Nokia X30 5G – Full Review & Price In Nigeria

The Nokia X30 5G is one interesting device. While it has the conventional design of recent Nokia devices, it was built differently. I’m talking Gorilla glass Victus, AMOLED display, and aluminum frame. That’s quite the build quality for a midrange device. Is this the best device yet from Nokia? Is it a flagship killer? Let’s find out.

Nokia X30 5G Price In Nigeria

The Price of the Nokia X30 5G in Nigeria is about N320,000, which is approximately $500. I’m Not sure how much longer this price will remain because of the inconsistent exchange rates. That’s somewhere in the price range of Samsung’s Galaxy A53 and to Some extent, this is actually on par with the A53 and even edges out in some areas, especially with the build quality and probably software reliability.

Nokia X30 5G Review

The Nokia X30 5G from my usage so far is one device I truly appreciate its form and build quality. I kid you not when I say it has this sort of Pixel feel, though not completely on the software side of things, but mostly on the hands-on feel, display quality, and overall user experience.

Since I use similar wallpaper on both this and my Pixel 7, there are times when I’ve picked up the X30 when I actually intended to pick up the Pixel, cos the display quality feels so much similar I don’t realize until after a few seconds within the UI of the X30.

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But this is not a post to compare the Nokia X30 with the Google Pixels, it’s not a flagship device even though it gets a flagship build, it’s a midrange device so it’s only fair to be treated as such.

Nokia also released the G60 alongside the X30 and that’s a more affordable option, sporting the same processor and even getting a higher refresh rate but with a lesser build quality. I have a video comparing both which will be linked in the description.

There’s plenty to love about the Nokia X30 5G however, one of those will probably not be the processor used, which is the Snapdragon 695 which is actually not a problem unless you’re particular about certain things which we’ll talk more about later.

Design & Build Quality

The design on appearance carries that camera bump that some of us want Nokia to get rid of, but its build quality as I mentioned before is mostly flagship worthy. It has an aluminum frame and a gorilla glass Victus-protected display.

The rear has a premium plastic finish and does well to hide smudges. This is the cloudy blue color option but I think most will find the white one most attractive. It’s a device that feels really nice to hold in the hands and I’ll say it achieves that premium feels Nokia was going for.

It is crafted with recycled materials and Nokia says it’s built to last. The box also looks to be done from recycled materials hence this look which is actually the first I’ve seen on any smartphone. I like it.

The X30 has been tagged as Nokia’s most eco-friendly smartphone to date with 100% recycled aluminum and 65% recycled plastic build. But we all know when a brand starts talking eco-friendly and saving the planet we can guess where they’re headed. You don’t get a charger in the box with the Nokia X30 5G. Nokia follows the likes of Samsung, Apple, and Google on that front. So you better plan to spend extra cash on a charging brick if you don’t already have one.

Android Operating System & UI

The X30 5G like most Nokia devices promises 3 years of OS upgrades thanks to the Android One program. This is currently on Android 12 so that’s up to Android 15 guaranteed which is very good, and you don’t see that for most midrange devices except Samsung, and Google Pixel. The software is stock android and has that clean and bloatware-free UI feel. However, we don’t get full Material-U integration here, particularly on app icons. But we get it with the rest of the UI.

RAM & Internal Memory

The X30 for this region comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage which is not expandable, so no SD card slot. I’d say that’s more RAM and Storage than most devices at this price point though. The X30 is a 5G device and also supports eSIM alongside its dual Nano sim slots. It will work with MTN 5G here in Nigeria, and probably any other 5G that gets released in the long run.

3.5mm Jack & IP Rating

The headphone jack is gone and we also do not get stereo speakers with the Nokia X30 5G. However, I find the bottom firing mono speaker quite loud and with good quality. But At this price point, we really should be having stereo speakers. The X30 gets an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance, and that’s a really good improvement from previous Nokia devices.

Display

Talking about previous Nokia devices, this is the first with a proper AMOLED display and I have to say it’s really good, and as I mentioned before, I could barely differentiate it from my Pixel 7 when I use the same wallpaper.

It’s great to see that Nokia went all out on the build quality of the X30 5G and from my personal user experience so far, it’s one of those devices I want to hold on to. It gets a 90hz refresh rate which makes moving around the UI quite smooth for the most part. However, you don’t get that option to set it to 90hz always, it’s either 60hz or adaptive, so the device stays at 60hz and switches to 90 depending on what you’re doing.

As much as I’d love to have it at 90hz always, I think this is the best balance between good battery life high refresh rate. Also, do not forget to point out the fact that most of the competition at this price point gets a 120hz refresh rate, Except the Google Pixels And the iPhones.

Fingerprint Scanner

It gets an optical fingerprint scanner which I find pretty fast and responsive each time. I had no issues using it to unlock the device so far.

Processor Performance & Gaming

The Nokia X30 5G is powered by the Snapdragon 695 which in many ways is a good processor except for the fact that it has a few limitations such as no 4K video recording. Aside from that, it’s a pretty solid processor and will give you stable performance, handling pretty much everything you throw at it.

Pair that with 8GB of RAM and the cleanest software experience and that sums up to a really good user experience. Its gaming performance is pretty standard I’d say, nothing exceptional but you will get a balanced gaming experience at medium graphics for most games.

It might not give you the high graphics gaming performance of the likes of Redmi’s Note 11 Pro Plus 5G but I had no issues gaming here with the games I tried, specifically Apex Legends and Call of Duty mobile. With Apex Legends I was able to play at a consistent 50fps using the recommended graphics setting and very high frame rate.

In all my sessions of gaming, the Nokia X30 5G did well on heat management, and never in my period of use did it get uncomfortably hot, be it gaming, camera use, or extended periods of multitasking. So, I’d say on performance it’s a pretty balanced and solid device.

Battery Capacity

Its battery capacity is 4200mAh and while most may say 5000mAh should be the minimum I’d say it’s quite enough. I’ve never had to worry about its battery draining within a day of use, so it’s safe to say this will take you through an entire day of average use even with Always on Display enabled.

Camera Specs & Video Recording

The Nokia X30 5G comes with two functional rear cameras comprising a 50MP Main camera with OIS, and a 13MP Ultra-wide camera the selfie camera is 16MP.

You will find the cameras to be satisfactory for the most part, especially with the rear cameras. While the photos could use a little bit of vibrance in some HDR scenarios, it does a pretty good job of capturing color-accurate photos.

The Ultra-wide shots also look close in color profile when compared to regular shots. Its low-light performance is impressive. You get good-looking photos from its rear camera when indoors, and night mode shots also come out great. Where I find a little bit of dissatisfaction is in its selfies. You need the proper lighting conditions to get the best but it’s not always consistent.

Portraits look good but the edge detection is not that great. On the bright side, this is a Snapdragon-powered device and GCAM will get you the best out of these cameras. Another area you might find dissatisfaction with the cameras is on video as a device at this price point really should be shooting in 4K. The maximum the Nokia X30 can do is 1080p at 60fps.

The Optical image stabilization is impressive though, and the video quality looks good if you’re not nit-picky about recording in 4K.

Final Words

The Nokia X30 5G is a really good device and probably the best I’ve used from Nokia so far. From its premium build quality down to the overall user experience, I can highly recommend this.

The image processing on the selfie camera could be better though, and pricing could’ve also been better, at least to undercut the competition, but I guess with the such flagship build quality and some standout features, the pricing is probably justified. I’d like to know what you think about the Nokia X30 5G in the comments. I have a post containing the full specifications of the Nokia G60 right here, you can check it out, and hopefully, soon I’ll review the G60 right here.