HMD Global, which was specially created to revive the Finnish brand, did not immediately fire all guns. It often happens that the flagship model appears first, holding its chest up and declaring its readiness to dethrone the iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S. Let us recall, for example, Andy Rubin's startup Essential, which stalled even before the first device reached a potential buyer.
HMD Global acted smarter, calmly throwing three inexpensive smartphones onto the market with not very expressive characteristics - at the same time testing the willingness of buyers to respond to the name and counting on at least some sales. Along with smartphones that received digital indices 3, 5 and 6, a push-button telephone was also released - the successor to the legendary 3310. The thing, frankly speaking, is more than controversial, but it fulfilled its role excellently - everyone was talking about the “return of the legend”. Against the backdrop of these conversations, it is possible to slowly expand the sales of smartphones.
The three presented models fall in the price range from 10 to 16 thousand rubles - the most popular among buyers. All three smartphones are similar, they have a common design (which is good), but the characteristics are not outstanding compared to Chinese competitors. However, they are not failures either. Today we will talk in more detail about the eldest of this trinity, Nokia 6.
The smartphone is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 platform, equipped with 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of flash memory, a 5.5-inch LCD display with Full HD resolution, and a fingerprint scanner. The main feature of the smartphone (besides the two “Nokia” inscriptions on the front panel and the back cover) is the latest version of “pure” Android (7.1.1 Nougat) with the promised fastest updates. Nokia, that is, HMD, claims to be working very closely with Google.
Equipment
We are greeted by a box with a rather controversial design decision. If in recent years, Chinese manufacturers have increasingly used minimalism in their products, then Nokia 6 takes us back to the beginning of the 2000s. Not only in design, but also in packaging.
Contents of delivery:
- smartphone
- charger (5V / 2A) (without adapter for our sockets)
- the wire
- instructions in Chinese
- headset
- SIM card clip
As always, the sad thing is that there is no cover inside the box. What's stopping you from putting in the cheapest, transparent case/bumper?
Nokia 6 autonomy
The full Nokia 6 review reveals that it comes with a 3,000mAh battery. The indicator does not seem to be outstanding, but the smartphone will easily survive until the end of the day. Here, already weak performance is more likely to be a plus, reducing the level of energy consumption and, as a result, improving autonomy. Quick Charge 3.0 is supported, thanks to which the battery is fully charged in an hour. But for this you will need to get a more powerful adapter; the standard one takes about 100 minutes, which is also quite good.
Design
Overall, I was very pleased with the design of the device. From the front, of course, you can’t recognize the legendary brand, but from the back, you really can. Thanks to the rather original insertion of a camera module with flash, the device resembles the solution from Huawei – Mate 9.
The Nokia 6 body is made from a single piece of aluminum.
Externally, the smartphone looks nice and expensive, if not for several shortcomings:
1) The back side is completely matte, but fingerprints and dust collect so much! On the front side everything is fine
2) When the display is turned off, at certain angles it gives off a purple manganese color. To be honest, this is the first time I’ve seen this, but it’s very unpleasant for the eyes. Could this be some kind of polar insulation layer?
The “Nokia” print is beautifully done on the front. It is located on the side above the display. This solution always looks cool.
At the bottom there is a touch button that can also read a fingerprint. There are sub-screen buttons on the sides. The pleasant fact is that absolutely nothing creaks or plays.
Two strips for antenna output are located along the perimeter of the upper and lower sides. They are completely invisible in everyday life, but even here there is a certain solid style.
The disappointing thing is that the device has rather thick frames; I don’t remember a smartphone from late 2016 – early 2022 that would have such rather modest percentages of front panel screen usage. Because of this, Nokia 6 becomes a giant in the hands. Still, there are devices that have a 5.5” display, but which can be used with one hand. Here is example number one, and here is the second.
⇡#Appearance, ergonomics and software
While many companies are trying their best to make smartphones different from just another “black rectangle”, Nokia decided to go against the tide by making its devices deliberately simple in design: without a curved back panel, frameless screen and other tricks. But at the same time, the “six” is not at all devoid of breed.
For a smartphone costing 16 thousand rubles, the Nokia 6 is excellently executed - while the completely glass-covered front panel will not surprise anyone, the edges and back cover made of brushed metal have not yet become things for granted for the budget segment. The most pleasant detail is the two frames of polished, unpainted metal around the perimeter. The smartphone is a pleasure to use and the build quality is excellent.
