All innovations in Nokia phones are made gradually, that’s why the new Nokia X6 cannot be called a revolutionary device in any case. It is rather an attempt to offer customers a decent sample in the market of touchphones where the Finnish vendor appeared much later than its direct competitors. In addition, Nokia X6 is the first XpressMusic phone in the segment of high-end devices (earlier the company was limited to the release of middle class music phones), as well as the first Finnish touchphone with a capacitive screen.
Nokia X6 is available in the market in two models – Nokia X6 16GB and Nokia X6 32GB. The only difference is the amount of internal memory – 16 GB and 32 GB respectively.
Nokia X6 Specifications:
- Network: GSM / GPRS / EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), WCDMA / HSDPA (900/1900/2100 MHz)
- Platform: Symbian OS v9.4, S60 5th Edition
- Display: touch-sensitive, capacitive, 3,2”, 640 x 360 pixels, 16:9 ratio, TFT
- Camera: 5 megapixel, Carl Zeiss, dual LED-flash, autofocus
- Additional camera: yes
- Processor: ARM 11, 434 MHz
- RAM: 128 MB
- ROM: 512 MB
- Internal memory: 16 GB and 32 GB
- Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
- A-GPS
- Wi-Fi (802.11b / g)
- Accelerometer
- microUSB 2.0
- Proximity, lighting, location sensors
- Audio: AAC, AAC +, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AU, AWB, eAAC +, M4A, MIDI Tones (poly 64), Mobile XMF, MP3, MP4, RealAudio 7, 8, RMF, SND, SP-MIDI, True tones, WAV, WMA, WVE
- Video: 3GPP (H.263), Flash Video, H.264/AVC, MPEG-4, RealVideo 7,8, WMV 9
- Images: BMP, EXIF, GIF87a, GIF89a, JPEG, JPEG 2000, MBM, OTA, PNG, TIFF, WBMP, WMF
- Games: Spore, Asphalt4 and DJ Mix Tour
- Battery: BL-5J, 1320 mAh
- Talk time: up to 8.5 hours in GSM networks, up to 6 hours in WCDMA networks
- Standby time: up to 18 days
- Time during video playback: up to 3,6 hours
- Time during audio playback: up to 35 hours
- Dimensions: 111 x 51 x 13,8 mm
- Weight: 122 grams
- Formfactor: bar with a touchscreen
- Type: smartphone
- Date of announcement: September 2, 2009
- Release date: the fourth quarter of 2009
Key disadvantages:
- High price
- Crude user interface
- Internet browser with a touchscreen interface has not been improved enough for a general functioning, support for Flash leaves much to be desired
- No pre-installed applications for viewing documents
- There is no availability of charging with microUSB
- Slow functioning of the image gallery
- Video player does not support DivX / XviD
- No slot for a microSD card
- In terms of software Nokia X6 can not surprise users with something absolutely new, that’s why the imposing price of the touchphone is explained, first of all, by the “hardware” and positioning.
In the Box
Along with the phone, in the box of Nokia X6 the buyser can also find a headset of Nokia WH-500 – a decent gift for lovers of quality sound. The price of the headset itself is quite comparable with the price of a cheap Nokia phone, and although Nokia WH-500 is certainly not the best example of audio devices, the quality of the headset excels in the quality of usual headphones, with which Nokia phones are complemented.
It is worth considering that in some countries, Nokia sells X6 without a headset, so before buying a phone, make sure to ask about the box contents.
In addition to the phone and headset the box includes a battery charger, a microUSB cable, a booklet with the key that will be required to activate the service Comes with Music and the standard user manual.
Display
The main advantage of Nokia X6 is certainly the 3.2-inch touch display with 16 million colors and a resolution of 360 x 640 points. The size and resolution of the display according to modern standards are something average, but the major innovation of the display of Nokia X6 is the capacitive technology due to which only a slight touch and not a confident press is required to control the phone functions. An obvious, but minor shortcoming of the capacitive touchscreen is the inability of using the stylus.
Unfortunately, the improved speed of the responsiveness of the capacitive screen is practically reduced to crude software of the phone. Quick response is noticeable when dealing with simple menus, where the phone is not required to perform many calculations, and with more complex operations all the advantages of capacitive display are minimized by slow software functioning.
