Looking for an affordable smartphone and you heard about the Nokia 6? If that’s the case, you made the right decision to read this comprehensive Nokia 6 review.
To start with, this review includes all the comprehensive details about this smartphone. I will be providing details on what the Nokia 6 has to offer in terms of its design, display, storage, battery, sensors, and camera.
Furthermore, I will be rating each section of this review. All the information in this review is aimed at helping you make a better purchase decision.
My Initial Thoughts
After releasing their first android smartphone in 2014, Nokia kept mute till they announced their return to the smartphone market in 2017. Instead of manufacturing phones directly, Nokia licensed its name exclusively to HMD Global, a Finnish company made up of ex-Nokia staff.
With this merger of HMD Global and Nokia, we saw the release of three smartphones – Nokia 3, Nokia 5, and the Nokia 6. These devices were mainly created for individuals on a budget and our focus in this review is the Nokia 6.
For a smartphone released in 2017, there’s a tendency you want to discard the Nokia 6 from your options of smartphones to purchase. However, you should hold on and read through this review to know if Nokia’s 2017 “comeback” smartphone is worth considering.
Nokia 6 Design, Dimension & Weight Review
From the outward look of the Nokia 6, you can see Nokia’s attempt in making this smartphone a premium one. For starters, the unibody of the Nokia 6 is made of metal which further gives it a smooth feel.
Even though the Nokia 6 is made out of metal and it’s super smooth, its matte finish makes it easy to grip. This means the Nokia 6 won’t be slipping off your hands unnecessarily.
For a smartphone with a metal body, you would expect that such a phone would attract smudges. Fortunately, the coating used on the Nokia 6 prevents smudges on the phone’s back.
The Nokia 6 also has sharp edges, however, these edges are not as defined as what we see in phones like the Razer Phone. Having said that, this phone’s edges won’t feel like spikes in your hands.
As for color variants, the aesthetics of this device is evident in whatever color variant you go for. You can get the Nokia 6 in Arte Black, Copper, Matte Black, Silver, or Tempered Blue.
On the phone’s surface, you’ll notice the front camera on the top right corner of the top bezel. Beside that camera is the “NOKIA” logo.
Speaking of bezels, the Nokia 6 has thick bezels at the top and lower area of the phone’s surface. The sides, on the other hand, have very slim bezels that look more bezel-less.
The thick lower bezel is where you’ll find the front-mounted fingerprint sensor. As you would expect, the front-mounted fingerprint sensor additionally adds to the lower bezel’s thickness.
Similar to what we see on Samsung phones, the phone’s navigation keys are on both sides of the fingerprint sensor.
Away from that, let’s talk about what’s on this smartphone’s back.
To start with, there’s the same “NOKIA” logo in a vertical position at the center of the phone’s back, far below the camera lens. Right above this logo is the camera which also takes a vertical position on the center of the phone’s back.
This back camera is highlighted with metal on its edges with the camera block. The camera block is a design style bordering the 16MP camera and the LED flash which is just below it.
Furthermore, this camera block makes it impossible for the phone to lay completely flat on a surface. This is because it is designed in such a way that the camera sensor protrudes slightly from the body, making the phone wobbly on a surface.
Away from the phone’s back, let’s talk about the sides. The volume bar on the right side of this phone is made of metal and polished in aluminum.
Below the volume bar is the power button of the Nokia 6. Asides from adjusting the volume, this volume bar is also a shutter button useful for capturing pictures.
On the side of the lower bezels of the phone, there are stereo speakers and the phone’s charging port. Notably, this charging port is not the trendy USB-C charging we see on recent smartphones.
Instead, we have the typical micro USB standard charging port on the Nokia 6. This, however, should not be such a deal-breaker because this device was released in 2017 before the USB-C became so trendy.
The headphone jack is located on the top area of the phone’s body unlike below as we see in more recent smartphones. When it’s time to insert a SIM card, you’ll find the SIM tray on the left-hand side of the phone.
This sim tray is a hybrid dual SIM tray. To further explain, the hybrid dual SIM on the Nokia 6 means that the SIM tray features one nano-SIM card slot and a hybrid slot.
This hybrid slot can take either a second nano-SIM card or a microSD card for expandable memory. It simply means you have the flexibility of choosing between a second SIM card or extra storage.
Having the hybrid dual SIM on an Android smartphone is nothing strange – it has been a trend especially on phones with already large storage. However, if you really need both the microSD card and dual SIM cards inserted at once, this may seem like a limitation.
Having said all that, you’re probably wondering if this smartphone is just right for your hands. Well, as for its dimensions, the Nokia 6 is 154 x 75.8 x 8.4 mm in dimensions.