Nokia 6, front panel: above the screen - earpiece and front camera, below the screen - three navigation keys, a fingerprint scanner is built into the central one
But Nokia 6 is a large smartphone. It does not stand out in this regard compared to its direct competitors with displays of the same diagonal (Honor 6X, Xiaomi Redmi 4X), but this is perhaps the only good news. It’s not easy to operate with one hand – there are wide frames around the screen, and the body is quite thick (but not slippery). I will also note that the Home key is located too low - in order to touch it with your thumb, you need to bend it at an unnatural angle. It is advisable to do this while holding the smartphone with your second hand, otherwise it won’t take long for you to drop it. An additional inconvenience is that this key has a built-in fingerprint scanner, so you will have to touch it every time you want to do something with your smartphone. It's inconvenient; placing the sensor on the back cover would look more appropriate.
Nokia 6, rear panel: camera unit and dual LED flash protruding above the body, above which you can see an additional microphone
There are five color options for Nokia 6: black, silver, indigo, copper and glossy Arte Black (with a large amount of RAM and non-volatile memory, more expensive and not yet officially sold in Russia). There are fingerprints on the back cover in the matte version, but I wouldn’t say that in particularly critical quantities - nothing bad happens, this is not Honor 9. Everything is fine with the front panel - there is an oleophobic coating, and it’s quite effective.
Nokia 6, top edge: 3.5 mm mini-jack for headset/headphones and plastic insert for better signal reception
Nokia 6, bottom edge: microUSB port, call microphone and speaker
Interfaces and keys are located in familiar places. On the right is the power button along with a long volume key, on the opposite side is a slot for SIM cards and/or memory cards, on top is a mini-jack, on the bottom is a microUSB port. Yes, smartphones with microUSB are still being released in 2022, and not only in the ultra-budget segment. This no longer seems like a good solution.
Nokia 6, left side: slot for SIM cards and/or microSD memory card
Nokia 6, right side: power and volume keys
Next to the already mentioned “Home” (touch) key, there are two touch navigation control keys. They cannot be swapped; the left one is always responsible for returning to the previous screen, the right one is for calling up the menu of open applications.
The fingerprint scanner itself is not very well implemented. This is a regular capacitive sensor, nothing special - but it has a very small surface area, similar to the Sony Xperia (which has the sensor built into the side key). Because of this, I had to spend almost a record amount of time recording the print. Sometimes you also have to spend two or three touches to unlock the device.
There are no options for using the scanner, other than unlocking and confirming Android Pay payments - this is “stock” Android, Nokia has not added any proprietary bells and whistles.
Nokia 6 UI
View all images (22)I have already identified pure Android and live updates above as the key feature of Nokia 6 - and the words of HMD Global representatives were not empty: literally a couple of days after the start of testing, the first update had already arrived. What does this mean? For the average user, first of all, there are a minimum of problems with security holes. If you are an Android enthusiast, you can also enjoy all the little features that Google is constantly adding to its OS. Here, Nokia devices unexpectedly occupy the niche of the Nexus, which has disappeared into oblivion.
As a result, the smartphone works very quickly and smoothly - I can’t even believe that it only has a Snapdragon 430 inside, and not an older and stronger platform. There are no problems with stability either. And, of course, no extra apps by default. Everything is up to the user.
Display
- 5.5 inches
- resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels
- dot density 401 ppi
The Nokia 6 display is based on an IPS LCD matrix, and I can assure you that the screen is of really high quality. There is no yellowish tone, but it does give off a slight blue-greenish tint. In the settings you can slightly correct the color rendering by adding a yellow tint by 10 / 30 / 50 or 75 percent.
I also want to say about the really high level of maximum brightness, the eyes immediately begin to squint. This means that on the street there will never be problems of the kind when you can’t make out anything because of the sun’s rays. In the photographs below, the “six” is located either on the left or on top.
I completely forgot to say that the display is covered with Gorilla Glass 3 and there is a 2.5D curve. Very small and barely noticeable, but it is there. There is an oleophobic coating, not of the best quality, of course, but most stains and marks are very easily erased from the surface of the screen.
Specifications
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor (model MSM8937) 8 Cortex-A53 cores, up to 1.1 GHz (20 nm, 64-bit)
- Adreno 505 graphics
- RAM 4 GB LPDD3 (after reboot free around 2300 MB)
- 64 GB data storage (52 GB available out of the box)
- Supports Micro SD memory cards up to 256 GB
- 5.5" IPS LCD display with 1920 x 1080 resolution, no air gap
- 8 MP front camera (f/2.0 aperture, one 1.12 micron pixel, 1080p video recording / 30 fps)
- main camera 16 MP (f/2.0 aperture, one 1.0 micron pixel, dual-tone LED flash, 1080p video recording / 30 fps, HDR)
- 3000 mAh battery (no fast charging, 5V/2A)
- OS Android 7.0
- own shell
- Dolby Atmos support, TFA9891 amplifier
- Sensors: accelerometer, light and distance sensor, gyroscope, electronic compass, fingerprint scanner
- Connectors: Micro USB (OTG works), 3.5 mm audio output
- dimensions: 154 x 75.8 x 7.9 mm
- weight 169 grams
Wireless capabilities:
- 2G, 3G, 4G LTE FDD Cat. 4 (Band 1, 3, 5), TDD-LTE (Band 38, 39, 40, 41)
- support for two SIM cards (Micro type)
- Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n, 2.4 GHz), NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, FM radio
- Navigation: GPS, A-GPS, Glonass
I'm immediately pleased with the NFC support.
