Top-class hardware and features at an affordable price
Buying a cheap tablet is easy, but finding one with decent specifications and good hardware can be a little more difficult. Nokia released the T20 in late 2021, their first budget-friendly Android tablet and at the end of last year, they announced its successor the T21, which I’ve been using since before Christmas to see if it’s a worthy upgrade.
The T21 looks more premium than the T20 and features a more premium look and finish. The charcoal grey colour has a matte finish with a two-tone effect with a band running across the top of the rear with the flash and camera module on the right and a chrome effect Nokia logo on the left.
I like that the corners are rounded, but not as much as the T20. The bezels are not tiny but are even all the way around and the front-facing camera is housed in the centre on the long edge of the top bezel.
On the left and right edges are two slotted holes for the stereo speakers which offer excellent sound for such a small and slim tablet — the sound quality is much better than I was expecting for such an affordable tablet.
On the bottom right is a 3.5mm headphone jack — a welcome inclusion. The internal DAC isn’t very powerful, so don’t expect power-hungry audiophile headphones to run well although I found more efficient IEMs worked fine in my testing. Also, using the 3.5mm audio cable as an antenna, you can use the T21 to receive FM radio channels.
On the top edge are two holes for the stereo mics. On the left is a volume rocker and on the right is a SIM and microSD card tray. My review variant of the T21 supported WiFi plus 4G — it also comes with a caller app and I was able to make standard phone calls with a SIM installed while at my desk — I’m not suggesting you do this when out and about with your tablet unless you’re using a headset.
The screen is 10.36 inches with a peak brightness of 360 nits, which is too dim for viewing content outside, but perfect for indoors. It supports Wacom Active pens, but I didn’t have one of those to test. Strangely, Nokia doesn’t sell these on their…
