Nokia's emphasis over the last couple of years has been on affordability rather than chasing down the latest and greatest with flagship phones. It's an approach that has garnered some success, with other manufacturers putting everything in to high and mid-range devices, Nokia has taken a sizeable chunk from the bottom of the market.

The Nokia G series isn't quite the most affordable, but priced at under £150/€200, it's a device that's going to be more widely available to those who are less willing to part with a lot of money to secure the latest device.

Most of the attention, however, will be on how easy it is to repair, as the Nokia G22 launches with the intention that you can repair it yourself, designed to be opened by the user for basic servicing.

Design and build

• 165 x 76.19 x 8.48mm, 196.23g
• Recycled plastic rear
• Designed for repair
• IP52 protection

The Nokia G22 follows Nokia's recent designs, finished in plastics and offering two colours for the rear, Lagoon Blue or Meteor Grey. There are flat sides, again finished in plastics, in a contrasting colour, while the overall rear is glossy.

It feels pretty secure in the hand, but the rear cover does pick up fingerprints, so will need a regular wipe to keep it looking good. The design isn't hugely exciting, but at the affordable end of the market you're after a solid device and can't expect the latest materials or finishes.

The design of the interior, however, is perhaps more important than the design of the exterior. As this phone has been designed for repairability, Nokia has removed barriers to make it easier to open. But this isn't like phones from a few years ago with a removable back, you'll still need tools to get inside and make those changes. However, once you do get inside, changing the battery, USB-C charging port or display should be easy enough, with parts readily available from iFixit.

The phone has an IP52 protection rating so it will endure the odd splash of water and we're told by Nokia that this protection remains intact if you open it up to make repairs - assuming, of course, that you follow the instructions.

The flattened sides do lend this phone a modern look and despite the big frame there's plenty of grip.

Display and hardware

• 6.5in, 1600 x 720 pixels, 90Hz
• Unisoc T606, 4GB RAM, 64/128GB storage + microSD
• 5050mAh battery, 20W charging

Sitting at the affordable end of the spectrum, it's no surprise to find that the Nokia G22 is equipped with specs that match its price. There's a decent-sized display at 6.5-inches, boosted by a 90Hz refresh rate, but it's not hugely bright and with an HD+ resolution - 1600 x 720 pixels, it doesn't match the detail of displays in phones that are just a little more expensive.

It's also a rather dated design when it comes to the display, with a wide bezel and waterdrop notch at the top housing the front-facing camera. It's protected with Gorilla Glass 3 to attempt to keep some scratches at bay and it seems reasonable at this price point.

Turning to the hardware it's a similar story. There's a budget Unisoc Tiger T606 chipset, which is probably comparable to something like the Snapdragon 660. It's based on older 12nm tech and has eight cores, but is also partnered with 4GB RAM - although 2GB vRAM is also used - so don't have high expectations for performance: this is a phone designed to be affordable and that's reflected in this hardware.

On the positive front there's support for microSD so you can cheaply and easily expand the storage above and beyond the 64 or 128GB internally - up to 2TB. There's also a 3.5mm headphone socket alongside the USB-C, so it's better connected than some flagship devices in that sense.

What might prove to be this phone's strongest point is the battery: there's a big 5050mAh cell, with support for 20W charging. That's not hugely fast, but it's better than nothing - and that big capacity battery on this hardware may well last you 3 days. That's what Nokia says and as long as you don't spend your time trying to push the hardware to play the latest games, that will probably hold true.

Cameras

• Main: 50MP, f/1.8, AF
• Macro: 2MP
• Depth: 2MP
• Front: 8MP, f/2.0, FF

There's only really one camera on the rear of the Nokia G22, and that's the 50-megapixel main camera. This is a typical camera found on entry-level devices, although it offers a wide range of modes, including portrait and night shooting. We say there's only really one camera, because Nokia has followed a path typical of budget phones and put three lenses on the back.

This might make it look like there's an exciting triple camera arrangement on the rear of this phone, but the second and third cameras often aren't worth bothering with. There's a macro camera, which we haven't tested to any great extent on this device, but we know from other budget phones that these cheap secondary lenses often don't really give you decent photos and are just there to make the phone look better.

The same logic can be applied to the depth sensor: no flagship phone has a depth sensor because they aren't needed. Again, it's a makeweight, designed to make the phone look more impressive and is probably something you can instantly dismiss.

The front camera is 8-megapixels and fixed focus. This also offers portrait mode (but without any sort of depth sensor which perhaps proves the point made above). We've not tested the front camera to any great degree, but early test shots suggest it's typical of devices in this position.

Software

• Android 12
• Two OS updates, 3 years security updates

The Nokia G22 launches on Android 12, and those familiar with Android versioning will know that we're already well into Android 13's lifecycle, so it's launching on old software. Furthermore, Nokia is promising two OS updates, which will take it to Android 14. Beyond this there will be no updates.

This isn't a great starting point for software on this device, because Android 14 is already in development and will likely launch in summer 2023, rolling onto Pixel devices at this time. That means that Nokia is some way behind the curve - and it's never going to get beyond software that was announced in 2023.

For security update you'll go one better, because there are 3-years, so you phone will at least be supported until 2026. This is a slightly confusing position given that Nokia pitches this phone as repairable, meaning the hardware may long outlast the software support offered by the company.

As for the software, it's close to stock Android, only with some preinstalled apps - including LinkedIn, Netflix, ExpressVPN, GoPro Quik, Spotify and Booking.com. You might find yourself wanting some of this bloatware, but at least there's no duplication of services - it's Google apps all the way.

First impressions

The Nokia G22's appeal mostly comes from the idea of easy repairability - and having witnessed this phone being cracked open for a battery change, it looks like that's going to be something that's easy to do. It's perhaps strange then that the software side doesn't match this idea of having your device last as long as possible.

As an affordable smartphone, the hardware is fitting to the price, although with discounts and sales you might find some deals on devices drifting towards this price. We've not had a chance to fully test the performance, but first impressions suggest that it's going to be a typical Android experience at this price point.

The Nokia G22 will be available from 8 March 2023.