This means that the way is open for users to make contactless payments (in the future or for some specific applications) and other services using a smartphone. I'm not happy about the chipset. “Dragon” 430 was presented at the end of 2015! And now it’s the end of March 2017. And God bless him, with time, but this processor is a super-budget solution, the red price for a smartphone with which is $100-120.
Let me remind you that the incredibly popular Xiaomi Redmi 3S runs on exactly the same chipset, but how much does it cost, friends...
Communications
The Chinese version of Nokia 6 supports most of our frequencies, which ensures high signal quality and the ability to work with any domestic operator. There is no support for 5 GHz Wi-Fi, only 2.4 GHz. The use of an outdated USB 2.0 port is disappointing, while most new devices get USB Type-C. Using OTG, you can connect external devices to Nokia 6.
Conclusion
The review showed that Nokia 6 turned out to be very controversial, which primarily concerns the weak processor. But there are also many positive aspects, including cameras, display and sound quality. If the price were a little lower, the smartphone would be much more successful, and for its price many would prefer to buy more powerful devices.
Nokia 5 - the manufacturer's attempt to conquer the budget segment was not entirely successful
Nokia 3310 - the return of a legend. Does the telephone have a right to life this year?
Nokia 3 is the most budget in the new line
Nokia 7 Plus - review of one of the most successful phones of the brand
Nokia 8 - that's what a real flagship from the legendary brand means
Nokia 2 is the most affordable device from the manufacturer, the main feature of which is autonomy
Nokia 3.1 - review of a worthy continuation of the manufacturer's budget line
Nokia 6.1 2018 review
Performance
Well, I already voiced the main problem in the last paragraph. That's why it was impossible to install at least Snapdragon 625? As a last resort, there are cheaper analogues in the form of MediaTek Helip P20 / P25.
In general, for the Nokia 6 price of three hundred dollars, we get quite frequent lags even in the system itself. Maybe they haven’t yet had time to optimize, of course, and release an international version with normal firmware, but the fact remains that every call to the top curtain is accompanied by friezes in the animation.
Why did they install as many as 4 gigabytes of RAM on this processor? After all, the smartphone really starts to slow down after 2-3 open programs.
In synthetic tests the following results were obtained:
The same Lenovo Vibe X2 with which the displays were compared scores 55-60 thousand points in the AnTuTu benchmark, although it was introduced at the beginning of 2014.
In terms of gaming performance, everything is very bad.
You can play Asphalt 8 on minimum graphics settings, and the situation is similar with tanks. But most of all I remember the lags in the Nokia 6’s own shell; with such “success” it would be possible to install stock Android 7.0. Perhaps it would be more useful.
Nokia 6 - a million pre-orders in just a week
The once great and mighty company Nokia is returning to the mobile gadget market and has already presented its first device. I'll be back is the first thing that comes to mind when you mention Nokia and its return to the mobile device market, but not everything is as simple as it seems. In fact, the Nokia 6 smartphone was released by the Finnish manufacturer HMD Global, which, in turn, has exclusive rights to use the Nokia trademark. The gadget itself looks like another smartphone from the Lumia line, but it is only available on the Chinese market. If we take away all of the above, the sad fact is that the presented device is a budget one. This is not the kind of return both skeptics and ardent fans of the once great company were expecting, which makes us a little sad. But, this is no longer a failed Windows Phone, but an Android smartphone familiar to everyone, which means the problem of the lack of many applications for the device has disappeared by itself. Without delay, let's take a look at the specifications of the brand new Nokia 6 device.
Photo and video
Perhaps this is the strongest point of this smartphone. That's something, I definitely didn't expect such quality from the resulting photos! Nokia 6 can be called a budget camera phone. Moreover, we get a camera with as much as 16 megapixels! The sensor is kept secret, but some specialized sites seriously compare the Nokia 6 camera with the Oneplus 3T.
Main camera
- resolution 16 MP
- aperture f/2.0
- single pixel size 1 micron
In practice, we really get high-quality photos with high detail in all areas of the frame, including in the corners, where the picture is often blurred due to low-quality lenses. I was pleasantly surprised by the way the flash works; it never misses a shot and the picture is taken at the right second.
