Nokia 6 was the very first Nokia Android Phone from HMD to hit markets globally. As such it had the big responsibility of carrying that big “Nokia” brand name on its shoulders. And it didn’t disappoint. It earned glowing reviews when it was launched in China followed by Hong Kong and Taiwan.
But it reached other markets quite late and in fact, many markets have seen its launch in August or will see in coming weeks. The global variant is also different from Chinese variant in terms of RAM, as it comes with only 3GB RAM. We have used Nokia 6 Indian variant as our daily driver for around 23 days as per NPU’s tradition.
So, it may help you in deciding whether you should really go for Nokia 6 as your next if you really wanted to own one and are still undecided.
Nokia 6 Design:
Nokia 6 looks every bit like a premium Flagship smartphone design wise. The Aluminum unibody design with excellent build-quality makes a lasting impression. It looks much better than many higher-priced devices from whatever angle you look at it.
Nokia 6 is indeed very robust (built like a tank) and feels great while holding in hand. The only grudge is that battery is non-removable and inserting SIM and SD cards may need you to focus a bit.
Nokia 6 Display (Colors, Outdoors & viewing angles):
Nokia 6 comes with a 5.5” IPS LCD display with Full HD resolution. It has Nokia Sunlight reading technology for better outdoor readability and wide viewing angles.
The display has 2.5 D surface glass protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. We know how good the displays used to be even on Lumia mid-rangers with Nokia display technologies. So, for testing this display we benchmarked it against Nexus 5X, an older flagship and Lumia 640 XL, an older mid-ranger. You can watch the video for more but here are our observations.
- Nokia 6 display is very bright and beats both Nexus 5X and Lumia 640 XL displays in brightness
- It has very good color interpretation and contrast. Colors come out vibrant and blacks look deep even though it is a LCD display. If you decrease the brightness a bit the display looks comparable to Lumia 640 XL display in terms of underlying display technology.
- Fingerprint resistance is a very nice feature of Nokia 6 display and you don’t need to wipe it time and again
- Viewing angles are quite good and outdoor readability is impressive
Nokia 6 Dolby ATMOS Audio Quality:
Nokia 6 comes with Dolby ATMOS surround sound support and this support works both with headset or without headset while using only the speaker. With Dolby ATMOS on (It is on by default) Nokia 6 Audio output is both loud and rich.
Nokia 6 is really a capable smartphone that is fun to use for listening to music, streaming videos and playing games due to its audio output and display quality. You can check our hands-on test video (above).
Nokia 6 Fingerprint Sensor, Android 7.1.1 Nougat OS & native launcher:
Nokia 6 comes with a Fingerprint scanner that can be used to unlock it using your Thumb or any other finger. In fact you can use more than one Thumb or finger to unlock it. For this you need to create Fingerprint proflies of more than one finger in Nokia 6. In this hands-on video, we did a Fingerprint speed test and found it to be quick enough to use as default for unlcoking phone.
Nokia 6 comes with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and runs pure unadulterated Android. Though HMD has a native launcher for Nokia 6 that makes few navigation options like going to all apps easier by just swipping up and down from bottom.
The UI otherwise is typical Nougat UI and Google Assistant can be enabled just by going to settings. HMD has added two motion gestures to Nokia 6. These gestures allow one to silence the ringing phone by flipping it and mute it by picking.
Nokia Support app comes pre-installed on Nokia 6 and all you need to do is to open it and you will be prompted to install the updated version from Play Store. Check it all in the hands-on video below in detail.
Nokia 6 Camera review:
Nokia 6 comes packed with a 16MP camera on the back and a 8MP shooter at the front. Both cameras come with autofocus and have a F/2 aperture. Nokia 6 also has a Dual-Tone flash that should provide adequate illumination and keep low-light captures natural.
Nokia 6 Rear camera is fast and captures accurate colors with good amount of resolved details. In fact it surprises with how much details it can capture. With the good amount of details and accurate colors Nokia 6 rear camera is a winner in its price range for sure.
Coming to video capture, you can capture good quality 1080p video with Nokia 6 rear camera. While there is no OIS (which is usually the case on mid-ranger devices) the camera algorithm smoothens lots of movements indicating some software stabilization in the background. Color accuracy and captured details remain top-notch.
Check our detailed Nokia 6 camera(s) review with Full-size images and video samples by clicking here.
Nokia 6 Performance testing (Gaming, Multitasking & Browsing):
Snapdragon 430 with 3GB RAM and optimized Android 7.1.1 Nougat in Nokia 6 is really a winning combination. We have posted performance video of Nokia 6 with 3 games (Clash of Clans, Asphalt 8 Airborne), 20 browser tabs, Camera and 3-4 other apps open in the background it handles all with elan.
As you will notice in the video, apps/games resume fast from background during multitasking and there are no crashes/lags/freezes even with so much load.
Nokia 6 Battery Life & Call quality:
Nokia 6 has good battery life and I have been getting around 24-28 hrs of battery life with heavy “blogger” usage of the device, which involves lots of browsing, apps testing and daily chores. It may be around 28-32 hrs for a moderate to heavy use and that is really very impressive considering it is a mid-range Android smartphone.
Nokia 6 comes with an Aluminum unibody design but still offers stellar call quality because of its innovative Antenna design. Call reception is usually very good. I didn’t face any issue like call drops etc and it holds well even during long conversations.
Conclusion:
Negatives
- Non-removable battery and inserting SIM and SD cards can be bit tedious
- Camera could have been stellar with OIS support
- Snpadragon 430 processor though works absolutely fine, may be a misfit for mid-range nowadays
Positives
- Flagship like design and premium build quality
- Handles normal to heavy usage scenarios without breaking a sweat
- Imaging quality really good for a low to mid-range smartphone
- Awesome display in its price range with best-in-class color imterpretation, high brightness and outdoor readability
- Dolby ATMOS audio output offers class-leading rich audio experience
Nokia 6 Final words & Video review:
Nokia 6 offers you that true “Nokia” feel. All the elements that ever defined the “Nokia” quality is there in Nokia 6. Great flagship like design, awesome build quality and display, leading imaging quality in its price range combined with the Android 7.1.1 Nougat OS is what you would like to get as your first-ever Nokia Android smartphone. That if you are not holding for Nokia 8 or Nokia 9.
HMD has promised guaranteed two years of Android OS update and monthly security updates for all its Android smartphones. In fact, it has been the first to release July 2017 security update to Nokia 6 beating even Google.
This makes Nokia 6 a highly recommended buy from our side, if you are in for a smartphone that offers flagship like design, great display, good camera and remains secure and supported.
Check our Nokia 6 video review below in case you want to watch it in action too with our full impressions.
Nokia 6 where to Buy:
Visit our dedicated post to check Best Price Deals & Buy links for Nokia 6 from all markets including US, UK, India, Europe.