Another disadvantage of the touch-screen of Nokia X6 is the fuzzy image under directed sunlight. Moreover, in this respect Nokia X6 is one of the worst in the line of Nokia.
User Interface
Despite the fact that Nokia X6 is the first phone with a capacitive touch screen, released by the Finnish company, Symbian S60 5th edition has not changed at all. That’s why the owners of Nokia touch phones will be familiar with the touch OS of the new X6. The first thing to mention is the convenient kinetic scrolling, available in almost every menu of the user interface, from viewing documents to the image gallery and the list of contacts. The kinetic scrolling does not work in the menu with icons (including the main menu).
The principle of scrolling in menu with icons is definitely inconvenient for those, who use Nokia touchphones for the first time. It will be simply incomprehensible: to look through the icons, you must send/direct the arrow of selection to the opposite edge of the display.
Despite this flaw, the general scrolling in Nokia X6 has been implemented as well as in Apple iPhone. After all Apple sells one of the best phones with touch control. Inclusion of the text input mode automatically displays the full virtual QWERTY-keyboard. Fans of widgets will not find them in the new X6.
Thus, S60 5th edition user interface has both advantages and drawbacks – it depends on the experience of the users and their habits. For those who had previously worked with Nokia touchphones, the new Nokia X6 will seem totally familiar. However, for users who had previously worked with alternative touch platforms, S60 5th edition is not the most convenient interface.
Music Player
Music player of Nokia X6 is quite functional and at the same time, it is usual, without changing since Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. The music library is automatically sorted by song title, genre, album. The player supports the ability to create playlists and equalizer settings.
The process of adding new tracks to the library is limited to one movement – renewal option selection. If you download new songs on the phone with Nokia PC Suite PC-based applications, there is no need even for that. Music player of Nokia X6 supports a huge number of different audio formats, thus it is almost impossible (unless you’re a fan of Lossless)to come across an audio file that the device does not recognize.
Music player of Nokia X6 can operate in the background regime- in this case a small icon appears on the desktop indicating the name of playing track. In the turned form you can control the basic functions of the player.
Playlist DJ
One of the innovations in multimedia arsenal of Nokia X6 is the application Playlist DJ, in functionality similar to the Sony Ericsson SensMe, but it is controlled in a bit different way.
The application provides the user with four sliding scale – Joy, Passion, Anger, and Tempo. Depending on your mood you can set certain values, then Playlist DJ will choose the appropriate tracks from the library and will create a playlist. Another interesting feature of Playlist DJ is the creation of playlist of similar songs, that is songs, which, according to mood, are similar to the current playing track.
Music Store and Comes With Music
Most of the new Nokia models support Music Store, but in case of Nokia X6 phone the owners will receive a free subscription for a year to an impressive collection of songs presented in Nokia Music Store – Comes With Music. Practically, this provides a possibility of infinite and free download of any kind of music – and taking into account the 32 GB memory Nokia X6 allows you to store really a great collection of tracks. One shortcoming is the protection of DRM files.
Music Store interface is as simple as possible – banner of the popular singer from the country of mobile phone owner, the search bar by the compositions, to search for songs and albums by genre or charts of the selected country. In addition, on the main page of Music Store new releases, the most popular songs and albums, a few playlists are also presented. Before downloading a song or an entire album you can listen to 30-second extract of the tracks.
Video player
The display with imposing size makes watching videoes on Nokia X6 into a pleasure – but the lack of DivX and XviD endecs makes video files playing difficult.
To avoid difficulties, you can use the built-in application Nokia PC Suite, which automatically converts video files of any format in files with format and resolution supported by the phone. Of course, this method has its drawbacks – the converter compresses even the highest quality video file, as a result of which the image is too pixelized.
Using RealPlayer or Video Сenter (access to which is through Media buttons, located above the display), you can not only view the video files stored in phone memory or in memory card, but also watch video contents online.
Camera: Advantages and disadvantages
Nokia X6 is equipped with a 5 megapixel camera with a maximum resolution image of 2592 x 1944 pixels. Carl Zeiss optics guarantee high quality images.
