Nokia X6 First Look

Tweet

X Series is the new naming convention Nokia is following to introduce their Music centric range of phones and Nokia X3 and X6 are the first in the group .  Last week, courtesy Nokia Pakistan , I got a chance to use the much hyped  X6 , the first Nokia touch screen to come with 3.2 inch capacitive glass screen along with

• 16 GB Internal Memory
• 5 MP Carl Zeiss -  Dual LED flash camera
• HSDPA /  3G connectivity
• Media Bar as in other xpress Music phones
• A-GPS , Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• Stereo Speakers.

The Phone

in Hardware section , the paramount feature of Nokia X6 is it’s glass capacitive screen and it sure is good , unlike the earlier resistive screens where one has to drag the finger to move around the menu , a simple swipe can have the menu scrolling . Those used to 5800 Xpress Music and the likes will love this new screen but those moving from iPhone will still notice the lack in finesse , Nokia just can’t bring in the iPhone feel to it . 

One thing which I missed on the capacitive screen is the use of Stylus .  Unlike resistive screen where I can use the stylus to write down the sms in English and Urdu and let the phone do the hand writing recognition for me , on X6 on capacitive screen it’s not possible .

A quick overview around the phone shows the Call Send and End Keys and Menu Key in the front .  These are inbuilt , under the screen , touch sensitive keys and looks sleek with the touch screen profile of X6 .  The top  front of the phone has the ambient sensor , Front Cam and Proximity Sensor along with the Media Bar first introduced in Nokia 5800 Xpress Music to give quick access to Music , Pictures  , Gallery , Video and Web Browser .

On the top of the phone are the Mini USB Port , Mini Pin Charging point and Power Button .  Nokia has moved to Mini USB charging starting from N97 and N86 but why they are still using mini pin charging on X6 is a mystery

.On the bottom side of the phone are the Mic and the slot to open the back cover .  On the right side are the camera keys , Screen Lock Slider and Rubberized volume keys and on the left is the SIm Card slot and speakers

Nokia X6 is made for music and music is what it does best , it has the usual N Series Music Player software so no biggie there but the speakers are something to talk about . Although Nokia’s designers made a disaster of a phone , the Nokia X6 has pointed corners which hurts when held tightly , the speaker placement is great .   the speakers are stealthy and kept a bit above the bottom so as not to get covered when kept on a surface .  I loved the sound of it with full stereo effects , I can even feel the sound travelling between the speakers , juts one small quip , Nokia still needs to improve the Bass , although it’s better than others but still Nokia should invest in some good speakers for their upcoming phones . 

On the back of the phone is the usual Carl Zeiss 5 Mp Camera with Dual LED flash . 

Build Quality

Nokia X6 is one of the worst built phones from Nokia , hold the phone and it gives out a cheap ( not inexpensive ) plasticy feel to it , remove the back cover and you can physically see what I mean . 

The back cover is thin and flexible , although not intended to , I was afraid it will break even with regular opening and closing of it . Inside the cover is another surprise .  Almost with all the new phones , Nokia is experimenting with SIM Card insertion and Nokia X6 is no exception .  In E72 , there is the slide out SIM Tray , in N97 Mini , a totally removable try and in X6 , as the slot type is same as in Nokia 5800 which requires the use of stylus to take out the SIM , Nokia has put in a SIM Slider .  Although a bit tricky to find at first , Nokia has put in a instruction card on how to use it .

The Verdict

We are totally unimpressed with Nokia X6 . At the first look , the phone is non impressive , in my opinion , it’s designers should get a smack behind their head ,  to design such a phone .  Nokia was the pioneer to introduce phones with curved sides which are comfortable to hold but with X6 they have moved to pointed corners , pointy enough to hurt when hold tightly and is very uncomfortable. 

The Screen is great but we think Nokia can do better with it .  The phone runs the usual S60v5 and the outlook of software is same as in Nokia 5230  .  For a High End Music phone like X6 , Nokia could have come with a different UI , what’s the use of buying a Rs 45,000 phone when it’s software looks the same as the Rs 15,000 phone , although X6 has a 300m plus user available memory as compared to 256 MB on N97 Mini /  E72 and 80 MB on Nokia 5800 and 5230

We loved the Speaker placement and the sound quality , X6 is truly a music phone but Nokia has to put in some checks when playing music .  When we were listening to music on it , and also rolling the phone on the hand , a slight touch on the screen forwarded the song or take it to an earlier point .  We agree Capacitive screens are very responsive , but Nokia should work on accidental touches while music playback which ruins the whole experience .

Material wise , Nokia has to work a lot , the quality of material has to be improved , you have used far superior materials like the Mg Alloy in E61 ( I never saw it being repeated anywhere )  which brought the finesse to the phone and also didn’t added to the weight . A little investment here will go a long way in Nokia’s quality and credibility . 

Overall we give this phone a thumb down , people in other countries may like it as it’s bundled with ‘ Comes with Music’  Nokia’s all you can download for one year music plan but it’s not available in Pakistan .  For the price it’s being sold for , we recommend our readers to get a N97 Mini instead of the X6 .

No related posts.

Tagged as: Carl Zeiss, China, Glass, iPHONE, Music, N97 Mini, Nokia