Nokia 6 (2018) review

The same 16MP camera

The Nokia 6 (2018) comes with the same camera specs as on the first Nokia 6. It's a 16MP sensor with 1.0µm pixels sitting behind a 27mm-equivalent lens with an f/2.0 aperture - so nothing extraordinary here. Focusing is handled by phase detection, and there's a dual LED dual-tone flash to help in the dark.

The interface is simple - shutter release at the bottom, a switch to video mode next to it and a shortcut to the gallery on the other side. A tiny mode selector next to the shutter release gives you the option to choose Regular photo, Panorama, or 'Touch up' mode (another word for 'Beautification').

On the opposite end of the viewfinder there are switches for beautification, picture-in-picture, flash (on/off/auto), HDR (on/off/auto), self-timer (off/3s/10s), and front/rear camera toggle. There's a hamburger button too, for access to settings and additional modes (panorama and pro).

Camera app • Modes • Manual mode • Video • Settings

Image Quality

The 16MP samples we shot in broad daylight with the Nokia 6 (2018) turned out rich in detail, contrasty, with accurate colors and white balance. The only letdown was the grass presentation, which is mostly smudgy.

The dynamic range is average, but there is Auto HDR setting and we suggest keeping it on - the Nokia 6 recognizes successfully most of the HDR-needy occasions and triggers it.

Nokia 6 (2018) 16MP camera samples

Using the manual HDR mode will fully restore the blown highlights, especially the skies, while keep the shadows almost intact. The contrast gets a small boost - probably to keep the HDR images look as natural as possible.

HDR off • HDR on • HDR off • HDR on

The low-light images are nothing much to talk about - blurry, dark, and with lots of noise.

Nokia 6 (2018) 16MP low-light samples

The camera app has a dedicated Pro mode, which allows for shutter speed as long as 4 seconds. We snapped two 4sec photos, and while those have plenty of detail and could have been great, the luminance noise gets in the way of, well, everything.

Nokia 6 (2018) long-exposure sample

The Nokia (2018) captures some great panoramic shots with a vertical resolution around 3,100px. Stitching is flawless, and there are no issues with varying exposure. The dynamic range is decent, while the resolved detail is quite impressive for the class.

Nokia 6 (2018) panorama

Feel free to pixel peep in our Photo compare tool - we've pre-selected a couple of phones we found relevant, but those can easily be replaced in the drop-down menus.

Nokia 6 (2018) against the HTC U11 Life and the Xiaomi Mi A1 in our Photo compare tool

Selfies

The Nokia 6 (2018) has an 8MP selfie camera with fixed focus.There is no LED flash but we didn't expect one.

The selfies turned out excellent - sharp, with lots of detail, good colors and great contrast.

Nokia 6 (2018) 8MP selfies

Video recording

One notable upgrade over the first Nokia 6 is the addition of 4K video capturing. The Nokia 6 (2018) can record 4K and Full HD clips at 30 fps. The 4K footage is captured at 42.2 Mbps bitrate, while 1080p is about half that - 20 Mbps. Audio is always recorded stereo at 256 Kbps.

The video quality on both 2160p and 1080p clips is great - the image is detailed and sharp, even the foliage looks nice, and the noise levels are kept low. The dynamic range is decent, colors are spot on, and the contrast is great.

As usual, we've provided unedited samples straight out of the camera for you to download - 2160p@30fps (9s, 50MB), and 1080@30fps (9s, 24MB).

You can also head over to our Video compare tool and see how the Nokia 6 (2018) stacks up against the competition.

Nokia 6 (2018) against the HTC U11 Life and the Xiaomi Mi A1 in our Video compare tool