We collect the originals of all photographs in one archive from here.
Front-camera
Here Nokia 6 also does not lag behind more expensive smartphones. There is decent detail in the photographs, autofocus is present, of course, and there are almost no errors with light.
- resolution 8 MP
- aperture f/2.0
- single pixel size 1.12 microns
Even in photographs with a lot of light, the face remains accurate and unblurred.
Video shooting
Well, no surprises here. Both the main camera and the front one can record in 1080p. The video quality is good, FPS does not drop, autofocus works more or less smoothly, although errors sometimes occur.
Cameras
A review of the Nokia 6 camera reveals its positive aspects; as with all new devices from the manufacturer, it turned out to be very impressive. There is a 16 megapixel module (f/2.0) installed here, the size of each pixel reaches 1 micron. You can get highly detailed images with good sharpness. We were also pleasantly surprised by the dynamic range; overexposure occurs very rarely even when shooting in bright sunlight. The only thing that spoils the impression is the color rendering.
When shooting with the Nokia 6 camera, in some conditions the frames turn out to be undersaturated and with weak contrast, but this is a software processing error that should be corrected in future updates. A review of the new Nokia 6 showed that when shooting in low light, detail drops slightly, noise appears, the lack of optical stabilization and the weak aperture of the optics make themselves felt. At the same time, the quality remains no worse than average, the image does not turn into continuous noise.
Example photo on Nokia 6
Nokia 6 black review confirms that the maximum resolution for video shooting is FullHD at 60 frames per second. Digital stabilization works well, and autofocus can be considered one of the best on the modern phone market. It instantly focuses on the subject to be photographed. To summarize, I would like to say that the camera turned out to be excellent, albeit without any shortcomings.
Shell
As I already said, sometimes the shell really slows down, but this does not change the fact that it is made quite nicely in appearance. Everywhere there is a blue bias, both in icons and in wallpapers.
And now the main thing! Everything here is in Chinese and there are no services from Google.
This means there is no Play Market here. I can’t say what the installed analogue is called, because I have no idea what the hieroglyphs are in the name. In any case, we need to wait for the release of the international version, but for now the Nokia 6 is just a brick with limited functionality and is expensive.
Sound and multimedia capabilities
The Nokia 6 phone received stereo speakers with a total power of 8 db. In addition to them, the design includes TFA-9891 amplifiers. The speaker sounds very good, there are even low frequencies in a noticeable range. The smartphone is perfect for listening to your favorite music and watching movies. The volume reserve is large, you can be sure that you will not miss an important call in a noisy environment.
The sound quality in the headphones is rather average, in this regard the Nokia 6 is not surprising. If you use a good headset, you can enjoy clear sound and a wide frequency range. And the presence of a built-in amplifier provides an excellent volume reserve even on an amateur-level headset.
Sound quality
Another nice thing about the Nokia 6 smartphone is that it sounds better than most average devices.
Support for Dolby Atmos is declared and the TFA9891 amplifier is built-in, which, for a minute, is in the Google Pixel XL. I think that music lovers will like this device.
By the way, the included headset is of very low quality. With such audio capabilities, putting headphones from a push-button telephone in the package... this is the problem of many Chinese, they do not work out all the details in their products.
Interface and functionality
The Android operating system in Nokia 6 is free of unnecessary software and retains the original interface. Only the Support app has been added, providing direct communication with support - the same feature is also available on the Google Pixel.
To help the user there are instructions, warranty, FAQ, forum and Nokia community chat. Regular software updates are promised.
Battery life
During testing, I charged the device only twice, although a whole week had passed, maybe even a little more. Yes, the limited functionality played a role in such a long survivability, because there’s not much you can do on the Nokia 6, so the charge is spent very little in the background. But compared to modern smartphones, it has a rather modest 3,000 mAh battery.
The Chinese, as always, have provided extended power modes and various energy saving settings in their shell.
Battery endurance
The Nokia 6 battery with a capacity of 3000 mAh is enough for most users to last a whole day without recharging, however, under intense load it will run out faster. A full charge takes less than 3 hours, indicating high energy efficiency.
Here is a battery comparison table for Nokia 6
| Battery life | Nokia 6 | 8 hours 52 minutes |
| Nokia 5 | 8 hours 18 minutes | |
| Nokia 3 | 7 hours 47 minutes | |
| Moto G5 Plus | 10 hours 26 minutes | |
| Charging time | Nokia 6 | 2 hours 51 minutes |
| Nokia 5 | 2 hours 21 minutes | |
| Nokia 3 | 3 hours 1 min. | |
| Moto G5 Plus | 1 hour 26 minutes |