When it comes to weight, the 169g weight of the Nokia 6 won’t hurt your hands. However, smartphones such as the Alcatel Idol 5S and Motorola G5 are lighter at 149g and 155g respectively.
In the end, Nokia made an effort in making the Nokia 6 a desirable smartphone in terms of design. However, the hybrid SIM slot may have more limitations than advantages.
For the above reason, the Nokia 6 deserves a rating of eight out of ten in this design review.
Nokia 6 Display Features Review
When we talk about display, the IPS LCD is the technology responsible for the Nokia 6 display. Having this display type on this phone is not strange since it is the common display found in most smartphones.
One particular reason it’s common is that the IPS LCD provides high resolutions. This further means IPS LCD displays very rich colors.
With that said, you can expect that the Nokia 6 will deliver excellent color output. This 5.5″ display of the Nokia 6 also has a Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution.
As far as display resolution goes, Full-HD is pretty much average. Nonetheless, the FHD resolution on the Nokia 6 is not inadequate for your daily use.
This Full-HD resolution will present good and clear display quality for your viewing.
As for the 5.5” display, it is just moderate for good viewing on the Nokia 6 – whether it’s gaming or videos. Furthermore, this display goes above the average nits of 400, instead, it has a maximum brightness of 522 nits.
Nits of brightness explain the level at which the screen gets bright. This is an important feature that further lets you know how usable a screen is in low-light situations like being outdoors.
When compared with its competitors, the Motorola G5 has more nits at 570. The Alcatel Idol also does better with its 548 nits of brightness.
With all that said, the Nokia 6 features an average display which is expected at its price point. Based on these, I will be rating Nokia 6 an eight in this display review section for its average display features.
Nokia 6 Camera Features Review
When deciding whether to purchase a phone or not, users consider the smartphone’s camera. I mean, who doesn’t want to take clear-cut pictures for memories!
The camera features of the Nokia 6 is a 16 MP rear camera rated with an aperture of ƒ/2.0. Its front-facing camera, on the other hand, is 8 MP and has ƒ/2.2 aperture.
There’s nothing exceptional about the camera features of the Nokia 6. That is because most smartphones around the range of the Nokia 6 also have such features.
On how the rear-facing camera performs, this camera gives you timid sharpness and low color quality. In general, the picture quality on the Nokia 6 is poor and the phone is not dependable in low light situations.
However, it gets slightly better when you make use of the dual-tone LED flash just below the camera lens. This flash further gives a picture some brightness and exposure.
Also, this rear-facing camera takes rather long to focus which equally affects the results of a picture. As for the front-facing camera, the autofocus feature brings about crispy, clear photos.
The HDR mode on the camera also gives some exposure, it’s however slow in shooting speed which can be annoying. Furthermore, this HDR feature does not extend to the video which means the HDR can be used for taking pictures but not for recording videos.
In a nutshell, good picture quality on the Nokia 6 has a lot to do with lighting and patience for the autofocus. More explicitly, if you’re looking for a reliable camera for “the gram”, the Nokia 6 may not be ideal.
Based on my analysis of the camera features of the Nokia 6, I cannot give it more than a rating of seven in this camera review.
Nokia 6 Battery Life and Talk Time Review
Like the camera, the battery features of the Nokia 6 are not set to blow you away. To begin with, the phone has a 3000 mAh non-removable battery.
As for its battery life, the Nokia 6 has an average talk time of 18 hours.
On video playback, this 3000mAh battery lasts around 9 hours 15 minutes. This is less than the Moto G5 which lasts 13 hours on the same video playback.
Apparently, the Nokia 6 can survive a whole day of use if you reduce the screen brightness and avoid watching videos till you’re plugged into the charger.
Speaking of charging, the Nokia 6 takes 3 hours to get a full charge. Three hours of charging should tell you that this is a slow charge and this smartphone doesn’t have a fast charging feature.
More precisely, the Nokia 6 takes 30 minutes to get 10% of battery charge and needs about three hours of charging to arrive at 60%. You’ll get faster-charging speed when the phone is switched off.
What that means that while you’re charging the phone, you’ll not be able to use it.
In brief, this smartphone’s low battery life and slow charging are discouraging. That said, rating Nokia 6 a seven in this battery review section is reasonable.
Nokia 6 Storage Options & Performance Review
The Nokia 6 comes with two storage options – 32 GB or 64 GB. Having both options is quite common for smartphones of this range.
Just in case you would want some storage expansion, the Nokia 6 supports a microSD of up to 128 GB. By the way, such size of storage expansion is also not unusual.
However, it would have been more desirable if Nokia offered something more of up to 256 GB expandable storage. This is especially expected for its price tag.
