So far, all Nokia phones with touch screens have been just terrible. The
shape of the X6 is thus essentially similar to the one looks at 5800
XpressMusic or 5230.
We observe some small differences in shape along the sides of the phone,
but the biggest difference on the physical level is the screen that
stands for. X6 is Nokia’s first phone with a capacitive screen.
Unlike the other touch screen models from Nokia, it thus does not have a
smooth film over the screen, and it seems as if the X6 is designed for
the monitor to endure more.
The screen on the X6 is not mounted as a major in one frame, as it is on
all the other touch-screen versions of Nokia. It is also aligned with
the upper side of the phone and the three physical buttons at the bottom
of the front page.
The call will be relatively short if you call someone to talk with the
help of the physical buttons on the X6. Besides the menu key and
reply/post key we find the volume switch, camera key and power on/off
key as physical keys on the phone.
From Finland with Plastic
There is little more than plastic to behold. Plastic see in them good
enough, except that it probably wear considerably faster than metal
chassis – such as that found on HTC Legend.
It is perhaps not so easy to take off and the battery door terribly
often. Yet it must be noted that after a dozen times on and off, in
connection with switching between phones in the editorial, behind the
door it quickly becomes irritating and it works just not as if it is
firmly on.
All hooks and hinges that will hold the door in place is apparently
where they belong, so this seems to be a small optimal design. Otherwise
the phone seems to be firmly put together.
Continued outdated operating system
Nokia phone running after each well-worn menu system of S60. The system
is based on Symbian, and it will often pull to feel somewhat out of date
compared to competing systems such as Android or the iPhone OS.
Some special operating system has been known to include small intuitive
scrolling through the menus. This is corrected in Nokia X6. It works
with the menus much in the same way throughout the list.
The application menu which we have from the previous versions of the
operating system is used more or less involuntarily to open applications
as the scrolls have now been simply to find out.
The operating system still feels a bit reactionary in relation to
Android and iPhone OS, but it helps very much that the ease of use comes
up – even though the X6 is running the same old set of icons and menus
as we have seen before. The icons are spread out over a grid by default,
but you can also choose to have the menu in list form with lines down
the screen.
One of the reasons why the S60 is perceived as old-fashioned in 2010 is
that the system is somewhat messy. Under the settings for the
personalization of the telephone you will have a choice of themes; while
you can click on the start screen and stumbled right in choosing the
theme for the start screen.
Moreover, the most used browser that has the symbol as the globe and
with the name "Internet" in the menu; we expect strictly to get right on
the Internet via this option. It is no longer clear, as it was before,
that there is talk of a folder of internet-related functions and
software in.
You will also experience as a reactionary having to select connection in
a run. Android and iPhone OS address this distinction that the phone
will automatically select the wireless network where available. Nokia X6
always wonder what kind of connection to use.
Even if you add and connect to an access point for wireless network, and
then go directly to the browser you are still given the options of
using cellular networks or to "Search for WLAN". If you choose to search
for wireless networks, it appears that one is already connected. Quiet
irritating!
With active Standby, the phone can display calendar entries or music
player right on your desktop. Another nifty detail is that the upper
part of the desktop has menu choices. You press the top right you get up
the status of connections and messages. Press the clock will come into
the clock application. In all, there are several small improvements in
the latest edition of S60.
It is also positive that the navigation of the menus is very quickly
done. We experience in all, very few breaks in the navigation on Nokia
X6. If one were to complain about something in this context, it must be
that the phone uses a relatively long time to be ready from the start.
Long startup time is just not something peculiar to X6, but the X6 is
apparently ready for a good while before it can actually be used for
anything. It usually means awful lot of stamina around in the menus
after startup.
Keeping goals in the basic
Text messages go away in a hurry with the alphanumeric keyboard in
portrait mode and full keyboard in landscape mode. Full keyboard has
little small keys, because the screen here is not the greatest.
