Nokia X6 Review

Introduction and Design:

Today we are going to introduce the most technologically advanced member of Nokia´s Xseries, the X6. It comes with the impressive 32Gb built-in memory, 3.2-inch capacitive display, 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss Tessar optics and one-year subscription for “Comes with Music”. The latter service allows for download of music completely free of charge from an online server that features rich audio libraryand you can do it without violating anyone´s copyright, plus you are permitted to keep all the tracks you downloaded onto your phone or computer when the subscription expires. Unofficial information has it that a version of the X6 equipped with 16Gb built-in memory and without “Comes with Music” is coming February 2010.

You will not find anything coming out of left field in the box – the handset comes boxed with a pair of headphones, USB cable, software CD, user guide and a booklet that contains your own “Comes with Music” registration code. It would have been great if the manufacturer had thrown a phone cover designed to protect the device against scratches into the deal, but apparently Nokia has opted toremain true to its newly established corporate policy of cutting corners. You just won´t fail to notice that last year´s top music-oriented handset of the manufacturer, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic came with quite richer accessory pack that included things like, say, TV cable… Well, the financial meltdown seems to have made everyone stingier, tighten their belt and batten down the hatches.

Every bird likes its own nest really, but the manufacturer simply cannot afford to blow its own trumpet on a product portfolio that includes too many handsets with touch-sensitive screens not to mention that, at least until now, they were all equipped with displays utilizing resistive technology. The 3.2-inch screen of the Nokia X6 is the first to integrate capacitive one and we have to say its overall sensitivity is substantially better than its resistive counterparts. It comes with native resolution of 360x640 pixels, supports 16mln colors and as a whole, the image quality is pretty good, plus the screen remains usable even in direct sunlight.

The front side of the Nokia X6 hosts video call camera, touch-sensitive button than calls up a dedicated shortcut menu, send and end keys as well as a button to open the main menu. All told, they all feel handy to use.



The SIM card slot is located on the left hand side, but since it lacks spring eject mechanism, you would have to remove the back panel and battery to take the card out. What you have on the opposite side is camera shutter, screen lock switch and volume rocker. We didn’t encounter any issues with any of them, since they all feature proper travel.

The 3.5mm jack is on the top, along with the charger and microUSB ports and power on button.



We just cannot say we are greatly pleased with the overall build quality really, because the Nokia X6 just doesn’t feel as good in your hand as such a high-end device should, not to mention the back panel appears… downright cheap. Still, keep in mind the phone is quite tall and you will definitely feel it clearly in your pocket, not last due to its relatively bulky weight of 4.3 oz.



You can compare the Nokia X6 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

In step with the overall styling of all other Nokia handsets with touch-sensitive screens, the X6 features symmetrical design and the space above and below the display and to the edges is equal. In our opinion, the phone looks slightly boring, or to put it in other words, it failed to capture our imagination. We do prefer the shapes of the Samsung BEAT DJ М7600 and Nokia 5530 XpressMusic.

Interface and Functionality:

Similarly to all other Nokia cell phones with touch-sensitive screens, the X6 is a smartphone. It is based on Symbian 9.4 S60 5th edition and in other words, the software is identical to the version running on the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic. You will not find anything new. Several home screen themes come preloaded onto the handset, but the one we like bestis the pack that allows for visualization of contacts with pictures. If anything, you can take a look at all the correspondence exchanged with the person when you select one. Unlike the Nokia N97 and N97 mini, you are not permitted to rearrange the on-screen interface elements.

We need to point out that the interface of the S60 5th edition feels comfy to work with on resistive screens. The Nokia X6 is the manufacturer´s first cell phone that integrates a capacitive screen and the interface feels comfier than ever, plus you´ve got kinetic scrolling that makes browsing long lists much faster and easier.



One of the phone book options that we like best is that filtering shows only relevant letters of the alphabet, i.e. only those making up the names of your contacts. Moreover, you can add tons of details about any single entry, although unfortunately, you don’t have the option to filter names by punching in digits and dialling numbers.  



