Nokia 6 review: International flavor

15 August 2017
We finally got round to it and it’s quite like we remember the Nokia 6. This time around though, it’s repackaged for worldwide action and, hopefully, not a déjà vu all over again. We’ll obviously revisit the old review of the China-bound variant, only here we'll focus on the bits that are different. And those are by no means insignificant, who knew.

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AnonD-34062, 15 Aug 2017Nokia has provided a really solid "daily driver" phone for ... moreabsolutely agree. For non spec frenzies the 6 is a solid device.

    AnonD-278973, 16 Aug 2017where's nokia 8 ? heard will announced on 16 August by HM... moreYes . . . that is today.

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      • Anonymous
      • XNk
      • 16 Aug 2017

      HMD to confident with spec & price
      they hope nokia fans will hold up, but they must be at the old age now
      so this phone for old people?

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        • AnonD-278973
        • IY6
        • 16 Aug 2017

        where's nokia 8 ?
        heard will announced on 16 August by HMD in China ??

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          • Anonymous
          • Tu2
          • 15 Aug 2017

          weird no status led what were they thinking ?

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            • AsusTech
            • UD{
            • 15 Aug 2017

            Anonymous, 15 Aug 2017It would IMHO also been logical. A nokia "6" using a SD6xx.... morethere's no such thing as Nokia 2, 4 or 7, so everything you just said is now invalidated, if you want to hate on something, be sure you are well informed and well-equipped with arguments that will not backfire at you

            PS: HMD is not going downhill but as a Nokia fan, Nokia 3, 5 and 6 are too OPed with very low specs, except that 6 lived up to Nokia's name of built and quality, but still, too OP, RedMi Note 4 beats 6 in all aspects except the toughness, camera and audio

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              • MG7
              • gMx
              • 15 Aug 2017

              lenovo p2 and honor 6 are other solid alternatives. p2 is possibly best at this price.

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                • Anonymous
                • m5k
                • 15 Aug 2017

                A new snapdragon 450 would be a really good chipset to use as its very similar to the 625. Maybe its come out too late for the Nokia 6 but certainly could be used for the second generation.

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                  • Anonymous
                  • mTn
                  • 15 Aug 2017

                  Anonymous, 15 Aug 2017I'm impressed that the gloval version is better than the Ch... moreIt would IMHO also been logical. A nokia "6" using a SD6xx.
                  Then they'd use the Nokia 8 label for a device with a SD8xx and use the Nokia 4 label for a SD4xx device.

                  Perhaps I'd use the Nokia 7 label for devices with an Cortex A72/A73 cpu as a high-mid-range device.

                  And that should be it!


                  But I also think that Qualcom should improve naming scheme as well. Because it is very confusing having a SD630 with Cortex A53 cpu's while the SD650 has Cortex A72 Soc's. They should have used the SD7xx-label for SoC's with Cortex A7x

                  Anyways I agree that this device should have been equipped with an SD6xx-series. It would have been more value for money. Now Nokia have a ridiculous low-range segment with SD4xx-SoC's and then high-end models with SD83x series SoC.

                  For me it is obvious. HMD is shooting in the dark. They have no vision nor a direction. They should have created the following IMHO.

                  Nokia 2-series = SD2xx
                  Nokia 4-series = SD4xx
                  Nokia 6-series = SD6xx but not the ones with cortex-A7x
                  Nokia 7-series = SD6xx ONLY the models with Cortex-A7x
                  Nokia 8-series = SD8xx

                  This would be logical and easy to understand for consumers.

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                    • AnonD-34062
                    • QDW
                    • 15 Aug 2017

                    Nokia has provided a really solid "daily driver" phone for folks who don't chase specs. I think it's a great deal.

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                      • 808pv fan
                      • mTn
                      • 15 Aug 2017

                      Anons, 15 Aug 2017nope, the choice of SD430 instead of SD6xx is because Nokia... more"...Ever since before, even for their masterpiece, 808 pureview, Nokia insisted on equipped it with ARM11 single core added with 512MB RAM, instead of the new Cortex A-series quad core..."
                      That is because Symbian doesn't work on anything else than 32-bit single core ARM SoC's! It is heavily optimized for ARM11 and particularly Broadcom's GPU. Which should be obvious!

                      "...especially cortex A9/krait with 2GB RAM, which is a trend at that time..."
                      Oh please! Why should you follow "trends" if your goal is to make the best product that you can with the resources or restrictions at hand. Perhaps it might be possible to make Symbian run on a 32-bit multi-core SoC (like an Cortex A7/A9) but wouldn't benefit from any additional cores. And then there's the GPU? Sure Symbian uses Open GL ES 2.0 but the general UI probably uses acceleration using specific Videocore functions (which is why it is so efficient and fluid).

                      "..is because Nokia is A REAL CHEAPSKATE.."
                      I disagree with that statement especially with later models of Symbian phones. Nokia's Symbian only runs on ARM11 and Videocore systems. Therefore Nokia used the fastest ARM11 in their final 808Pureview (and 701 for that matter) with the biggest RAM capacity on that SoC (512MB) that was available at that time. Which was the 1.3GHz chip they eventually used. I wouldn't call that being a cheapskate.

