Nokia X6 Design – Look and Feel

Nokia will try to set a buzz in handset market with the launch of its very stylish and slim handset the X6. In the past Nokia has not been known for slim phones but with this launch it would try to enter this segment also. It has a 3.2 inch capacitive touch screen, boasting around 16 million colors with a plastic strip around the screen. When we observe the handset from the front panel we have a video call support camera above it whereas it has 3 touch sensitive buttons for Call End & Calling Menu placed below the panel. It also sports a touch sensitive key placed on top right of its screen giving direct access for the functions such as web browser, music, gallery, etc. On the left panel we have the slot for the SIM card having the same functionality as it was observed in Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. But in X6, there is no stylus present instead it has a knob which is used for ejecting the SIM from the slot. Turning the phone around to the right panel we have a shutter release key and the volume rocker. There is a USB slot on its top panel with a charging slot, a 3.5mm jack & a power button. Its screen does not have a very good sunlight legibility. The best part is the responsiveness of the touch screen which can be said to be the best till date. The UI on the phone is the Symbian Series 60 which is the 5th edition User Interface. It is very easy to navigate through the lists or the pages or even the menus thanks to the kinetic scrolling. The handset gives the option of adding contacts on the homescreen and one can even customize the usual themes. It has a built in accelerometer which helps the user to use functions on the handset in both portrait and landscape mode. Accessing the task manager is simpler by just pressing its menu key for a few seconds.

X6 Messaging options

X6 has a full support of Email and steps of the wizard are very simple and easy. The settings for the clients like Yahoo! Mail, Sify, G-mail, Net4India etc has been preloaded with an option of setting up of any other POP3 & IMAP4 A/c on the device. The user won’t face any problem to have multiple accounts and Microsoft Exchange is also supported. Scheduling of Emails is also possible in this handset and one can view any of the office documents by Quick-Office document viewer. Though to have the full functions of the office one will need to buy the full version. The handset includes a virtual alphanumeric keypad in its portrait mode whereas it has the full virtual keypad when viewed in landscape mode.

The two good features that is efficient enough are the Wi-Fi which gives great speeds while surfing and the built-in GPS receiver that has pre-loaded navigation. We would find the device preloaded with number of applications such as MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, etc. A unique feature that this handset has to offer is the feature of uploading pictures from the apps and it also gives the option to click pictures directly on Facebook page.

X6 Multimedia and Camera Performance

The phone sports a 5.0 megapixel camera, inbuilt music player and an FM radio. Talking about the music player users can download unlimited songs from OVI Music store. Sorting of the songs are done on the basis of genres, artists, albums or composers. The music player has 6 equalizer options which include the default one. Its possible to edit the 5 presets & create new ones apart from the default. The music player also gives the option of stereo widening and loudness. One of its most interesting features that we would observe is Playlist DJ which helps to sort songs according to 4 which have been termed as passion, joy, tempo and anger. Songs are automatically sorted once songs are placed at their respective places. The loudspeaker’s sound quality is good and even much better in the earphones. X6 supports FM radio having RDS support.

X6 sports 5.0-megapixel camera having a dual LED flash. The clarity of the snaps taken is pretty good and the presence of Flash plays a vital role in the low light conditions. It also gives the option of geo-tag for photos and choosing different scene modes, self timer, color effect options, sequence shot, etc. Some of the other options available are the White balance, the exposure, brightness settings. The secondary camera with the video resolution of 30fps can also be used to take pictures. Users could add color effects, geo-tag videos, use dual LED flash, & use night mode. There is no support for DivX/XviD in the video player. X6 has a built-in 16 GB memory, but it has no option for further expansion. The box of the handset includes car charger and windshield mount.

Alternatives and Final say

Overall the phone looks stylish and good in hand and comes packed with some great features. However, being on a symbian platform it gives quite a boring and common user interface, but it cannot be considered as a bad buy. Nokia X6 is available for Rs. 15,900. Some other options one can look for in the similar pattern is the Samsung Wave priced at Rs. 17,000.