The Nokia X6 offers automated email setup if you are registered with major service providers, which means accessing your inbox is, more often than not, extremely easy. You are allowed to deploy several email accounts and switching between them is quite hassle-free really. The improved screen sensitivity has a positive effect on message composing as well. We would have liked the QWERTY keyboard better if there the space in between buttons was larger, but still, it allows for fast and almost error-free text entry. Just to save you some time spent pondering over the matter, you can access symbols by pressing the key with “1*” designation on it.



The Nokia X6 doesn’t sport multitouch support and you control the browser in much the traditional way, i.e. by using one finger. You can zoom via double taps, but the page doesn’t get reformatted so as to become easier to read. If you need to zoom in or out on something more smoothly, you will have to use the screen slider and we cannot say the whole thing is exceptionally comfy to get down to. The browser allows for proper visualization and scrolling of pages, but all told, itlags behind what the cream of the crop smartphones are equipped with. You can watch Flash videos, but you are limited to YouTube only, unlike with Symbian-based devices equipped with normal and not touch-sensitive displays that come with support for YouTube videos embedded on whatever webpages. We do believe it´s about time the feature came to all touch-screen models of Nokia.



We like the built-in Facebook application that is properly made and gives you the option to use all basic functions of the social network. Still, we would by no means object to a program that runs a tad faster.

Camera:

The Nokia X6 comes with a camera with 5-megapixel sensor. Similarly to all other high-end models of the manufacturer, it is equipped with Carl Zeiss Tessar optics and in addition, a double LED flash. We know its interface to bits from all other handsets running S60 5th Edition. As a whole it´s acceptable, but switching between the many options is slightly inconvenient. You can share snapshots over Ovi and Vox right on taking them, but additional services like Facebook, Picasa, Flickr etc are disallowed.



We cannot say we are utterly impressed by the image quality. Yes, they pictures certainly have enough details and the flash helps a lot if you want to capture a decent snapshot in poor lighting conditions, but all told, their colors are surreal. Finally, warm colors appearexcessively saturated, while cold hues are plagued by noticeable purple fringing.




The handset captures video with maximum resolution of 640x480 pixels and at 30 frames per second, plus you have the option to take widescreen content. The image quality is slightly noisier than what we would have liked to see, but the quality is acceptable on the overall and the sound tracks to the videos are proper. You will be happy to find out that all clips you take are suitable for both various websites and being watched on a normal TV set. You can actually do the latter directly from the handset, but you would have to shell out for a TV cable, since you are not getting one with the phone.

Nokia X6 sample video at 640x480 pixels resolution

Multimedia:

As we have already mentioned, the Nokia X6 is sold with one year subscription for the Nokia service “Comes with Music” that is currently unavailable to customers across the US. Unlike other music-oriented handsets, you cannot buy a contract-free X6 here. However, the rumor has it that a version without “Comes with Music” is hitting the shelves February 2010. In other words, since you get the service now, like it or lump it, you might as well take full advantage of what´s on offer. If anything, the service costs and makes up a hefty part of the price of the device. The online audio library is huge... and we do mean HUGE. You will have to break some sweat in order to find a track that is not readily available there, not to mention you get suggestions like when searching for specific artists and songs.



So far so good, you can download tons of music directly onto your device. So, what´s next? Well, once you´ve done that it´s time you get down to the standard audio player that doesn’t offer any features we would refer to as out of this world, but delivers proper functionality and you get virtually everything you may come to need, including content filtering by relevant artist, group, composer etc. and equalizer with a great number of options. Unfortunately, you just cannot play with tracks and use the phone as a virtual DJ board, a feature that we quite enjoyed on the Samsung BEAT DJ M7600. However, the device comes preloaded with a program called Playlist DJ that allows for selection of up to four leading factors that the cell phone is supposed to take into account when creating a playlist to suit your current mood. The function is quite similar to SenseMen available on Sony Ericsson devices, with the major difference being you can define the required tempo and mood directly from the handset, without having to resort to your desktop computer. As a whole, the playlists the program comes up with are quite accurate indeed.



