MWC: Nokia 6

Nokia is back, and with it comes four new phones that look set to disrupt the market. At MWC 2017, the brand, which is now part of Finnish company HMD global, unveiled three new Nokia Android smartphones and a reboot of its classic Nokia 3310 (page 28) complete with the iconic Snake game and its familiar ringtone. The Nokia 6 isn’t completely brand new to MWC 2017. It was launched exclusively in China in January, and according to Nokia it sold out in 23 seconds with more than one million preregistrations. Thanks to that huge success, Nokia has decided to bring the Android smartphone to the rest of the world in the second quarter of MWC: Nokia 6 AA36 PAGES.indd 13 09/03/2017 10:45 14 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36 the year, positioned at the top of its new range alongside the Nokia 5 and Nokia 3. Whether it will be successful in the UK and other markets is yet to be seen, but we anticipate that the much-loved brand name will attract many. Price There’s no o cial launch date for the Nokia 6 in the UK or elsewhere aside from that vague Q2 prediction, but we do know that the Nokia 6 will start at €229 for the model with 32GB internal storage, with a price tag of €299 for the Nokia Arte Special Edition which is available in Piano Black. That’s likely to work out at around £200 and £250 respectively, Drastic ds emulator apk so very reasonable prices considering that the Nokia 6 is currently the most premium in the brand’s range. It’s possible we’ll see a fl agship at a higher price point from the company later in the year though. Design The Nokia 6 sports a 5.5in Full HD Gorilla Glass screen housed within a body that’s made with a single block of 6000 series aluminium for a seamless unibody design that comes in Matte Black, Silver, Tempered Blue or Copper (which we’d argue is more of a pink). It’s also available in a shiny Piano Black if you’re willing to cough up the extra cash for the Arte Black Limited Edition, which also has extra storage space (we’ll talk more about that later). The Arte seems to take some design inspiration from Apple’s Jet Black iPhone 7, and like Apple’s o ering picks up fi ngerprints within seconds so if that’s the sort of AA36 PAGES.indd 14 09/03/2017 10:45 ISSUE 36 • ANDROID ADVISOR 15 thing that you’re bothered by we’d recommend opting for another option. The Nokia 6 is more squared than its smaller siblings, the Nokia 5 and 3, which we did fi nd made it slightly less comfortable to hold although slightly easier to grip. It measures 154x75.8x7.85mm, which we found to be perfectly slim enough. Overall, though, we’d say that this looks much like a fl agship phone but with a low mid-range price tag that’s bound to appeal to many. Hardware During our brief time with the phone we found the screen to be vivid and bright, but certainly not as impressive as some of its fl agship rivals. Of course, that’s to be expected from a phone at this price point, but we’re still keeping our fi ngers crossed from a high-end smartphone from Nokia later this year. AA36 PAGES.indd 15 09/03/2017 10:45 16 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36 Inside the Nokia 6 is a Snapdragon 430 processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. If you’re after more storage and a RAM boost, you might want to opt for the Arte Black Limited Edition despite that fi ngerprint attracting back, because that’ll get you 64GB internal storage and 4GB RAM. Both models do, however, come with a microSD card slot that will allow you to add up to 128GB more memory. We’re looking forward to putting the Nokia 6 through its paces when we get it back to the Android Advisor labs soon, but during our testing it performed perfectly speedily enough when launching and changing apps, including the camera, Gmail and Chrome. That said, the model we tried had nothing much stored on it, and we were unable to try playing a game or any heavy-duty multi-tasking and we think the 430 chipset may struggle to keep up. It’s the same chip you’ll fi nd in the new Moto G5 too, and you can pick that up for £169 rather than the Nokia 6’s higher price tag. You’ll fi nd a 16Mp camera on the rear, and an 8Mp camera on the front, which is a solid o ering for a phone with this price tag. There’s a dual-tone fl ash on the rear too, and Nokia has included HDR. The Nokia 6 also boasts a fi ngerprint sensor for extra security, which sits neatly beneath the home button. On either side of that sensor are back and multi-tasking keys most Android users will be familiar with. There’s Dolby Atmos sound with a smart audio amplifi er and dual speakers, too, making watching videos on the small screen slightly more enjoyable. AA36 PAGES.indd 16 09/03/2017 10:45 ISSUE 36 • ANDROID ADVISOR 17 The non-removable battery is 3000mAh but of course we’ll need to wait until we’ve spent more time with the Nokia 6 to determine how long that’ll last in everyday use. It charges via Micro-USB rather than the USB-C that we’re getting used to seeing in new smartphones at the moment. Software The Nokia 6 will ship with Android 7.1.1 Nougat, and Nokia prides itself on being simple and human so has decided to forgo any fancy overlay for a stock Android that it calls ‘Pure’. This will be a huge draw for fans of Google’s vanilla Android, and we found it a joy to use without being overcomplicated in any way. It’s intuitive and does away with anything unnecessary to make space for the essentials to be at the forefront. Nokia also promises regular updates to the software. AA36 PAGES.indd 17 09/03/2017 10:45 18 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36 Verdict The Nokia 6 is a di cult one to o er a verdict on because we feel quite torn about it. If this were a smartphone launched by any of the other big players in the smartphone industry right now we’d probably say that it’s a decent smartphone with a really good price tag but nothing particularly outstanding in the current market. But because this is Nokia we’re excited about it. We think it’s going to catch the attention of those who loved the fi rm’s phones years back thanks to their simplicity and reliability, and with such a great price tag we expect it’ll quickly become a popular choice for smartphone buyers. We’re looking forward to spending more time with the Nokia 6 and its siblings, and we’re intrigued to fi nd out what the future holds for the company. Ashleigh Macro Specifi cations • 5.5in 1920x1080, 403ppi) touchscreen • Android 7.1.1 Nougat • 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 CPU • Adreno 505 GPU • 3GB RAM • 32GB storage • 16Mp main camera, dual-LED fl ash, 1080p video at 30fps • 8Mp front camera • Bluetooth 4G LTE • GPS • NFC • 3000mAh non-removable battery • 75.8x154x8.4mm • 165g