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Nokia 5.4 2021 – good camera but old hardware

8

Time was that the Nokia 5-series was four steps up from its 1-series three steps down from its 8-series – a cut above average! The Nokia 5.4 2021 is a mix of specs that are outclassed by others in this price bracket. Its a good phone with serious competition.

At $329, the Nokia 5.4 2021 has landed smack in the middle of the latest red-ocean. Motorola is fighting it out with the excellent g9 Play (late 2020, $299 review here 9.6/10), OPPO is on the offensive with its A53/s (2021, $299/329 review here 10/10), vivo is punching above weight with its ‘workers phone – the 5000mAh 128GB Y20s (review here 8.8/10) and Samsung has the new A12 ($299) and A21s ($329/349).

It is not a great place for Nokia to win sales.

To put the Nokia 5.4 2021 in perspective

• Qualcomm SD662
• 4G modem dual sim
• 4/128GB (99 free)/dedicated microSD card to 256GB
• 6.39” 1560×720 LCD
• Wi-Fi N, BT 4.2, NFC
• 48+5+2+2MP camera and 16MP selfie
• 4000mAh and 10W charging
• Android (2 years OS upgrades and three years security patches)
• 2-year warranty
• Website here
• $329 for Polar Night or Dusk Purple from Nokia online, JB Hi-Fi and other reputable bricks and mortar stores
•  Country of manufacture: China by Foxconn
• Nokia is a smartphone brand owned by HMD Global in Espoo, Finland. Many ex-Nokia executives run it. Microsoft previously owned the brand from 2014 to make Windows Mobile handsets. The .4 series are the fifth generation under HMD.

I have the greatest respect for Nokia and my unabashed admiration for what they are trying to do. But the Nokia 5.4 2021 is like it sat in stasis for the past 12 months! This is the 5^th generation 5-series, and it does not class-lead in any aspect. Don’t get me wrong – it is still a good phone but outclassed.

Australian review: Nokia 5.4 Model TA-1337 DS 4/128

It is a nice phone – Dusk Purple (kind of lilac with a faux ribbed painted pattern on the back) – it is a fingerprint magnet. A fingerprint reader (where it should be) and a camera ‘circle’. It is an all-plastic body and frame.

But it seems, at least externally to be little different to the Nokia 5.3 reviewed July 2020 8.6/10.

Screen – 6.39” 1560×720, 269ppi, 19.5:9 LCD

#1 regret is a 720p screen, not particularly bright at 400 nits (claim).

So much so that we tested it. All tests are on battery. It is more like 300 nits with its automatic exposure pushing 375 nits in direct sunlight. Contrast maximum is 1050:1. Colour gamut (claim) is 70% NTSC, but we could only get 84% sRGB (should be well over 90%). Delta E (colour accuracy) is 6.4 (Below 4 is good).

It is scratch resistant (claim) and comes with a plastic fitted screen protector. It does not specify Gorilla or any other toughened glass.

The screen will Netflix stream 1280x720p

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Overall, it’s a serviceable screen because you don’t expect more for the price.

Processor – Qualcomm SD662 11nm

GeekBench 5 single/multi-core gives it 314/1393 which puts it on a par with the SD665 found in the Nokia 5.3. To put that in perspective it is about 10% slower than a Samsung Galaxy S8 circa April 2017.

RAM is LPDRR4X, but the storage is the cheaper eMMC flash memory. It does tend to stutter on multitasking.

It is for casual games use only.

CPU Throttle is minimal. Max 157,010 GIPS, Average 150,415 and 10% loss of performance over a 15-minute test. However, the CPU reached 92°, which is quite hot for an 11nm SoC and external temperature hits 40°. That is an improvement over the Nokia 5.3 that reaches 97°.

Comms

• #2 regret.  Wi-Fi 4 N is single 2.4Ghz band. At two metres from the reference Netgear Nighthawk AX router it gets -4dBM (strong) but only 96Mbps data transfer. It does not have the 5Ghz band.
• #3 regret – BT 4.2 so no multi-point connections and fairly limited range
• NFC – Yes
• GPS – single band
• #4 regret Sensors – the combo Accelerometer and gyroscope means screen rotation is very touchy – turn it off unless you love landscape mode! It has ambient light and rear fingerprint sensor.

The Nokia 5.3 has Wi-Fi AC!

4G – city/suburban use only

It has bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40, 41 – fine for Australia. It has a dual-sim and separate ring tones. The separate microSD is great. VoLTE or Wi-Fi calling depends on your carrier.