You feel like listening to radio? No problem at all. But you have to plug in the headset. Why? Frankly, we don´t have a clue. Why the high-end X6, Nokia´s flagship device comes without a built-in aerial while the much cheaper Nokia X3 is equipped with one is beyond us and something we will never know. Alas, you will have to rely on pretty much the standard means of listening to radio and truly, this is something we can live with. You´ve got RDS proper functionality and the handset visualizes the radio station you´ve tuned in to in quite a spectacular way.



As a whole, one of the best aspects of the Nokia X6 is the audio quality it delivers that is, hands down, one of the best we have ever witnessed. The loudspeakers don’t pack much punch really and happen to be weaker than what the Nokia N95 8GB is equipped with, but they offer sound with utmost clarity and the audio quality through the boxed headset is comparable to what standalone music players offer (we compared the handset to the iPod nano 2GB). Still, we would advise you to avoid relishing your favourite music with the volume going at full blast, you certainly may end up damaging your hearing, plus the sound tends to get unpleasantly sharp.

The X6 sports beautiful 3.2-inch display and of course, at some point we got struck by the otherwise pretty logical idea to give its video playback capabilities a go. We didn’t linger on thinking more of it and uploaded a 3.2GB worth of video clips relatively fast (fast here stands for about 40 minutes). Finally we got round to watching them… which proved to be an experience that finished pretty fast as well, because it turned out the phone supports only MPEG4 files with resolution of 640x480 pixels or lower. On the other hand, the overall quality is pleasing, videos played smoothly and it would have been great it the handset featured native support for DivX and Xvidcontent, because we would have, by no means, objected to being spared all the hassle involved in converting videos. However, you can get such support by installing third party software.

Performance and Conclusion:

The Nokia X6 performs very well during talks. Voices of people sounded realistic and pretty loud on our end of the line during the tests. We have to admit the in-call quality is one of the best we have evidenced to date. Our callers didn’t have any complaints either and didn’t mention any issues like problems relating to unintelligible voices or surreal sound even on a single occasion.

The battery is a tough performer as well and provides 6 hours of continuous talk and keeps the handset operational for up to 420 hours in standby. You can enjoy continuous audio playback of no less but 35 hours if you fully charge the battery.

As a whole, the Nokia X6 has one truly brilliant aspect, namely most impressive sound quality during both audio playback and talks. If you happen to be an avid music fan and willing to download music without violating anyone´s copyright, you might like the X6 indeed. The same, however, applies to virtually all devices with the manufacturer´s “Comes with Music” service. Finally, the capacitive screen is a great extra feature that sweetens the pot.

However, we simply must point out the Nokia X6 is probably the most heavily overpriced handset on the market today and its price tag of almost $730 as of now is way too hefty for what you get. Well, it´s certainly true that you would get a capable music-oriented cell phone for the amount of money you would fork out that also features 32GB built-in memory, but we tend to think the price is excruciating for a “Comes with Music” device, meaning the investment would eventually pay off if you do download A LOT OF music. More unpretending music buffs willing to take advantage of “Comes with Music” will be better off opting for the substantially cheaper Nokia 5800 XpressMusic (plus the 5530 XpressMusic and 5130 XpressMusic are also great options) and use the extra cash for whatever, even buying tons of legal CDs and albums. In case you are truly fascinated by the X6, but you don´t seem to agree with Nokia on the price, you better wait and see whether or not the manufacturer intends to release a version without the “Comes with Music” service – the rumor has it the handset will hit the shelves at the much more affordable price of $565, which means pretty closer to all the rest high-end, music-oriented handsets on the market today.

If we disregard its music capabilities, the Nokia X6 can hardly be called a truly competitive device, because you can easily get yourself the Samsung Omnia HD i8910 that delivers HD video capture, awesome 8-megapixel camera and full DivX/Xvid support and for pretty much the same amount of money. The Samsung Jet S8000 and BEAT DJ M7600 are not smartphones, but sport more extra features than the Nokia X6. The iPhone 3GS 32GB is more expensive, of course, but its software functionality is superior, while the sound quality is similar. All told, there is no room for a device like the Nokia X6 on the market today, at least not now and not it the this particular price range.

Nokia X6 Video Review: