Nokia 6 (2018) review

GSMArena team, 25 April 2018.

Design

There is nothing fancy about the Nokia 6 (2018) design. HMD kept it basic, comfortable, and user-friendly. But there is beauty in simplicity and the no-nonsense design arguably gives off a stylish vibe that's nowhere to be found on the Redmis.

Nokia 6 (2018) review

HMD also sneaked these cool paint accents around the frame and the camera glass that even in such small quantities make for a huge design booster.

So, the anodized aluminum body is back, almost flush at the back, and perfectly flat around the sides. The tiny chamfers are painted in copper on the black model, iron on the white, and gold on the blue version.

Nokia 6 (2018) review

The Nokia 6 (2018) has the same 5.5" 1080p screen of the old 6, but HMD has trimmed the bezels by moving the fingerprint scanner on the back and thus getting rid of the whole capacitive control deck. The new Nokia 6 spreads at 148.8 x 75.8 x 8.2 mm - that's some impressive half a centimeter shorter.

The Nokia 6.1 weighs 172 g, just 3g on top of the Nokia 6.

The entire front is covered by a large piece of Gorilla Glass 3, 2.5D-finished as usual. The third edition might be a bit old, but it's the one we usually prefer - more resilient to scratches at the expense of being relatively more susceptible to shattering when dropped (compared to GG5).

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Nokia 6 (2018)

It takes some time to notice the antenna strips on the back, but they are there - running along the top and bottom edges.

The camera glass now has this big ZEISS logo, and the fingerprint sensor found a new home just below the camera (last year it was on the front). The scanner is always-on, accurate and reliable.

Nokia 6 (2018) review

We are fans of the flat frame and its tiny chamfers - those boost the overall grip by a mile and the Nokia 6.1 is one of the few phones we've felt absolutely secure in hand.

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Nokia 6 (2018)

While the Nokia 6 (2018) has kept all popular ports intact, including the analogue audio one, the earpiece is no longer doubling as a second speaker. HMD decided to use just one speaker for the new Nokia 6 - and it's at the bottom behind a small grille.

Nokia 6 (2018) review

We already mentioned the secure grip, but we also want to acknowledge the overall positive impressions from when handling the Nokia 6.1. It feels great in hand, and although it's a tad bigger than we'd prefer for a 5.5-incher, we are still fond of the overall feeling of security and sturdiness. The black model is all matte, but it still attracts some smudges. The blue and white ones don't have such issues, though.

Nokia 6 (2018) review

No matter which model you get - Black/Copper, White/Iron, or Blue/Gold - we're sure you won't be disappointed by the looks, grip or handling.

Reader comments

  • KN
  • 12 Jul 2024
  • uvG

Using the 4 gb version from June 18. Broke the front glass once and got it repaired from a local vendor. Phone has stopped updating at Android 10 and performance has slowed down over the time. However, still manages to work through modern day apps be...

  • Super
  • 26 Aug 2022
  • Dkh

Super

  • Anonymous
  • 09 Jul 2022
  • 7k3

One bit of a Tank. Jeez. I couldnot beleive I using it for More than 4 years now without drop in performance. Mine is light to moderate usage.