The reception is poor at -106dBm/20.8fW (almost unusable in the 3-bar test area). Nor did it find other nearby towers.

It was also unusual that it locked firmly to Band 3 instead of Band 28 that every other review phone uses so far. A complete factory reset fixed the issue. It was -102/63.1fW on band 28 – still very average.

Data transfer on Band 28 DL/UL was 18.8/9.7Mbps/54ms. This is not a fast internet phone.

#5 regret – We also noticed that the signal strength reduces when you hold it closer to the phone’s top. We suspect it is the Qualcomm shared Wi-Fi/LTE antenna that the cause. 

Battery – 4000mAh and 5V/2A USB-C charger

First, the charger may use a USB-A to USB-C cable but neither it nor the device, are USB-C PD standard. In simple terms, USB-C 2.0 looks better than micro-USB. The charger delivers 5V/1.753mA (Power Z-Meter) and takes about four hours for a full charge. Using a higher amperage PD makes no difference.

Tests

• Netflix (screen 50% and Wi-Fi) – 13 hrs
• Typical office use – 12 hrs
• 100% load – 3.4 hours
• GFX Bench Manhattan (3.1) 350 minutes and 1644 frames
• GFX Bench T-Rex 359 minutes and 2847 frames
• Battery discharge idle screen on 400mA

Nokia claims it is a two-day device, but that is with light use. The 11nm SOC should be better at battery use than the Nokia 5.3.

Sound

It has a mono top earpiece and a bottom down-firing speaker. Twin mics assist in hands-free use and offer limited noise cancellation. And the 3.5mm combo jack is nice.

Volume was 75dB Media, 50dB earpiece, 80dB ring, and 75 Alarm – all within spec. Being mono, it does not have a recognisable sound signature (bass-heavy), and there is no sound stage.

We tested with BT 4.2 (no multi-point), supporting SBC, AAC, aptX/adaptive and LDAC. These must be selected from Developer options; otherwise, the phone defaults to SBC.

Build

It is all plastic – back, frame and the protective front screen overlay. While that is typical of phones in this bracket, we began to see signs of wear on the rear camera ring.  That is typical of resting it on a harder surface – in my case, an etched glass desk.

There are wear marks on the camera protection ring – bottom. And the painted plastic is a fingerprint magnet.

In the box

• TPU protective case
• 5V/2A charger and USB-A to USB-C cable
• Standard 3.5mm buds

Android

Nokia is one of the few ‘pure’ Android users offering two years of OS upgrades (it is currently Android 10 and security update 1 January 2021) and three years of security upgrades.

This is perhaps the strongest reason to buy Nokia.

Camera

The rear has a quad-camera – 48MP main, 5MP ultra-wide, 2MP macro and 2MP depth. The front camera is 16MP.

The key difference to the 5.3 is that it was a 13MP – and the 48MP bins down to 12MP in use. It has an f/1.7 aperture and .8um pixels (bins to 1.6um) and a 68° FOV (quite narrow). Video is 1080p@30fps with EIS.

The 5.3 front camera was 4MP, but this is a 16MP that also bins to 4MP in use. It too has a narrow FOV at 65.4°, f/2.0 and 1um (bins to 2).

So, let’s not get carried away with MP. As Nokia will not allow diagnostic software to discover the sensor brand/model, we cannot assess sensor quality.

1x and excellent colour and detail

The Utra-wide lens has a peculiar colour cast

5X zoom – adequate

Good macro but fixed focus means you need to get to 4cm from the object

Great shot with just the slightest colour cast

Good bokeh and great foreground detail

Not bad for <40 lumen darkness

Excellent Night mode courtesy of the Qualcomm SoC and binning

Video

OZO audio improves the audio capturing immensely. 1080p@60fps and 1080@30fps EIS is al you can expect.

Selfie

16MP (binned to 4MP) selfie camera is a big improvement in image quality over the 5.3.

GadgetGuy’s take

The Nokia 5.4 is a capable phone, and the camera upgrade from the 5.3 makes it worthwhile.

Those regrets

Reading the Nokia 5.3 review, I now see that it has some higher specs than the 5.4 – hence you will note my regrets. As stated it’s a good phone, but somehow – let’s blame COVID – Nokia was left behind in the tech race.

For Nokia enthusiasts (and I am one) buy it for pure Android and don’t try to compare it to others in this price bracket.

