Nokia X6 review

Will Nokia's much-hyped new music phone live up to expectations?

Nokia X6 review
The Nokia X6 is the latest Symbian-based music phone

TechRadar Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Looks great

  • +

    Masses of storage

  • +

    Good on-screen keyboard

  • +

    Plenty of multimedia features

  • +

    Powerful operating system

Cons

  • -

    Occasionally very sluggish

  • -

    Inconsistent interface

  • -

    Screen can feel cramped

  • -

    Ovi store still not at its best

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Update - the Nokia X6 has now been updated to include a 16GB version, which strips the Comes with Music offering and is available at a lower price too.

The persistence of manufacturers when it comes to touchscreen mobile phones has to be applauded.

It might be that only a few - notably HTC, Apple and Palm - have really cracked the marriage of hardware and software - but that hasn't stopped everyone else attempting to achieve the same success. Nokia's own efforts have been hit and miss.

The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic isn't without its good points, but all of Nokia's touchscreen phones so far have had resistive screens.

Among other things, that means they all came with old-fashioned styluses, and didn't work properly when you touched the screen with more than one finger. That meant reduced typing speeds, and user gestures that are so intuitive on other phones – pinching to zoom on the iPhone, for instance - were unavailable.

nokia x6

Nokia has heard its customers' complaints.

The X6 looks like a traditional slider phone - at 13.8mm thick it certainly looks like it could accommodate a physical keyboard. However, there are hardly any buttons to be found as the 3.2-inch touchscreen is capacitive, theoretically making a physical keyboard redundant.

nokia x6

There is a wealth of features besides. A whopping 32GB/16GB of internal storage and an FM radio make it tempting for entertainment even before you consider Nokia's intriguing Comes With Music service.

Even the camera has received the kind of attention you don't see on cheaper models - a 5MP sensor behind Carl Zeiss optics gives the X6 plenty of sheen.

nokia x6

nokia x6

nokia x6

But is the touchscreen a gimmick? The S60 operating system has a number of detractors, and just because a phone ticks all the right boxes on a specification sheet doesn't necessarily mean it'll make its users happy.

Dave is a professional photographer whose work has appeared everywhere from National Geographic to the Guardian. Along the way he’s been commissioned to shoot zoo animals, luxury tech, the occasional car, countless headshots and the Northern Lights. As a videographer he’s filmed gorillas, talking heads, corporate events and the occasional penguin. He loves a good gadget but his favourite bit of kit (at the moment) is a Canon EOS T80 35mm film camera he picked up on eBay for £18.