The sound quality during conversation is impeccable and the volume is
loud enough to hear what’s going on even with a lot of noise around, as
in the noisy city streets or at parties.
Package Contents
- Nokia X6
- Nokia Battery (BL-5J)
- Nokia Stereo Headset (WH-701)
- Nokia Connectivity Cable (CA-101D)
- Nokia High Efficiency Charger (AC-8)
- User Guide
- Mini DVD
On the technology front, the Nokia X6 has the most part we expect from a
phone in this price range. Here you have both super-3G and wireless
networking, and the phone is having the fast internet even in the most
densely populated places.
We also find the GPS receiver and mapping service from Ovi Maps that
have been totally free to use. Here you will get full GPS features
including voice guidance to car use and updated maps.
The service works fine in other countries too, but be aware that if you
do not download the maps before embarking on the trip navigation it will
still end up costing a lot of money. Ovi Maps loads namely the map
along the way if they are not on the phone already. Fortunately, the
maps are pre-downloaded in Nokia’s PC software.
Miserable browser
Here the phone’s menu system is very responsive and most go away in a
hurry is the browser history. This is perceived as a bit slow and
unruly. Even in very simple mobile custom pages, it seems that it lags
behind.
Totally missing is the quick and intuitive response we know from several
competing products. Although your browser is Nokia’s own, E52 was
perceived as significantly faster in response than we find here. E52 has
indeed lower screen resolution to distribute the forces out.
The faster is the wireless connections; the content is downloaded and
displayed very quickly. The super-3G phone uses, however, plenty of time
to download. For some reason it often chooses to download most of the
page before displaying it.
It has become quite common to take down parts of the web pages for
viewing, so that the user has something to watch while the rest of the
page is downloading. The browser in X6 also has this, but it seems as if
it’s only the last remnant of the web pages that can wait. If several
attempts towards full size web pages load the phone down then it takes
about three quarters of the page before anything is displayed on the
screen.
On this phone, the alternative browsers have become almost mandatory.
Performance increases significantly with both Opera Mobile and Opera
Mini which is lightweight.
E-mail without wizard
Recently we have been pleased with Nokia’s easy automatic setup of your
e-mail. The concept has exited that you have entered your e-mail address
and password in a guide that fixes the other settings for you.
At times it has become too much of a good thing, and on some phones it
is almost impossible to set up an email account without going through
this assistant. A little inconvenient when it sometimes did not find out
things.
Mostly, however, is a good guide a good thing to have? X6 has wizards
for some common free email services on the Internet, while other e-mail
accounts must be set up nicely detail for detail, with questions about
everything from ports to whether secure connection is used.
There is usually access to these details, but the wizard we have
previously seen on Nokia phones really simplifies the process in
relation to this.
The e-mail reader works fairly well. It shows inbox line show down, but
it does not display HTML-formatted e-mail. Another objection to the
e-mail reader is that scrolling suddenly just going through right scroll
bar.
One tries to scroll down in the e-mail view, go to the text itself, this
results in the text is marked and you are prompted to copy the text.
Ability to copy is always a good thing, but we need after all, still
scrolling significantly more often than copying. An impractical
solution.
Office Functions
The X6 also found Quickoffice, but there is only one wing cut version
which only can read Office documents supplied. If you wish to edit the
documents you have to buy a license for this. However, it is relatively
easy and you are given the opportunity to do so by attempting edition of
documents. This upgrade is done in a hand turn.
Quickoffice can basically show Powerpoint presentations, spreadsheets
from Excel and documents in Word format. Full license application costs
about $24.
Do you manage with a relatively simple word processor; Nokia’s usual
application note is a good life plank. It works fine for simple
writings, but it does not provide the opportunity for formatting text
and files are saved as plain text.
Calendar of S60 is known style straightforward and easily understood.
One can add many types of events and if active desktop is selected,
these show up on your phone’s home screen when they approach.
