Since then, the Nokia 3 (Review) and Nokia 5 have been launched in India, and now there’s the Nokia 6. The phone was launched in India in June and will go on sale for the first time on Wednesday via Amazon India.
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Nokia 6 is already said to be in huge demand in India, and Amazon India claims that over one million registrations have been made for the first sale. Of all the three Nokia branded Android smartphones, Nokia is believed to have made a comeback with the Nokia 6 device in particular. The phone features a design similar to the Finnish brand, and will offer a stock Android experience with the promise of quick updates.
Out of the three variants available in India, this phone has the best specifications. However, the age of the phone is an issue. Nokia 6 is a mid-range smartphone that was first launched seven months ago and the specifications of the phone are outdated by today’s standards. In terms of price, the phone can compete with its existing rivals.
Is this a successful comeback for a popular brand or is it just talk? Find out in our detailed Nokia 6 review.
nokia 6 design
Similar to the design of the Nokia 3, the Nokia 6 comes in a colourful retail box that will remind you of the old Nokia days. The phone feels sturdy in the hand and the company says that the phone is made from a single piece of 6000 series aluminium.
This adds a lot of strength to the phone and the occasional drop won’t damage the phone. During our review, the Nokia 6 was accidentally dropped a few times but it didn’t suffer any damage. The metallic rear means the phone is slippery and we recommend using the Nokia 6 with a rear cover.
At 7.85mm thick, the Nokia 6 isn’t the thinnest phone out there, but its weight of 169 grams is decent for a phone with a 5.5-inch screen. We didn’t feel comfortable using the phone with one hand for long periods of time as the phone is a bit wide and the lack of rounded edges makes it a bit uncomfortable to hold after a while. We’d recommend phones with rounded edges when it comes to better grip. There’s Corning Gorilla Glass on the front, but you won’t find protection on the edges.
The phone has power and volume buttons on the right side which are easy to use. Antenna bands are provided on the top and bottom of the rear of the phone. Nokia 6 has a 3.5mm audio jack on the top while Nokia 6 has a charging port and dual speakers on the bottom.
The hybrid dual-SIM tray can accommodate two Nano-SIMs but users will have to choose between a second SIM or a microSD card. The front fingerprint scanner is touch-only and does not require any pressing. It also doubles up as a home button. Compared to other phones in the same price range, the Nokia 6’s fingerprint scanner is not very fast at unlocking the device but it is good enough for everyday use.
The primary camera on the phone is oval shaped which will remind you of Nokia’s Lumia days. The single rear sensor comes with a dual-tone flash. The camera is slightly raised and this is another reason why you will need a rear cover. Like other Nokia devices, there is a brand logo on the front and back.
The 5.5-inch screen is bright and the colours are crisp. We had no issues with viewing angles or using the phone in sunlight. However, there is no LED indicator for notifications, which the company claims was decided after thorough market research.
Overall, Nokia 6 will not disappoint you in terms of design. And the phone competes with all other phones in terms of looks. You will find the build quality of the phone good for everyday use.
In the retail box, you will get a power adapter, a charging cable, an earphone, a standard instruction manual, a SIM ejector tool and the phone itself.
Nokia 6 specifications and software
The Nokia 6 features a 5.5-inch Full HD 403 ppi IPS LCD screen. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor and comes with 3GB of RAM. The Snapdragon 430 processor is commonly used in low-cost phones such as the Lenovo K6 Note (Review), Lenovo K6 Power (Review), Vivo Y55L, Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime (Review), Panasonic Eluga Ray Max and Motorola Moto G5.
Nokia 6 has 32 GB storage and support for up to 128 GB microSD card. The phone has a 3000 mAh battery. Talking about the camera, this phone has a 16 megapixel rear and 8 megapixel front camera. Both phones come with aperture F / 2.0. This phone has a micro-USB port which will come with charging and data transfer. Apart from this, there are stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos audio enhancement. The phone also has 4G VoLTE support. There are also features like USB-OTG, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 for connectivity.
HMD Global has promised that all Nokia phones will come with stock Android. This will make it easier to roll out Android updates to the phones. The Nokia 6 runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat and our unit received an over-the-air security update in August. HMD has also promised that the Nokia 6 as well as other phones in the series will receive an Android O update.