Also, less expensive smartphones like the Honor 7X offer 256 GB of expandable storage. This makes the total possible storage of the Honor 7X about 320 GB (64 GB + 256 GB).
Moving on, comparatively, the Honor 7X offers more than the Nokia 6 with a maximum storage of 192 GB (64 GB + 128 GB). That said, it is evident that you’ll most likely run out of storage on the Nokia 6 than the Honor 7X.
It is also worth noting that the 32GB of internal storage is not exactly what you get. To be more precise 22GB is actually what is available for you to use and that’s because of the pre-installed apps and the phone’s operating system.
For some, 22GB will be enough for the videos, apps, games, photos, music, and so on. While for others, even the total 192 GB doesn’t still cut it.
Also, remember the hybrid slot I described in the design section? If you’ll need two SIM cards on this device, you’ll have to forget about the microSD card which leaves you with only 22GB.
With that said, if you’re not particular about storage, you have nothing to worry about. It’s evident that the Nokia 6 has storage limitations that are rather unimpressive.
The Nokia 6 has limited storage features that makes it a con. All things considered, I will be rating Nokia 6 a seven in this storage review.
Nokia 6 Security Features & Sensors Review
Do you fancy unlocking your phone with your fingers? Well, the Nokia 6 comes with one of the most important sensors – a fingerprint sensor.
Having a fingerprint sensor on the Nokia 6 means that you’re able to unlock this phone with just your fingerprint. Without a doubt, fingerprint security is more secure than a conventional PIN lock.
Moreover, this fingerprint sensor is quite responsive and without lags.
Interestingly, you’ll need to place your finger twice on the sensor to unlock your phone. This is because the first contact with the sensor only wakes the phone while the second contact actually authenticates your finger to unlock the phone.
As for other sensors, the Nokia 6 has the essential sensors – Accelerometer (G-sensor), Ambient light sensor, Gyroscope, and proximity sensor. The Accelerometer and Gyro or Gyroscope sensors do the job of tracking a phone’s orientation which automatically rotates the phone when you turn it.
The proximity sensor, on the other hand, detects when you are holding the phone close to your face or ear during a call and turns the display off. This is very important as it reduces the battery consumption of the phone.
As for the Ambient light sensor, it determines the degree of light around the phone and automatically dims the phone’s display. The ambient light sensor like the proximity sensor helps reduce the phone’s battery consumption with its light-dimming feature.
Finally, for this review section, there is nothing mind-blowing about the sensors on the Nokia 6. For that reason, I will be rating it an eight for its sensors.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Nokia 6 has a 3000mAH battery.
The 3000mAH battery can last for up to 9 hours. However, battery performance is largely dependent on usage.
Yes. There is a front-mounted fingerprint sensor on the Nokia 6.
No. This is not a water-resistant smartphone.
You can get the Nokia 6 with 3 GB or 4 GB RAM.
Yes. Is a phone with 4G LTE connectivity.
Yes. This smartphone comes with a Hybrid Dual SIM slot. You can have two nano-SIM cards or one nano-SIM and a microSD card for storage expansion.
The battery on the Nokia 6 is in-built. This means it cannot be removed.
My Final Thoughts
In summary, you can consider the Nokia 6 if you like a smartphone with small dimensions and a beautiful design. This phone is also pretty decent on all fronts which makes it an average phone.
The real negatives of this phone are its limited storage, unimpressive battery, and camera. Its sharp edges may also make it comfortable to hold since it’s not rounded like the Nokia 5 and Moto G5 Plus.
Not forgetting of course that it is an affordable smartphone which makes it appealing to those on a budget. If you’ll want something even lesser, Nokia offers the 3 and 5 which obviously aren’t as good as the 6.
We’ll advise you to go with the Nokia 6 if you can stand its cons. If we’re to compare, the Moto G5 isn’t as aesthetic as the Nokia 6 but the Moto G5 surely offers better than the Nokia 6.
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Reference And Further Reading
- cnet.com – Nokia 6 review
- techradar.com – Nokia 6 (2017) review
- legit.ng – Nokia 6 review, price, specs, is it waterproof?
- androidcentral.com – Nokia 6 review: A great phone with one major drawback
- digit.in – NOKIA 6 REVIEW: NOT WORTH YOUR MONEY
- androidauthority.com – Nokia 6 review
- versus.com – Nokia 6 review: specs and price
- pocket-lint.com – Nokia 6 review: Affordable mid-ranger is on fighting form
- finder.com – Nokia 6 review
- t3.com – NOKIA 6 REVIEW
- theverge.com – Nokia 6 review: budget phone, budget experience
- nokiamob.net – REVIEW: NOKIA 6
- gadgets.ndtv.com – Nokia 6 Review
- [discourse_topic_url]