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                        • AnonD-692314
                        • PQx
                        • 15 Aug 2017

                        Anons, 15 Aug 2017nope, the choice of SD430 instead of SD6xx is because Nokia... moreif you don't want the brand, then swift to another to see the difference.
                        don't give a damn comment and negative feedbacks to the phone, if you dont want it then simply don't buy it!
                        people is always arrogant and still immature, just learn the basic principle and you will be respect.

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                          • Anons
                          • KiQ
                          • 15 Aug 2017

                          Anonymous, 15 Aug 2017I'm impressed that the gloval version is better than the Ch... morenope, the choice of SD430 instead of SD6xx is because Nokia is A REAL CHEAPSKATE.
                          Ever since before, even for their masterpiece, 808 pureview, Nokia insisted on equipped it with ARM11 single core added with 512MB RAM, instead of the new Cortex A-series quad core which is way more powerful than ARM11, especially cortex A9/krait with 2GB RAM, which is a trend at that time.

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                            • Anons
                            • KiQ
                            • 15 Aug 2017

                            Anonymous, 15 Aug 2017what is the point of buying this here in Philippines? its o... morewho needs reason? all fanboy needs are "nokia" brand on anything and they'll definitely buy it. no question asked.

                            if u ask the reason, most of them will mention "build quality", "brand power", "timely update promise", "trusted after sales", and millions other nonsense reason.

                            why i said nonsense? because, in real world, build quality of most branded phones, even chinese ones, are similar, as there are "standard" of "build quality" by tenaa (for china).

                            moreover, if it's about timely update, u don't have to need stock android, which is scarce of "meaningful" bloatware. miui, which many nokia fanboys said sucks, are actually liked by many people in my country, indonesia, because of its feature-rich "bloatwares.

                            trusted after sales maybe the only real benefit that nokia 6 had. but, after experiencing many nokia devices years ago (3650, 6600. 7650, n70, n73, e65, 3120 xm, asha 200) i could say that, at best, nokia is not better than samsung, hardware-wise, as most of those phone i had had broken down in a year from various problems (no signal, can't read sim card, can't read mmc, flexible, muted speakerphone, muted microphone, etc).

                            brand power is a stupid stereotyping curse said & believed by fanboys, which is 100% nonsense! brand won't guarantee u anything, all they do is making more & more things for u to buy, AKA, milking u out of ur hard-earned money

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                              • Anonymous
                              • m5k
                              • 15 Aug 2017

                              I'm impressed that the gloval version is better than the Chinese version. But time and time again the same criticism comes up...sd 430 rather than 625.

                              I'm not an expert in chipset prices but how much more would it have cost them to have included a 625? Maybe 20 dollars more? Seems like it would have been worth it as most of the criticism would be gone.

                              But I get that they are new and they needed to make decent profit off these phones first and bring down their manufacturing costs for the future in order to offer better specs. The second generation will probably be really good....something to look forward to.

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                                • Anonymous
                                • 81L
                                • 15 Aug 2017

                                Smallish battery capacity....!? Seriously....!? 3K mAh for 5.5" if isn't a lot but is enough!

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                                  • Anonymous
                                  • P@Y
                                  • 15 Aug 2017

                                  Oppai, 15 Aug 2017Will be getting one of the Global version available in Phil... morewhat is the point of buying this here in Philippines? its over price for that raw performance, id rather get the moto g5 plus compare to this sluggish generic device.

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                                    • Anons
                                    • KiQ
                                    • 15 Aug 2017

                                    Oppai, 15 Aug 2017Will be getting one of the Global version available in Phil... moreprocessors is only part of SoC, troll.

                                    if the SoC sucks, it MEANS not only the processor, but ALL components, including GPU, bluetooth, & LTE modem are low-grade.

                                    synthetic benches are tests, as well as "measuremennt" and "guidance" for people to see how much "value for money" a smartphone which equipped with the said SoC actually is.
                                    if the price is RIDICULOUS, like Nokia 6, no matter what justification fanboy said, it's fact that it's not worth to buy, as there are MANY phones with similar specs which priced cheaper, even branded ones.

                                    that's why MANY people (who u fanboy said "haters") are mocking Nokia as they STILL doing the same old, same old business; made a phone with one or two striking features, and keep all other at minimum to "balance" the cost & "justify" its RIDICULOUS price tag.
                                    The same business model has been copied heavily by OPPO, VIVO, and apple ever since Nokia sold off its phone manufacturing division, and able to be the most "popular" phone in many countries, especially Asia, in a short time.

                                    I wonder, why people bother buying this POS while Motorola, Lenovo, and Xiaomi offer similar devices with many better features yet cheaper than Nokia 6.
                                    Brand power?

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                                      • Anonymous
                                      • gBV
                                      • 15 Aug 2017

                                      2 questions gsmarena:
                                      Is the Nokia 6 in your camera compare tool the chinese version or the global version?
                                      2. Can you capture raw images with 3rd party camera apps? Does manual mode work with 3rd party camera apps (shutter speed, etc)?

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                                        • Oppai
                                        • UD{
                                        • 15 Aug 2017

                                        Will be getting one of the Global version available in Philippines after reading this review. I was concern previously about the camera. I don't care about the processor. I prefer toughness compared to synthetic scores.

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