Nokia has invested segment of touch long after its main competitors. But since then, the world’s largest automaker is working overtime to make up some of its delay. With the new X6, he gave his last touch of a musical scale figurehead.
It has been observed in recent months that Nokia redoubled efforts to offer a full range touch. If it seems to address all segments at once, it is clear he is still a focus on mobile touch-oriented “music”. The X6 we are testing here is the latest addition to this lineage and also the model more upmarket. It offers features generally quite comparable to that of N97 Mini with the same manufacturer, which ranks in the top of the basket. It displays relatively average size of 111 x 51 x 13.8 mm, with 122 grams on the scale. Its 3.2 inch touch screen with 16 million displayable colors in a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels. This display has the distinction of being the first capacitive touch screen that Nokia integrates in one of its mobile touch.
Within mobile, there is a ARM11 processor architecture, clocked at 434 MHz. To animate it, Nokia has unsurprisingly opted for the S60v5 operating system that is usually found in its smartphones touch. It is also familiar territory with a view to the camera as it is once again Carl Zeiss. Its characteristics are as classic with a resolution of 5 megapixels. In video mode, this sensor can shoot a maximum VGA resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. The X6 is well equipped in terms of connectivity and network compatibility, as it provides virtually what is done best with GPRS, Edge, 3G (3.6 Mbps), Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g Bluetooth 2.0 and A-GPS. The internal memory is consistent with 16 GB under the hood! Finally, for autonomy, Nokia promises that the battery of 1320 mAh can take 450h standby and 6 hours in communication.
Package Contents
The pack is provided in which the mobile provides the bare minimum, namely:
• Charger
• A battery 1320 mAh
• A wired stereo handsfree
• A cable microUSB
• A CD-ROM (OVI Suite)
• The manual
Screen capacitive forces, the stylus and touch other mediators manufacturer disappear completely from this pack. Too bad we do not find in this pack the stunning Nokia WH-500 headphones available with the 32GB version of the X6. We find no memory card in the box, but this is normal since this smartphone does not include memory card port.
Nokia does not remake the world with the X6. So it’s no surprise that you will find that the front is largely covered by the touch screen. But nothing revolutionize the elegant curves of this smartphone are miles away from some of the design building blocks that the builder was customary there was not so long ago. The unusual resolution of the screen, unique to Symbian OS, while promoting a product length. Even thickness, traditional weak point of the aesthetics of Nokia, is due here with 13.8 millimeters thick. This motive is not the end of time, but it is easily forgotten in a pocket of jeans or shirt. Its weight of 122 grams is also ideal for ensuring a good grip.
On the manufacturing front, the motive is entirely made of plastic. Their quality is generally very good and no part of the phone does “cheap”. This is rather significant for a phone that goes into high ground in its class, at least in terms of price. It would still have appreciated a little more upscale finishes for the top musical touch smartphones from Nokia, like the manufacturer has to do with the two N97.
Tactile forces, the screen occupies a large portion of the front. The latter is not completely rectangular as the top and bottom edges are slightly curved. It’s barely noticeable, but enough to dispel any impression of rigidity that could emerge from the silhouette of the X6. At the bottom of this front, there are mechanical buttons to answer, hang up and open or return to the main menu. They prove flexible and pleasant to use daily. Some may still find these buttons a bit too soft.
Above the screen, the Nokia logo on the right, a small symbol indicates the location of a touch sensor which is discussed later. Also found in this area of the front sensor and the sensor light sensitivity secondary camera.
On the right side of the camera, there are four buttons very classic. The first two are used to increase or decrease the volume. The second function allows to trigger photo taking and photograph and video. Finally the latter offers the ability to lock and unlock the device screen.
On the left side, a small site protected by a hinged cover is reminiscent of a first time to a memory card slot. But when you want to insert your SIM card into the camera, you’ll find that as the last touch of the mobile manufacturer, including the 5230, this is actually side slot to insert the SIM card! Moreover, the X6 does not carry any port for memory card. This system will show neither intuitive nor very practical when it comes to remove and put a SIM. Must necessarily have a rather sharp object to remove it from its place. And, despite the side slot, you must remove the battery from his place to access the space where we push the SIM to the outside. Now, as you’ll see a little further, it is not really a pleasure!
On the high side of the product, Nokia has placed the mini jack 3.5 mm and to recharge the product or connect to a computer microUSB. This is also where we find the button to turn off the mobile.
Finally, the back consists largely of battery cover that covers everything except the edges and the photo sensor and dual LED flash. The battery is particularly complicated to remove. There is a notch in the plastic, but even pulling hard enough on it, it does not come out right away its location.
Unsurprisingly, the operating system Symbian OS 9.4 with Nokia S60v5 interface that welcomes you when you turn on the X6. Everything has been said about the OS or almost in our tests of previous models of the same strain as the 5800 XpressMusic, the 5530 XpressMusic or even 5230. For although no expression can come differentiate this version of the OS in the X6 and the mobile just quoted from that found in the two N97, remember that there are some differences, particularly at the home richer in the case of N97.
However, the homepage of the X6 S60v5 team that does not mean demerit. Colorful and customizable hope she can have as you see fit different modules that provide access to different content and functions (email, calendar, music, etc..). There are even key for direct access to multimedia content located just above the screen of the smartphone. It has existed since the first touchscreen smartphone from Nokia, the 5800 XpressMusic and its usefulness is real. You’ll understand after reading these lines, the OS found in the X6 is exactly the same as the 5230 or 5530 XpressMusic some time out before him.
To find a real novelty, but rather to the screen that we must turn. He who equips this smartphone offers the peculiarity of being the very first screen capacitive proposed by Nokia in one of its phones. It was time to tell the bad language! And they will not necessarily wrong, Apple will integrate this type of display since 2007 in its iPhone and other competitors have more than two years for some. To return to that found in the X6, know that it is very well made, both in terms of record that sensitivity or responsiveness. The only downside in this regard is that of readability it provides really awful when you’re in full sun.
Nokia therefore grew from model to model. Even if the changes are not immediately eyes with each new smartphone, it is clear that the Finnish manufacturer’s OS is quite enjoyable to practice with the X6. Asked whether Nokia has finally surpassed an iPhone or Android, the answer is obviously not the OS not having transformed from head to toe overnight. While it is certainly functional, it has gaps rather glaring. It seems clear to use that philosophy to which presided over the ergonomics of the OS comes a time when there was no touch, S60v5 remains short as an adaptation for touch and not an OS S60v3 developed from the beginning for use with your fingers.
Thus, if the manufacturer has taken a step forward with the integration of a capacitive screen, it has only highlighted another problem of the X6. The processor of the smartphone is in fact not one of the most swift that we can find right now on the market. The screen allows for greater responsiveness, but the motive is not always able to follow! Better to give a boost to allow the phone to run smoothly. For example, avoid abuse of multitasking. Similarly, it is best to disable the animation effects themes. It is certainly not as pretty but it saves a bit of fluidity in your system, which is not everyday luxury.
Multimedia features (Camera / Video)
The imaging features are one of the traditional strengths of Nokia smartphone. Even if this X6 is facing the music, it does not stop to offer a photo sensor with 5 megapixel autofocus. This may seem almost trivial at a time when competitors may display up to 12 megapixels. But you’re probably aware that the accumulation of megapixels in the technical offers no certainty as to the final quality of images. Car with 5 megapixels, a resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels, you may well consider prints up to 25 x 15 cm. Note also that at equal resolution, the sensors for Nokia smartphones allow pictures much better than smartphone Android, Windows Mobile or the iPhone. The optical sensor is signed Carl Zeiss, a guarantee of quality. It can capture good quality shots, including a level of detail very correct. In terms of color rendering, we find here the “key” Nokia with color rather warm. The pictures in dark environments are as always the Achilles heel of the function. But the presence of a dual LED flash lets at least take photos correct if your subjects are not more than one meter away. The function interface picture is not surprising since almost the same in all Nokia touch. It is quite ergonomic, but requires time to adapt to the extent that all options are combined in the same panel, which thus resembles a holy mess at first. Fortunately, the flash advantage of a shortcut to share.
The photo sensor of the X6 can also shoot video in a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels, 30 frames per second. The minutes of these videos is generally good, particularly at the higher antialiasing, or what is accurate colors. You can export them without worrying about a bigger screen. Damage, however, that Nokia has applied compression a bit too much for these videos. As a result, slight artifacts are emerging at a viewing on a screen size greater than the phone.
The X6 also offers an image viewer. As with other media players to the device, it offers nothing really revolutionary. She manages the course and the accelerometer is to switch from portrait to landscape mode changes the display orientation. Everything is properly optimized for browsing the fingertips touch with the notable exception of the zoom is done either through a bar screen or via the volume buttons. Still no multipoint horizon. The famous natural gesture is to pinch the screen to zoom is not on the agenda. But the main weakness of this picture viewer resides in its slow to load thumbnails abuse pictures in the overview. It’s already annoying with just a few dozen images, we can not imagine for those who wish to load hundreds of photos in the phone memory …
Besides images, the X6 can also play videos. This function is disappointing touch smartphones from Nokia. It is not their ergonomics is concerned because the video player itself is conventional but effective, especially with full screen when you tilt the phone in landscape mode. The disappointment comes from the fact that the Finnish manufacturer is not decided yet to offer a DivX in its products. Add to this that there is still no DivX player worthy of the name developed by a third company, and you understand that to enjoy videos on the friendly screen X6, you have to go through the box “encoding”. Too bad when we remember that the internal memory of the product is 16 GB!
