Nokia E6 hands-on: First look

Symbian Anna is finally here

The really long awaited Symbian^3 update is finally coming and we’ll get to see it conquering the already available Symbian^3 handsets later this year. Nokia E6 and X7 are the first devices to have it running out of the box.

The new Symbian Anna pushes the OS to the next level giving it more user-friendly and modern looking user interface, a revamped web browser, new split-screen text input view mode, better homescreen and improved Ovi Maps, Gallery, Social, Ovi Store and overall performance. In case you want to know more about the Symbian Anna you should definitely check our blog post on the subject.

Given the short time we got to spend with the Nokia E6 we weren't able to do our usual tour throughout the user interface. Instead, we’ve prepared only a short demo video. Do not rush to any conclusions or pass any judgments yet (as we are not going to), because what you are about to see is yet to be improved and developed.

As you can see, Symbian looks better than ever and this time we finally can say it has caught with the modern tendencies – new pop-up menus, better animations, touch-optimized menus and icons, better performance, etc. It’s the update we really waited for and we certainly hope it won’t be the last despite the fact that Nokia is heading in another direction.

By the way, here’s a short video camera sample taken with the Nokia E6 camcorder. As you’ll see, the quality of the footage is as good as that of the Nokia E7 and C6-01.

First impressions

It’s been a while since last saw a hope for the Symbian OS. Nokia’s move to Windows Phone made everyone think it’s going nowhere. Well, it’s true that Symbian is a dead end, but there’s still potential and Symbian Anna promises to utilize it.

The Nokia E6 is a worthy successor of its QWERTY bar messengers and has everything to become a bestseller – one-of-a-kind touchscreen with high resolution, excellent build quality and keyboard, a capable hardware and camcorder plus the new Symbian Anna UI.

Nokia will release the E6 this quarter with a price tag of 345 euros (before taxes). That’s steep, that’s for sure and we certainly hope the company will consider a slight price cut. That way they will surely seal a lot of deals.