Where I expect some unique Nokia style and even Finnish quirkiness I got none – it’s a purple glass slab. In my not so humble opinion, this is where Nokia has gone wrong recently.

Rating – Nokia 5.4 2021

The 5.3 scored 8.6/10, and with the regrets, we have to mark the 5.4 down from there. It still passes all our tests.

A good camera but otherwise average specs in a very crowded market.

Features

8.5

Value for money

7.5

Performance

7.5

Ease of use

8.7

Design

8

Positives

Nokia is a brand that deserves to succeed

Good camera with decent low light ability

Negatives

Outclassed by others in this price bracket

8

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Facebook and Apple showdown – advertisements or privacy

Facebook and Apple showdown – who will win? Faced with the tsunami of highly targeted advertisements from Facebook or Apple’s privacy, which would you choose?

And that is what the spat is about. Apple wants to stop apps in general, tracking your every internet move – especially the big scary Facebook that makes squillions from monetising your data whether you like it or not.

And so the Facebook and Apple showdown begins

First, let’s be clear that Facebook will not be the only casualty from Apple’s privacy move. Almost every free and paid app harvests your data in some manner. Many monetise it by selling to Facebook and other data brokers who mix it into your web-profile.

As the hardware and software designer, Apple simply wants to switch-off (default) data harvesting in iOS.

And it is not just Apple. The whole world is starting to take privacy seriously. If the product is free, the product is you.

Although 90% of Google’s revenue is from advertisements, it also wants to tighten privacy from third-party cookies and more nefarious web privacy stealers. It started in Android 10 with every app requiring permission (never, only while using the app, always) and will be tightened in Android 11 onwards to stop the exfiltration of that data. And Chrome Browser is about to block third party cookies by default.

But Google does not have the hardware/software walled-garden that enables Apple to do this with relative speed and ease.

Facebook says Apple is self-serving – it wants your data for its use and advertising revenue

True. Apple still tracks your every physical and internet move via its Apple ID. Apple can directly target you, but it does not sell your data. It boils down to two things.

First, who do you trust more –Apple or Facebook? That is a rhetorical question, but some are stupid enough to overshare on social media without realising the consequences.

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Self-serving? You decide

Second, privacy is the single greatest issue facing humanity. Facebook et al., operate outside the law because it is slow to catch up with the digital age. Facebook could not exist today as a free service if the law made it reveal how it made money!

10-points Apple for a bold move

While Facebook tries to ‘advertise’ that users should trust it – its efforts are futile as it is the least trusted brand on the planet. It rationalises that giving it your data allows it to deliver highly targeted ads to you and support small business. That assertion is absolute garbage as small businesses cannot afford to buy the ‘ad-words’ even to mention against the giants like Amazon.

Apple, however, has a big stick. If the app has reduced functionality because you don’t allow tracking, it is tossed out of the App Store. There must be no penalty for same – and that may see the revival of paid apps that preserve privacy.

If you are an Apple iPhone user have a read of Apples’s response to privacy – A day in the life of your data (care it’s a PDF so check  downloads)

And if the cat had a phone it would be tracked too – Whiska – mmm.

Where is this heading?

To court probably! It is the only way a Facebook and Apple showdown can end. Let’s hope it does and justice sets new benchmarks for app privacy and personal data protection.

Facebook knows all. Shoe size, likes, dislikes, friends, personal secrets etc. It will take a very long time to affect its business by which time it will have found other ways to invade our privacy. Hopefully, legislation may hasten its demise and replace it with other paid and private platforms.

There are thousands of ways to advertise to us. It could be context-based (think Minority Report), location-based, or good old search-based where when you search for a nearby breakfast café it does not show the nearest Maccas.

What to do to tighten privacy now

Apple’s iOS 14.5 and later will have the privacy option. Please use it!

Android users from 10 onwards can always allow, disallow or track during the apps use only. That is not quite enough. By blocking tracking, the app may not work. And when you use the app, it can track you! But Google’s work on stopping third-party cookies is also very brave and will help you.

Here are GadgetGuy’s tips for tighter privacy

• Read the privacy and terms and conditions of use. Know how an app will use your data before you download it.
• Select ‘Ask app not to track’ when asked about Ad Tracking when first installing an app
• Go back into your apps and look at the permissions granted to each. Turn them off and see if the app still works.
• Use an adblocker or enable adblocking in your browser
• Browse in ‘Incognito’ or ‘private’ mode 
• Don’t sign in with Google, Facebook, Apple or Amazon accounts. Always use an email; and password
• Disable location tracking on your phone to stop apps and websites from tracking your location in the background
• Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to hide your true identity from website and app trackers
• Don’t overshare on social media
• Start a conversation with policymakers about privacy

Or just let Facebook get away with selling your data at no benefit to you!