Contact List in S60 has been updated with Ovi Chat, one of the many Ovi
services Nokia delivers; otherwise the contact list as we know it. Here
we have more possibilities for alternative grading and we can create
different groups. Unlike the recent Android phones, do not contact list
in X6 is sync against social services.
Nokia X6 does not particularly come loaded with office applications.
This is still a smart phone, and the Committee on Nokia’s Ovi Store is
increasing, as one can to some extent mitigate this himself.
Nokia X-series is following up the old XpressMusic series, and it is
therefore to expect the X6 claims on this front. Here it does not
disappoint.
The phone has 16 gigabytes of internal storage, which can store
relatively large amounts of music. It is also very fast to transfer
music to your phone via USB cable. We’re used to that it takes far more
time than with the X6.
We note first how much music we have actually transferred when mobile
updates its playlists. Thousands of files take a relatively long time to
get into the system. Fortunately, the phone space. For most, there will
be no need to update it in this magnitude very often.
The sound of the music player is good and true. Instrument separation is
nice, but not the best and the phone can operate with normal headphones
as well as revealing the ear with conviction.
You should steer clear of the most demanding headphones into the X6. In
all, it is still good on the audio side, and the phone also received a
very honorable place in our test of music phones a while ago.
Terrible game
It comes with some games preloaded in this phone. To make a short story
even shorter, none of them are very much useless and the first game you
find on Ovi Store will probably be better.
I mainly experienced the games slow and uninspired. Some of the games
are tentative copies of the classics to console and PC. Here we
mentioned including Guitar Rock Tour 2 and Spore. Both concepts work
very well on the platforms they belong to, but less well on a phone.
Diamond Twister is a copy of PopCap Games Bejeweled. The game is
basically a great concept, but the version found on the X6 feels far
less immediate and jewels that we are moving is small.
We also get the honor of pressing us through a whole bunch futile speech
bubbles to create a sort of history for the game which in practice is
an edition of five in a row.
Generally one can say that the graphics, music, and attempt to make the
relatively poor craftsmanship of interest has gone further in the way of
the playability of games.
Video
The screen has good resolution and quality of the video display and the
phone has very good format support, despite the fact that Div X support
is outstanding by their absence.
After a quick conversion to mpeg4 in the correct resolution for your
monitor to the video display we get X6 to work, and it all flows
smoothly in the pace and looks good.
Video recording of the phone takes place in the resolution of 640 x 480
pixels and recording happens to thirty frames per second. Thus, it
should be tailored to completely manage footage, although it cannot be
called HD video.
The results are intermediate good, but no more. It is quite a lot of
compression noise to track the image, even when we choose the highest
quality.
Camera
The camera takes fairly good pictures. It can replace the simplest
compact cameras, but have to report passport in relation to more
expensive cases.
Color reproduction is quite good and the pictures taken in daylight are
well usable, but the camera gives them, as usual, very fast when
darkness falls.
It measured the level of detail in our test camera is relatively good,
but there was relatively clear of the sharpening of the image, we could
probably see more details
In all, the picture quality from the camera approved and a little more
for a phone that is marketed primarily as a camera phone.
Specifications
Size
- Form: Classic with finger-operated touch screen user
interface - Dimensions: 111.0 x 51.0 x 13.8 mm
- Weight: 122 g
Display: 3.2" touch screen (640 x 360 pixels, 16:9 widescreen
aspect ratio)
Colours: White/Yellow, Black, White/Pink
Camera: 5.0 megapixel AF camera (2592 x 1944 pixels)
Memory: 16 GB internal memory
Gaming: Spore, D Mix Tour, Asphalt4
Talk time (maximum): GSM 11 h 30 min, WCDMA 6 h
Standby time (maximum): GSM 420 h, WCDMA 450 h
Connectors
- Micro USB connector for USB 2.0 High Speed to PC
- 3.5 mm Nokia AV connector for audio and TV-out
- Small DC jack
Local connectivity and synchronization
- Bluetooth version
2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate - MTP (Mobile Transfer Protocol) support
- TV out (PAL)
- Support for PC synchronization with Nokia Ovi Suite
Software platform and user interface
- S60 5th Edition
- Symbian OS version 9.4
- Active standby
- Media Bar
- Contacts Bar
Personal information management (PIM): contacts, clock, calendar
etc.
