Nokia 6 review: Back in black

Back in black

GSMArena team, 03 April 2017.

Telephony

The Nokia 6 uses a combined interface for the dialer, call log and contacts. You do get two app icons on the homescreen for direct access to the dialer and contacts tab.

Dialer - Nokia 6 review Call log - Nokia 6 review Contacts - Nokia 6 review Smart dial - Nokia 6 review
Dialer • Call log • Contacts • Smart dial

The Nokia 6 is a dual SIM device with a couple of nano SIM slots. There's a SIM management section in settings, which lets you enable, disable, and assign names to SIM cards, and select a default card for data and voice calls.

SIM card settings - Nokia 6 review SIM card settings - Nokia 6 review SIM card settings - Nokia 6 review
SIM card settings

Loudspeaker

The Nokia 6 has stereo loudspeakers - a dedicated one on the bottom and a second one that moonlights as an earpiece. The bottom one does most of the heavy lifting and pumps louder, but the two working together do make a nice spatial effect.

This setup scored reasonably well against the meter as well, earning a Good rating.

Speakerphone testVoice, dB Pink noise/ Music, dB Ringing phone, dB Overall score
Sony Xperia XZ 61.6 65.5 67.6 Below Average
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) 66.2 64.8 66.8 Below Average
Lenovo K6 Note 63.2 69.5 71.0 Average
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 64.5 71.0 68.9 Average
Moto G4 Plus 64.0 70.4 73.0 Average
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 64.2 67.2 76.9 Good
OnePlus 3T 61.0 69.3 78.3 Good
Oppo F1s 69.0 72.0 67.9 Good
Lenovo K6 Note (Dolby Atmos Music preset) 63.7 69.0 79.4 Good
Huawei Honor 6X 68.4 67.0 79.1 Good
Nokia 6 (Chinese version) 63.0 70.2 85.2 Good
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625) 67.3 70.3 81.5 Very Good
Meizu M5 Note 65.1 70.7 86.8 Very Good
Lenovo P2 67.6 72.1 86.7 Very Good
Meizu MX5 75.7 73.5 79.5 Excellent
OnePlus 2 75.7 73.5 80.7 Excellent

Text input

Text input on the Nokia 6 is handled by the Google Keyboard - the old one, before it went all Gboard. It's the keyboard we all know and love with theming support, emoji, and secondary symbols on long press.

Google Keyboard - Nokia 6 review Google Keyboard - Nokia 6 review Google Keyboard - Nokia 6 review Google Keyboard - Nokia 6 review Google Keyboard - Nokia 6 review
Google Keyboard

Apps

The selection of pre-installed apps is pretty minimal. You do, however, get a fully-functional file manager that groups your files by type and arranges them into tabs. It supports batch actions, and can also tap into cloud services (not our Google Drive, though).

Update (July 13): A new software update for the Chinese variant, which includes the July security patch, also brings support for Google services. The Google Drive integration in the file manager, backup tool and gallery app now works like a charm.

File manager - Nokia 6 review File manager - Nokia 6 review File manager - Nokia 6 review File manager - Nokia 6 review
File manager

There's a weather app that pulls data from AccuWeather and presents it in a simple and easy to read way. A surprisingly capable Note app is on board. It offers different categories (Diary, To do, Drawings), each with several templates to get you started.

Weather app - Nokia 6 review Notes - Nokia 6 review Notes - Nokia 6 review Notes - Nokia 6 review Notes - Nokia 6 review
Weather app • Notes

There's a built-in backup and restore solution too. You get to select which bits you need to keep safe, and you can back them up to the internal storage, to an SD card, or to the cloud. You can't schedule regular backups - you need to do it manually, on demand.

Backup and restore - Nokia 6 review Backup and restore - Nokia 6 review Backup and restore - Nokia 6 review Backup and restore - Nokia 6 review
Backup and restore

Reader comments

  • Sampotbelly
  • 11 Aug 2018
  • pp4

Can someone help as when I try to play videos from social media they won't play

  • AnonD-729383
  • 14 Jan 2018
  • B}r

nokia 6 or moto g5 plus ? why???

  • AnonD-729383
  • 14 Jan 2018
  • B}r

nokia 6 or moto g5 plus ? why???