costing £150 upwards.

One other disappointment is the show’s bathroom normal 60Hz refresh fee. Sure, we’re speaking a couple of £160 cellphone right here. However the Motorola Moto G30 and the Realme 7 offer you a 90Hz refresh fee for comparable cash, and the Poco X3 Professional affords the complete 120Hz for not far more.

Nokia 5.4 digicam – Competent major shooter in good lighting, poor all over the place else

• Enough photographs for the cash from the 48-megapixel major digicam
• 5-megapixel ultra-wide is really terrible
• 2-megapixel macro and depth

The Nokia 5.4 ostensibly incorporates a quad-camera setup, however solely the primary (vast) sensor is value a rattling. It actually isn’t among the best digicam telephones round, even at this worth.

Nonetheless, credit score the place it’s due: this 48-megapixel sensor is an improve over the 13-megapixel unit belonging to its predecessor, the Nokia 5.3. Paired with a large f/1.8 aperture and PDAF (phase-detection auto focus), it’s a fairly succesful shooter in good lighting.

I used to be capable of seize some surprisingly crisp and balanced photographs off the bat, though there are many points. Zooming in will reveal appreciable noise and over-sharpening, and any sort of pronounced motion tends to get picked up on, suggesting a sluggish shutter. It may well wrestle with dynamic vary, too, blowing out vivid skies and white T-shirts on a sunny day.

Portrait mode is ready to isolate topic from background moderately properly for an inexpensive cellphone, however the bokeh impact isn’t particularly convincing or interesting. Night time photographs, in the meantime, are an entire write-off. With no OIS, a small sensor, restricted optics and modest processing energy, low-light photographs take ages to snap but produce a darkish, grainy mess.

These are all complaints that might be levelled at different telephones of an identical worth, to various levels. And also you’ll recognize the work that Nokia has finished with that 48-megapixel major sensor as quickly as you turn to the 5-megapixel ultra-wide.

It’s really horrible, yielding woefully delicate, noisy photographs even in good lighting. The sides devolve into such grainy mush that they will appear like you’ve activated some dodgy artwork filter. It additionally sports activities a a lot duller, greyer color tone in comparison with the primary sensor.

Night time photographs are horrible

The two-megapixel macro and depth sensors are barely definitely worth the house they occupy, and we’re not going to waste any of your time discussing them. They’re horrible and ineffective, respectively.

One digicam you’re much more probably to make use of is the Nokia 5.4’s 16-megapixel front-facing unit. Clearly it isn’t one of the best instance of such a factor, nevertheless it’s able to taking respectable selfies.

Nokia 5.4 efficiency – Snapdragon 662 hits par, however the cellphone feels sluggish

• Snapdragon 662 affords ample velocity
• Normal lack of smoothness
• 3D will run at low settings

You don’t count on razor-sharp efficiency at this worth, however we’re now on the level the place the bottom expertise of unlocking, flipping by homescreens and menus, and hopping between the standard apps must hit a base stage of fluidity.

Sadly, the Nokia 5.4 simply doesn’t measure up. It makes use of a lower-mid-range Snapdragon 662 at the side of 4GB of RAM, which is a modest if affordable setup. It’s the identical chip that powers the aforementioned Moto G30 and the Moto G9 Energy, and it yields a comparable Geekbench 5 rating.

However within the hand, all the pieces feels a little bit too wallowy and stuttery. Maybe I’ve been utilizing too many high-refresh-rate smartphones lately, however there’s merely no circulation to utilizing this cellphone.

As I’ve already talked about, unlocking it may possibly take an age, and flicking between homescreens feels juddery and stilted. I’ve warned in opposition to fully shopping for into the 120Hz promise of low-cost telephones earlier than – they by no means dwell as much as their costlier counterparts – however the reverse finish of the spectrum is the Nokia 5.4, which doesn’t even appear to nail a strong 60Hz expertise.

On the subject of PUBG, you possibly can count on most superior 3D video games to run okay on low to medium settings. PUB Cellular will advocate the low-end useful resource pack when first booting up, and may then be performed on Balanced/Medium – only one rung up on the graphical settings ladder. It runs positive at that modest stage, if not massively fluidly.

You get 64GB of storage right here, which is okay for the cash. Though it must be famous that many telephones within the sub-£200/$300 class have began offering 128GB as normal, such because the Moto G9 Energy and the Poco X3 NFC. Nonetheless, there’s at the least a micro-SDXC slot right here, so there’s potential for enlargement.

Nokia 5.4 battery life – Simply exceeds the one-day mark

• 4000mAh battery is first rate if not class-leading
• Effectively over a day of regular use
• 10W charger isn’t massively speedy

The Nokia 5.4 is powered alongside by a 4000mAh battery. That wouldn’t present any nice cause to have a good time in a better-specced cellphone, however given this handset’s modest 720p show and meagre processor, it isn’t a foul provision by any means.

It can simply survive a day of reasonable use, and take you properly right into a second. Energy customers will see that determine dropping to a day, however then this actually isn’t a cellphone for energy customers. Its display and processor does no favours to video and gaming content material.

Nonetheless, in case you actually need robust stamina at this type of worth, then the Moto G9 Energy with its 6000 mAh battery is a a lot better guess. The Nokia 5.4 can’t even get near this rival finances cellphone’s figures.

With the Nokia, I noticed that an hour of Netflix streaming with the display brightness at 50% sapped 12% of a cost. The Moto G9 Energy misplaced simply 7%, and that was with the display brightness whacked as much as 100%.

You get a modest 10W charger bundled within the field, which obtained me from 50% to 54% in quarter-hour, and as much as 57% in half-hour. That basically isn’t very quick – particularly when the likes of the Poco X3 Professional and the Realme 7 offer you considerably quicker 30W+ chargers.

Nokia 5.4 conclusion

The Nokia 5.4 gives an all-round competent finances cellphone expertise, and we’ll at all times recognize Nokia’s pure strategy to Android.

However that not seems like sufficient in in the present day’s aggressive finances market, the place one or two stand-out options aren’t unusual. It is a cellphone that fully underwhelms with its drab display and sluggish efficiency, whereas an improved digicam can nonetheless solely handle acceptable vast photographs in good lighting. It isn’t a foul cellphone by any means, however the Nokia 5.4 merely fails to shine with any of the fundamentals.

You should purchase the Nokia 5.4 if…

• You need the cleanest Android attainable for the worth
  Nokia doesn’t load any bloatware and hefty pores and skin over its model of Android, so the software program you get is clear and straightforward to make use of.

• You’re a fan of Nokia’s strong, no-nonsense design
  Whereas HMD’s Nokia telephones aren’t fairly as indestructible as Nokia telephones of outdated, they keep a sturdy feel and appear that’s usually uncommon within the Android house.

You shouldn’t purchase the Nokia 5.4 if…

• You watch or play a variety of video games and movies
  It is a low-cost cellphone, however it may possibly’t evaluate to different units at this worth in the case of efficiency. If you need a gaming system, look elsewhere.

• You wish to take ultra-wide snaps
  As famous within the overview, the ultra-wide digicam is horrible. As are the opposite duo of secondary sensors. If you need selection together with your cameras then this system isn’t for you.