The Nokia G42 is an Android phone with a 6.56 inch, 1612 x 720 pixel, 90 Hz display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 480+ processor, up to 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 5,000 mAh battery.
But what makes it unusual by budget phone standards is that the Nokia G42 is designed with repairability in mind – Phone maker HMD Global has partnered with iFixit to offer repair guides and spare parts that allow you to replace the most commonly broken parts of the phone.
Customers who pick up a Nokia G42 will be able to replace the following parts without sending in the phone for repair or taking it to a repair shop:
- Screen
- Charging port
- Battery
- Back cover
That makes the Nokia G42 the second phone from HMD designed for easy self-repairs. The company launched a slightly cheaper model called the Nokia G22 earlier this year, which also comes with a promise of spare parts and repair guides.
On the one hand, this is a win for sustainability, allowing customers to keep using their phones longer. On the other, HMD is only offering a few years of software support: the Nokia G42 will receive “up to 3 years of monthly security updates” and two major Android updates. Since it ships with Android 13, that means it should get Android 14 and 15 in the next few years, but if you want anything beyond that, you’ll likely have to depend on third-party custom ROMs.
Other features include three rear cameras (50MP primary + 2MP depth and 2MP macro), an 8MP front-facing camera, a USB 2.0 Type-C port with support for 20W fast charging, and support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1, and 5G.
The phone has a mono speaker but dual microphones. And unlike man pricier smartphones, it has a microSD card reader and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
HMD is selling the Nokia G42 in the UK for £199 and it should be available in Europe for €229 and up soon. Unfortunately there’s no word on if or when this model will be available in North America.
On a list of 10 scenarios that have rendered my many phones redundant , unusable, broken in need of repair or require a full replacement, … WATER damage is the least common. And is mostly a result of my own stupidity like sitting in the bath with my phone and eventually nodding off to sleep. Lol ! By far the biggest reason is battery failure and being unable to replace it myself and the cost being more than the phone costs often also having to purchase a new screen at the time of the battery replacement because is it screen isn’t broken it gets broken when dismantling the phone to remove the battery so my next phone will definitely be a repairable Nokia
I agree with other comments: repairability is great, but it needs to be paired with longer software support.
Nokia are coming late to this party – Fairphone and Shift have been doing this for a while now…
IP52 rating. Protected from limited dust ingress. Protected from water spray less than 15 degrees from vertical.
Just as I suspected. You can’t have repairability like this without sacrificing water resistance.
One of the biggest competitors to this phone (in terms of price) is the new Samsung A34, which has an IP67 rating. Pretty similar specs otherwise, but I suspect you’d get a longer period of update support from Samsung.
No, you can have ‘waterproof’ (e.g. IP67) phones with removable batteries: see the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active as an example from nearly 10 years ago.
For whatever reason(s) whether cost, warranty claims, etc., it’s a choice the companies are making.
Exactly! It’s a completely bogus idea that we can’t have waterproof smartphones without removable batteries. Amos Batto does a very good series of detailed blog posts debunking such claims.
You’re absolutely right, it is possible to make them. All that matters is that companies won’t make them.
I agree that it was almost certainly a matter of warranty cost.
Limited software support is just as bad as planned hardware obsolecence. No thanks HMD.
other os?
linux mainline? ubuntu , etc?
Nokia Linux phone ready for end user and compatible with play store. Could that possibly put Nokia back on the map.
The best part about using Linux is nuking your entire desktop by deleting a font dependency or man lang package then having to reinstall the gui all over again using Busybox prompt after your Grub also happened to die at the same time. Or using a .deb within an Arch distro because you don’t know wtf you are doing want the software only to watch your desktop disappear with each click. Deciding whether or not GDM3 or lightdm.. Oh fuck, I have to redo that all now?
works on my machine ™
try postmarket os https://9to5linux.com/postmarketos-23-06-arrives-for-linux-phones-and-tablets-with-gnome-mobile
I no need any playstore I need normal linux
Is the USB-C port really limited to 2.0 spec in 2023?!
Most low-end SOCs are limited to USB 2.0 support.
It’s usually only midrange and flagship smartphones with USB 3.0+
Aside from the lackluster software update commitment, that sounds really great. 2x A76 + 6x A55 cores should be fast enough, and if they make it easy to unlock the bootloader, than the community can solve the software issue on our own. Although, from glancing on XDA forums, it doesn’t sound like nokia has the best track record there…