Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C, 3.5mm audio
Battery: 8200mAh, up to 10 hours video
Platform: Android 11
Audio: Stereo speakers, 2 mics
Durability: IP52
Biometrics: Face unlock
Price: Dh849
The Nokia brand remained quiet until HMD Global, its neighbour in Espoo, Finland, reacquired its mobile unit and relaunched devices in 2016.
This set the stage to where we are now – taking a look at HMD Global's first Nokia tablet, the T20.
The last Nokia tablet was the N1, announced in 2014 and released the following year. That pretty much sums it up for the old Nokia in the tablet game, unless you count the Lumia 2520 and other internet tablets they had.
The tablet market has been growing over the past year but after five quarters of growth driven by heightened buying for remote work and learning, global shipments of tablets recorded their first decline since the onset of Covid-19 last year, with tablet shipments posting a 9.4 per cent annual decline to 42.3 million units in the third quarter, according to the International Data Corporation.
Can HMD Global carve out some market space with the Nokia T20? Read our review to find out.
Form
Nokia T20 tablet
The T20 has a 26.4-centimetre (10.4-inch) display with bezels almost comparable to the latest iPads, meaning it is good enough to merit a sleek look.
Overall, content looks vivid on it, with one slight negative: at 400 nits of brightness, you may have a tough time seeing what is on the screen when under intense sunlight.
However, the respectable 2K resolution makes up for that; a 4K display would have been better, but it would also have resulted in a higher price.
It is also made with what Nokia calls "toughened glass" but there is no mention of whether it is Corning or something else. It does have a rating of IP52, which means it has limited protection against dust ingress and water splashes.
Nokia products have always had a reputation of being tough but these durability factors seem lacking. To be fair, you are unlikely to use tablets in sandstorms or rain. Aluminium material with a matte-like finish covers the back while there is an oval camera block in the upper-left corner.
Performance
Nokia T20 tablet
At the core of the T20 is a Unisoc T610 processor. Unisoc is a Chinese chip company that counts Samsung, Motorola and Lenovo among its customers.
In the UAE, the tablet comes in a 4 gigabyte/64GB combination. The limited storage space could be an issue when your media files pile up. While it does come with microSD support of up to 512GB, having at least 128GB of on-board storage is ideal in the event an expansion card is unavailable.
This translates into a performance that is expected: it glides smoothly but not as smooth as what you would expect from a top-tier tablet. It comes with a standard 60-hertz refresh rate and does not have an adaptive option for it.
There are not any noticeable lags when opening or switching between apps – in fact, opening or closing apps seem a bit too fast. The only considerable lag we found is when waiting for the virtual keyboard to pop up after typing on text space.
If you are looking to take photos, the device has an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 5MP front camera you can use but you will have to deal with issues such as smudging and grainy results, especially in low-light conditions.
Meanwhile, swiping to the right from the home screen reveals a Google Entertainment Space, which gives you access to TV shows, movies, games and more without the need to switch apps. And if you have younger users lining up to use it, Google Kids Space is also at your disposal, filled with learning apps and can be managed using Family Link parental controls.
Battery
Nokia T20 tablet
Aside from durability, Nokia devices are also known for their battery life; the company has some of the best out there when it comes to smartphones. Despite the large 8200mAh battery packed into the T20, battery life was a little disappointing.
Nokia says the T20 can last up to seven hours for online meetings, 10 hours for movies and 15 hours of surfing the web. In our standard one-hour YouTube-at-full-brightness test, the battery lost 16 per cent – do the maths and that is a little over six hours. We also did that without any background activity, so expect more power to be lost if you are downloading something.
In our charging test using the supplied 10-watt charger and USB-A-to-USB-C cable, it managed to restore only 20 per cent in an hour (4 per cent in the first 15 minutes). We repeated this test a number of times – even swapping out the cable for a USB-C-to-USB-C one – but it really did not make any difference.
Nokia does say it supports 18W charging but unfortunately we do not have one readily available (there were practically no changes when we used a 33W charger).
Verdict
Nokia T20 tablet
The Nokia T20 is positioned as a mid-range tablet – it is sold for Dh849 – and what we have discovered is pretty much in line with that. This is not intended for intensive application use nor to store a lot of content, given its limited storage capacity, but it does serve its purpose of being an entertainment and connectivity device.
Perhaps HMD Global is testing the market, given the cut-throat competition in the tablet sector. But in an age where do-anything-from-anywhere is fast becoming part of the new normal, there will always be room for a device such as the T20 – and for a legacy brand such as Nokia.
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany - At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people - Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed - Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest - He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally • Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered • Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity • Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
if you go
The flights
Fly to Rome with Etihad (www.etihad.ae) or Emirates (www.emirates.com) from Dh2,480 return including taxes. The flight takes six hours. Fly from Rome to Trapani with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) from Dh420 return including taxes. The flight takes one hour 10 minutes.
The hotels
The author recommends the following hotels for this itinerary. In Trapani, Ai Lumi (www.ailumi.it); in Marsala, Viacolvento (www.viacolventomarsala.it); and in Marsala Del Vallo, the Meliaresort Dimore Storiche (www.meliaresort.it).
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