# Delete Facebook

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Beware romance scams on V-day – love bait

The ACC as released stats on romance scams – especially relevant on V-day, Sunday 14 February.

In essence, in 2020 some 3,708 people lost $38,916,120. The 2021 year is off to a shocking start with 264 cases and $5,903,327 in losses.

Romance scams affect all age groups. The amount lost is more prevalent in the 45-54 age group where desperate and dateless seem to be easy prey. Women are more at risk accounting for 72.2% of losses.

And location plays a big part, although we are not sure why (apart from population numbers). NSW is way ahead on the scam scale.

How people are fall for romance scams (ACCC website here)

The vast majority of scams now come via social networking (Facebook). Here over sharing of private information leaves you vulnerable. It could be as innocent as a photo of poor Aunt Annie being lonely to someone’s spouse dying. Automated bots scrape social media for these terms. Then AI analyses what they know about you and produce hit lists for scam operators.

Next most risky are dating apps where you think you have met Mr/Mrs/Other ‘Right’ and conduct a long-distance relationship. It is not long before the scammer asks for money to visit you to take the next step.

Internet is the third major cause and visits to porn and dating sites can lead to entrapment.

Fourth is email, and its importance is declining as people learn not to trust unsolicited approaches. However, many scams use email, SMS and phone as the medium.

However, in January 2021, there was a disturbing trend aimed at the over 65s. Scammers are going in person to nursing homes, retirement villages and seniors’ clubs to prey on those looking for love. It seems that the in-person approach works fastest.

You can read all about this and other scams at the ACCC website.

You can read more GadgetGuy reports about recent scams here

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Telstra will abolish post-paid mobile plans

Tough luck if you don’t like direct debit. Telstra will abolish post-paid mobile plans in a move to eventually make all its consumer-facing services pre-paid via direct debit.

It is a move by stealth. Normally you get a bill that you had 14 days to pay. Now it has been paid via direct debit to your credit card or bank account.

The announcement was without warning. it has left those who like to get an invoice and check it is correct, without recourse. And as it is impossible to contact a human at Telstra disputing the bill will be even harder.

Then there are those with genuine hardship that juggle bills. Sorry that option no longer exists, and you can’t easily contact anyone willing to listen. That right – even 13 22 00 goes automatically to useless and utterly time-consuming Telstra online chat (that you cannot record and save).

Telstra says it is for your own good

‘You will continue to get access to the Telstra Mobile Network, with unlimited standard national talk and text in Australia. You also won’t incur any excess data charges in Australia. Instead, your speeds will slow to a maximum of 1.5Mbps if you exceed your data allowance.’

‘You’ll share your data allowance with up to 10 services on your account. As long as they are also on an upfront mobile plan.’

And it infers that all new transactions – internet, Foxtel etc. will become pre-pay too.

What do you lose?

• Voice to Text 
• Caller Tones
• Mobile Protect
• Telstra Air
• International Roaming (coming)
• One number (share the phone and watch)
• eSim

Not happy Andy

If you don’t want to entrust bank pre-payment details to Telstra, you can move to one of the many MVNOs (Telstra, Optus, Vodafone network resellers) if you first pay off any device or outstanding charges.

That means you won’t be able to transfer your phone number until you are all square with Telstra. Even if you dispute the amount owing.

And if you exist pay-to-pay or your credit card expires before the next bill then services are cut. No questions allowed.

Andy Penn CEO Telstra

GadgetGuy’s take

Telstra will abolish post-paid mobile plans. I won’t comment on the move’s senselessness nor its abandonment of the universal services obligation. It is only good for Tel$tra in that it creates a massive shift forward in cash flow. And a reduction in chasing overdue accounts. It is another sign that Telstra does not want to deal with consumer and small business anymore.

We have long said that Telstra is only interested in high-value enterprise, government and education markets. Its T22 pricing may have reduced 1800 plans to 20. Now its a handful where the cheapest 5G monthly pre-paid is $65 for 80GB. Most users will never consume that.

We find MVNOs and CSPs have a closer relationship with users and offer better value.

So ditch Telstra and find a decent NBN and mobile provider – you may even get your plan for free.

I did and could not be happier.

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