Tell HN: Nokia G22 Beware

#1

Post by 2ton_jeff » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 8:53 PM UTC

So I bought a Nokia G22 to replace my old Galaxy, and it has not gone well. I did enjoy hearing the Nokia chime for the first time in nearly 2 decades though, haha.

Deal breaker first and foremost: Nokia/HMD Global Oy has apparently decided not to license any MicroSD storage filesystem, and declares ext4 as a non-portable filesystem and rejects it too. This means that the ONLY filesystem format it will deal with on a MicroSD is FAT32. So my 256GB space shows up correctly as "250GB" but I can't for example store my Signal backup on it because it is >4GB. The device itself's camera is readily capable of storing files larger than 4GB but you can't store that on your own MicroSD either.

Second thing that nearly was a deal-breaker: For reasons unknown, Signal doesn't end up correctly whitelisted for the Android deviceidle feature regardless of all UI-based battery settings/disabling/etc. This means Signal notifications arrive every 10 minutes, and for most people I know including non-technical family, this is unacceptable. The fix requires developer tools and adb: adb shell dumpsys deviceidle disable It is interesting that "org.thoughtcrime.securesms" is indeed in the whitelist, it just doesn't work.

So since this phone was only just released here in Australia, I reached out to their AU support and asked for a refund due to the fact that their MicroSD is basically useless to me. This was their reply: Hi Jeff,

  Thank you for your email and for bringing this to our attention.

  We shall pass on your comments to our product design team.

  Unfortunately as the Nokia G22 is not faulty and works as designed we cannot issue a replacement or refund.
 
  Kind regards,

  Nokia Care Team Australia

Re: Tell HN: Nokia G22 Beware

#2

Post by pestatije » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 9:29 PM UTC

Did you ask for refund/replacement in the shop where you bought it?

Re: Tell HN: Nokia G22 Beware

#3

Post by 2ton_jeff » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 9:45 PM UTC

pestatije wrote: post #2

Did you ask for refund/replacement in the shop where you bought it?

Bought it online directly from Nokia, though it came from their partner Ingram Micro.

Re: Tell HN: Nokia G22 Beware

#4

Post by Nextgrid » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 10:16 PM UTC

I wonder what's the legislation when it comes to conflicts where a vendor sells a defective product and then denies it is faulty. Is there something like a small claims court in your jurisdiction where you can "sue" for the cost of the phone?

Re: Tell HN: Nokia G22 Beware

#5

Post by hammyhavoc » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 11:43 PM UTC

I bought a Nokia a couple years ago, was in the Android One program and meant to receive security patches for at least three years, it got to about month two before it stopped for a year. Completely shambolic. Never again.

Bought a Pixel. It gets updates. It hasn't failed yet. It's fine.

Re: Tell HN: Nokia G22 Beware

#6

Post by jarym » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 12:30 AM UTC

Sounds like Nokia by name, not by reputation. They used to build coherent phones before iPhones decimated them.

Re: Tell HN: Nokia G22 Beware

#7

Post by 2ton_jeff » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 1:12 AM UTC

jarym wrote: post #6

Sounds like Nokia by name, not by reputation. They used to build coherent phones before iPhones decimated them.

One of the things that actually sold me aside from the repairability thing and all was their wikipedia page[0] where it says that "HMD is headquartered in Espoo, Finland, and is largely run by former Nokia executives."

I was rather hoping that it'd be more like the Nokia we all remember from pre-iPhones. Guess not.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMD_Global?useskin=vector

Re: Tell HN: Nokia G22 Beware

#8

Post by NoZebra120vClip » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 1:28 AM UTC

My first ever cell phone was a Nokia, in 1997. It was a "non-functional flip" (just a plastic cover over the mouthpiece) that the sales lady pointed out, as if that would discourage me? Anyway, it had a great LCD, good UI, solid construction, replaceable battery. About two weeks after purchase, I managed to smoosh it in the car door and destroy the display.

So then it was in repair for the rest of eternity, and in return they gave me, as a loaner, a Motorola Brick. It tended to hang up at the slightest provocation. I was living in a shelter and didn't really appreciate the shoddy service. I've never regretted breaking a good device more than that.

Re: Tell HN: Nokia G22 Beware

#9

Post by Aaron2222 » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 2:55 AM UTC

2ton_jeff wrote: post #3

pestatije wrote: post #2

Did you ask for refund/replacement in the shop where you bought it?

Bought it online directly from Nokia, though it came from their partner Ingram Micro.

They have operations in Australia, so they'd be covered by Australian Consumer Law[0], which requires goods to be of "acceptable quality". IANAL, but I think you should have a good claim under that given most other phones support exFAT, and the deficiencies with FAT32.

[0]: https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/buying-products-and-servic...

Re: Tell HN: Nokia G22 Beware

#10

Post by ActorNightly » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 7:01 AM UTC

I feel like all non mainstream phones are not a safe bet anymore.

I bought a Unihertz Titan Pocket last year, was super excited because it was a tiny form factor and a real keyboard.

- Google Messages did not work. Had to use Verizon Messenger app.

- Wifi randomly drops out.

No solutions anywhere to be found. Went back to Pixel.