Other features (MP3 player, WiFi, Bluetooth …)
If you do not follow the daily news of mobile phone manufacturers, you may not know that the line “X” means Nokia mobile now dedicated to music. It was previously known under the name XpressMusic.
The music player found in the X6 is very classical in its presentation and its functions. It’s almost the same as it had detected in the first Nokia touch, the 5800 XpressMusic. And in those days, we thought he would not steal a little update aesthetic! This does not however prevent him from being fully functional and offer all the opportunities you’ve come to expect from such a product. You can create playlists or import them from a computer, decide to play your songs in a loop, in shuffle mode, etc.. By default, the mobile classroom your songs by artist, album, genre and composer, when these fields are completed. The player also supports album art displays that logically when you play a song of that album. The X6 supports many audio formats (MP3, SPMidi, AAC, AAC +, eAAC +, WMA), as the vast majority of mobiles currently elsewhere. Now to the most important: the audio quality of the device. Given the good performance of all Nokia touch on the subject, we had no particular concerns for the X6. At right, because it delivers very good sound, almost flawless, from low to high through the media. To refine listening to your own tastes, 5 EQs are made available. That seems small compared to some competitors, but if none of these equalizers do you want, you can always create one. Also note that like other tactile dedicated to music, the X6 does not offer key shortcuts to control the music player. But the media bar that appears when you touch the sensor button just above the screen provides quick access to this drive.
To enjoy the music without constraints, the mobile phone has a 3.5mm mini jack connector on the high side. And for those who want to cut the son, the A2DP profile for connecting a wireless stereo headset to the device.
The smartphone also offers an RDS FM radio function. Not much to fault with except that it performs its task perfectly in a somewhat minimalist interface that takes advantage of pretty effects for displaying the name of the radios.
Web browsing, once one of the strengths of Nokia smartphones, is of course possible with the integrated browser. The latter does not compete with the best of its kind (Android, iPhone) but it is quite functional. Most websites display correctly. It would still have appreciated the opportunity to open new tabs or windows. To connect to networks, the X6 is reinforced since it is compatible with 3G + (HSDPA 3.6 Mbps) and Wi-Fi side e-mail, the X6 manages your various accounts without difficulty. The capacitive screen qwerty keyboard allows the virtual to be much better in practice than on previous iterations of the Finnish manufacturer.
Finally, as for all future Nokia touch, this X6 can turn into a real standalone GPS … and free! Nokia recently announced it was charging more shipping traffic in a dozen of its smartphones to start. The X6 is one of those and its owners now benefit from OVI cards completely free of charge (excluding costs of network connection). That was the case previously for the maps or pedestrian navigation, but Nokia has extended to the car navigation turn by turn. With its 3.2 inch screen and its good sensitivity for the grip of the GPS signal, the X6 is a good GPS booster. It is compatible with A-GPS, that is to say that prices of a few kilobytes on the network, you can save precious minutes when you turn the first time since the day will do a few seconds to find the GPS signal. If you do not have a package that includes the data or if you are abroad, there is an option in OVI card used to disable the network connection from the application to use the GPS signal. Only downside: poor sunlight readability of the display of the X6. This can be particularly disabling if you use the GPS function on a beautiful sunny day! It is better to rely more on voice directions.
Finally, let’s finish this overview of the X6 by OVI Store, the App Store version Nokia. Do not try to compare it to what is done elsewhere because the store applications and online content from the Finnish manufacturer is still far behind that of Apple and still lags somewhat behind the Android Market. But it is clear that the OVI Store progressing steadily. The applications are becoming more numerous, and generally high quality.
Conclusion
With the X6 16GB, Nokia has finally decided to offer us a fairly upscale touch and does not carry a keyboard. The design of the beast and its dimensions are pleasant. As we have seen throughout the test, it is the first smartphone from the manufacturer to integrate a capacitive touch screen. The gain is significant, although some delays are sometimes a little tarnish the table. Nothing is insurmountable, however, the X6 is a smartphone with which to live. Provided, of course, capable of overriding the few archaisms found still in its operating system S60v5. This certainly will delight those with a non-touch smartphone Nokia (N95) and want to try to touch. Others might be tempted to look elsewhere. Let’s mention that this OS also benefits OVI Store, the App Store version Nokia.
The X6 has other tricks up his sleeve, starting with its 5 megapixel autofocus camera sensor. It can take pictures of good quality films and videos that you can easily export a computer screen. The audio features of the product for their part are excellent. The music player is standard but offers a very good record of sound. For multimedia, only the video function lags behind because of a video player still unable to play DivX. The X6 is catching up with OVI cards, a car navigation solution that transforms the Nokia smartphone into a true GPS autonomous and free. Finally, the mobile phone functions are very correct with an autonomy that is around two days of average use. The communication quality is good without being memorable.
At decision time, it appears that Nokia X6 is sufficiently complete and enjoyable to practice every day to keep your attention, provided it is offered at an attractive price.