- Support for assigning images to contacts
- Support for contact groups
- Clock: analog, digital, world clock
- Alarm clock
- Reminders
- Calculator
- Calendar with week and month view
- Converter
- Notes
- To-do list
Applications
- Java MIDP 2.0
- Flash Lite 3.0
- Contacts on Ovi
- OSS web browser
- Switch
- Playlist DJ
- Nokia Music Store
- Ovi Maps 3.0
- Map loader
- Nokia Ovi Suite
- Settings Wizard
- Image editor
- Video editor
- Nokia Video Centre
- Share on Ovi
- Over-the-air (OTA) downloads
Conclusion
Nokia X6 is one of the Finnish top models and is currently the only one
who can boast a capacitive screen. Thus, the X6 is the first Nokia phone
that can operate with a light touch, while all the other touch screen
models from Nokia must be pressed.
In addition, most of the technologies we find here are the wireless
network, Super 3G and GPS receiver. Nokia betting heavily on navigation
for the time; so Ovi Maps with free guided tours are pre-installed on
the phone.
When compared to the XpressMusic series, the X6 makes it reasonably well
on the music and multimedia. This phone meets our expectations with
flying colors. It handles music in a good way, even if you invest in
other headphones than those supplied in the box.
The camera gives very good pictures that we are dealing with a phone
that is not primarily marketed as a camera phone. More expensive compact
cameras cannot replace, but snapshots are good as long as the light
plays on the team. Video capture however is not as good.
On the basis of functions X6 performs well. The sound quality during
conversation is very good, and the responsive touch-sensitive screen
makes the text go away as oil lightning.
By prof features phone is including support for Exchange e-mail and
viewing of Office documents. You cannot edit Office documents on the X6
without buying the full version of Quickoffice provided.
What e-mail function concerns, it is worth mentioning that the usual
wizards that will find settings also for more exotic email addresses are
gone. You have to know the settings required, and it is therefore
somewhat more cumbersome to set up e-mail account.
The menus on the Nokia X6 are very fast and an impatient soul will
hardly find any significant to complain about here. What we do not like
is, however, that the contents of the menus are not very consistently
placed.
A concrete example is the choice of themes in the settings. Just below
you will find the option for setting up the start screen – here we find
the election theme of the start screen. Such is the system for a large
part of it all. It’s a bit difficult to know how things can be – not
because the features are directly misplaced, but because it is not clear
how things should come over.
The browser in the X6 is a chapter of its own. It is very slow in almost
all contexts and the experience is similar to the head not the one we
get the menu system in general. The X6 should have an alternative
browser to be regarded as mandatory. Opera for Symbian worked perfectly
on the phone.
In short, we experience the X6 as a relatively mixed experience. Some
stuff is on it, such as multimedia piece. The screen is sensitive and
responsive in which the software hangs with.
The phone’s menus are available long before the phone actually is able
to react to an irritant. So it is that the software does not always work
as expected. We are also experiencing some bugs in the software by the
phone sometimes hangs up – or when a still picture we had just taken
with the camera caught the video show.
If you can tolerate higher prices and bigger screens then Sony Ericsson X10 is a very good alternative. Here
you get even better multimedia features combined with the operating
system Android.
Advantages
- Very good sound quality
in conversation - Mass storage
- Most technologies
- Free navigation
- Fast data transfer
- Good camera
- Quick Menus
- Good music
Disadvantages
- Plastic
Sensation - No card slot
- No e-mail wizard
- Weak-quality video recording
- Miserable games
- Very slow browser
- Cluttered menus