User interface of the camera is analogous with the interface of Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and is similar to the N97 and N97 mini – a few changes had little impact on the final result.
All camera settings can be found in a common menu – except for the activation of the flash, as there is a separate icon for this feature. The number of settings is large enough: from manually customiazble balance of white and ISO, to exposure, contrast and brightness. In addition, the interface of the camera supports the ability to insert tags.
Despite rather impressive functionality, the camera of Nokia X6 does not have the majority of new features offered by manufacturers of camera phones – for example, the function of face and smile detection, glare prevention.
The camera interface in record mode does not differ from image shooting/making mode. Camera of Nokia X6 supports VGA-video shooting or files with a resolution of the display (640 x 352 pixels) – in both cases with speed of 30 frames per second. Video quality is high: colors and white balance are sustained almost perfectly.
Internet Browser
Standard web browser S60 is now even more convenient with the appearance of the kinetic scrolling X6. This, however, does not mean that the new browser of Nokia touchphone has absolutely no flaws – developments for Android and iPhone platforms in terms of interface convenience are far ahead.
Nokia X6 browser has a good algorithm for rendering, displaying the majority of sites correctly. Among the convenience features are password manager, auto-completion, different sizes of fonts. The built-in RSS-reader supports most formats of RSS-tapes, and the download manager allows you to download any type of files. In addition, Nokia X6 browser supports pop-up block function.
As for large pages, mini-map and function for searching by keywords are provided. Despite the declared support for Flash, Nokia X6 browser makes it very uncomfortable to view online videos on YouTube and similar video hosting services: in some cases, the player simply does not load, while in other cases a simple turn of the display hangs the browser in panoramic mode.
Ovi Maps
Nokia X6 is equipped with a built-in GPS-module and, thanks to its large display with high resolution can become a very useful and convenient navigation device.
In addition, Nokia X6 provides the preinstalled Ovi Maps application. An impressive set of maps is available free of charge. Guide Michelin and Lonely Planet are also included.
The program includes 2D and 3D maps, satellite and hybrid maps – for the latter internet connection will be required. The process route (tracing) is easily optimized in accordance with the preferences of the phone owner.Ovi Maps are also suitable for pedestrian navigation.
Ovi Store
The customers of Ovi Store will be provided with different categories available for purchase and download of applications – including games, audio and video content, applications and category of applications already installed. The structure of the client of Ovi Store is extremely simple – a list with the name and logo of each of the applications, categories, price and rating.
When selecting the application additional details are shown on the screen – product description, information about the size, reviews of user who had download the application earlier, the ability to leave a comment, a list of similar applications.
Applications
Nokia X6 comes with lots of programs. Among them is Ovi Files, which after installation provide access from the phone to all files stored in computer memory, to which the phone is connected to. Anytime files application helps to store in the web up to 10 GB files, which are available even when the computer is turned off.
Amazon is a simple application with various categories and search mechanisms, opening the list of results directly in the web site of Amazon. For fans of social networks Facebook is preinstalled in Nokia X6.
Conclusion
The new Nokia X6 is the first phone with a capacitive touch screen and the first phone in the line of XpressMusic, claiming a place in the segment of high-end phones – a model which certainly deserves attention. With the release of Nokia X6 the Finnish vendor, apparently tried to strengthen its position in the market of touch phones, taking into account the needs of users.
The main problem of Nokia X6 is the software, such is the case also for the other smartphones by Nokia. S60 user interface is not convenient and attractive enough to ensure Nokia touchphones’ leading positions in the market. High hopes are pinned on the coming platform Symbian ^ 3. The first phones with Symbian ^ 3 will be released in the second half of this year.
Nokia X6 is distinguished with sufficiently high value, although in the segment, on which the model focuses on are already presented similar devices at much more attractive prices. Taking into consideration the significant deficiencies of Nokia X6, the high price of the device is questionable – especially since Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, 5530 XpressMusic and 5230, which are much cheaper, have functionality similar to that of Nokia X6. Another serious drawback is the similarity of X6 to other Finnish touchphones. Designers seem to operate at their full capacity.
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