With Android Nougat, the Nokia 6 gets almost all the features of Google Pixel devices. One of the features we liked the most on the Nokia 6 is the ability to perform multiple actions by long pressing on an icon. Android 7.1.1 now lets you add six quick toggles to the notification shade, up from five in the previous version.
The camera app can be quickly launched by pressing the power button twice. There are very few third-party apps on the Nokia 6, including Amazon apps, which is probably because the phone is exclusively available on Amazon India. All Google apps on the phone, such as Photos, are installed as a default gallery app. We got a similar experience from the Nokia 6 as we did with the Moto G5 Plus (Review), which also comes in the same price range.
nokia 6 camera performance
The 16-megapixel primary camera on the Nokia 6 locks focus quickly and in adequate light, photos come out with good detail. The phase detection autofocus helps, but at times we noticed that despite the focus being locked, the photos took a while to capture and save. We felt that the colors in the photos were muted, which may not be to the liking of many people. During our experience, the HDR mode also did not help much. Apart from this, there was noticeable distortion around the edges in macro and close-up shots.
The camera takes decent photos at night but only if the lighting is good. In poor lighting, the images come out almost black. The autofocus also doesn’t work well in low light. We had to tap the screen to manually focus and it took us more than one attempt to get the right shot. Talking about night photography, there is a lack of detail and it is clear that the Nokia 6 lags behind other phones in this price range.
The camera app is vanilla which means you don’t get a lot of options unless you download a third-party app. The 8-megapixel front camera takes good selfies if the lighting is good. The quality of selfies is fine for uploading on social media.
nokia 6 performance
The Snapdragon 430 processor is being offered in smartphones priced lower than the Nokia 6. The phone is not bad but it is not the worst in its category either. We had no problem using and loading apps on the phone and the touch response was also good. 3GB of RAM will be fine for most people.
Gaming performance is good and we didn’t face any issues while playing games like Asphalt Nitro on Nokia 6. But the phone does get hot sometimes while playing games, using the camera and GPS navigation which is uncomfortable. Thankfully, the phone cools down immediately after closing the app.
We enjoyed watching videos on the 5.5-inch screen. The quality is good, but we felt other phones in this price range, such as the Moto G5 Plus, have better screens.
In our standard benchmark tests, the Nokia 6 performed better than other phones with the Snapdragon 430 processor.
The dual speakers on the phone produce loud and clear sound. There is Dolby Atmos sound enhancement and the difference is clearly visible when you turn it on and off. We can say that the speakers are the clearest among the phones in this price range. However, the quality of the earphones that come with the phone is average and don’t expect much from it. We suggest that it is better to use your own earphones with the Nokia 6.
When it comes to cellular connectivity, the Nokia 6 will impress you. Voice quality is clear when making calls using the phone and we were able to make VoLTE calls using a Jio SIM. The Nokia 6 does not offer direct 4G video calling yet.
nokia 6 battery life
The Nokia 6 packs a 3000mAh non-removable battery and the company claims that it will last for a day. In our usage, this claim did not prove to be false during everyday use. The phone lasted for 15-16 hours even with apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram, Google Maps, Google Photos and WhatsApp open in the background. Apart from this, in our standard HD video loop test, the phone’s battery lasted for 11 hours and 30 minutes, which is not bad.
However, the lack of fast charging support on the Nokia 6 is disappointing. We found that the Nokia 6 took over two hours to charge, which is typical for phones with larger batteries.
Our verdict
After a wait of six months, the Nokia 6 has finally been launched in the Indian market. The phone is good for everyday use. Its brand, design and build quality are its main features. Stock Android is a good feature and the confirmation of Android O update is also good news. Music lovers will love the high-quality speakers. However, the phone has some drawbacks like average camera, battery life and heating.
The Nokia 6 will be available exclusively on Amazon India starting Wednesday. The phone is priced at Rs 14,999. And overall, it seems overpriced. There are several other smartphones available in the market with similar hardware as the Nokia 6 at a lower price. The Moto G5 Plus (Review) and Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Review) also fall in the same price range and have better specifications. But if you like a bigger screen and don’t mind using a custom UI, the Xiaomi Mi Max 2 is also an option.
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