Nokia X6 Review
Posted by Norman John in Nokia, X-Series, X6
Until Nokia World 2009 the Finnish phone giant had two major series with a letter before the number – the N and the E Series. With the Nokia X6 and X3 they have introduced the new Xseries, a music orientated product-line. Apparently the Nokia X6 is supposed to be the successor of the 5800 Xpress Music, Nokia’s most popular touch-screen device. However, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the Nokia X6?
The main focus of this device is without a doubt the music capability. It comes with 32GB internal memory (there is a 16GB version available too), 32 hours of music playback, loud stereo speakers, decent headphones and on top of that a comes with music subscription is enabled for an entire year. Comes With Music lets you download an unlimited number of musics tracks for 12 months free of charge (network charges may apply). Not only can you download the music on the X6 but also to your computer. In order to prevent pirating, songs are DRM protected. The 3.5mm audio jack on the very top of the device allows you to use standard and high quality headsets.
Nokia has included a decent of over-the-ear headset (depending on country variant) with a remote-control in the box . The sound quality is good indeed and better than all other included headsets we’ve ever tested. In case you want to share your music with the people around you, you can play the music through the stereo speakers situated on the right hand side of the device. This together makes a good music bundle but unfortunately we missed the dedicated music control keys like on the Nokia X3, has. This would have tied a nice bow around this whole package. Other than that there is no way to search for songs. That is a complete no go, especially for a music phone!
We’re positively surprised of the X6’s built quality. Although more than half the device is made out of plastic, it doesn’t feel as cheap as its predecessor. There is a tiny metal stripe on the left and right side of the device, increasing the looks of the X6. The whole display area is made out of scratch-resistant glass which is a big plus. However, our testing device had two little issues. First, the keylock switch on the right hand side was shaking, which kept causing a rattling noise. Second, the battery cover wasn’t as tight as it should be. We don’t want to say that it was too loose but it actually didn’t feel stable at all. Holding the X6 in the hand you instantly notice how thin it is: It’s dimensions are 111 x 51 x 13.8 mm. On the other hand, however, it’s rather tall. Nevertheless, it feels fine in the hand.
On the feature list we don’t find anything new or revolutionary. A five megapixel camera on the back takes decent pictures and offers a bunch of settings like light sensitivity, exposure mode, contrast, sharpness, white balance, different scene modes and more.
Using Share Online you can easily upload pictures or video to services like Flickr, Ovi Share, Vox or many other services. Here some image samples for the X6’s camera:
Next to the camera, which records videos with 640×480 pixels at 30fps, there is also a Dual LED to light up the picture.
The main input method is via the 3.2-inch scratch resistive touch screen. For the very first time Nokia has used a capacitive touchscreen. Thus it doesn’t react on pressure but slight electrical current running through your finger. However, Nokia doesn’t take full advantage of this technology as for example multi-touch isn’t supported. Moreover, the whole UI seems to appear rather old and not as touch-friendly and as intuitive as other UI’s. Kinetic scrolling, to easily scrolling through list, is supported almost every, except for the menu where you actually need it, which is quite disappointing.
You can either use the full QWERTY-keyboard or the numeric on board for entering text. These are of course on-screen keyboards and no physical buttons. If you wish you can set the device so that it provides tactile feedback each time you touch the screen. All in all we found the touch screen to react quite decent but not as good as the iPhone other devices with capacitive touch-screens.
GPS along with A-GPS are on board the X6. Nokia Maps is of course preinstalled. This, however, is an old version. If you visit the Ovi Store you can download the latest Nokia Maps version that offers voice guided pedestrian and car navigation totally free, no matter where you are. The navigation works seamlessly and without any major problems.
In the Internet folder there are many shortcuts. One of which is the web-browser that works fine and displays the web pages just like you know them from your PC with flash and java content. However, there is no kinetic scrolling within the browser. I’d have to say that the web browser is pretty decent, but in no way is it perfect. Other than that there are apps like Facebook, AccuWeathr, Hi5, YouTube and MySpace. As the X6 runs on Symbian you can find thousand of apps on the Internet or via the Ovi Store. For connecting to the web you have the options of using W-Lan as well as HSDPA (3.6 MBps).
On the top you can find a microUSB port. This port is for data-transfer only. Charging over USB isn’t possible, and instead you need to use the former-standard 2mm charger.
The Nokia X6 is no revolutionary device with nothing new besides the capacitive touch screen. S60 5th Edition is still pretty clunky and continues to slow down the user experience. However, for the market it targets and the audience it aims for, it packs everything you need into a slim and compact design. By the way, you can find Nokia X6 downloads here.
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