Nokia 6 (2018) review – in pictures

Nokia 6 (2018) review – in pictures

The new Nokia 6 improves on the original in a few major ways, but still manages to keep the price down. You can call this phone the Nokia 6.1, the Nokia 2018 if you like, but what matters is that this is the solid middle-range option in Nokia’s line-up. It’ll soon have to go up against the imminent Moto G6 Plus, so is it up to the challenge? Let’s find out…

Design and build: reassuringly weighty

One thing Nokia nails with its newly resurrected range is build quality. The 6’s design is pretty plain but, some oddly clicky buttons aside, keeps the standard high, with an aluminium unibody and bronze highlights. The fingerprint scanner isn’t the fastest around and it’s positioned far too low, but it does have a headphone socket and a USB-C port, which is an improvement over the old Nokia 6’s microUSB number.

Screen and sound: fittingly budget

The Nokia 6’s 5.5in, Full HD LCD screen is bright and colourful, with none of the contrast issues or viewing angle problems you might see in some cheap phones. The only downside is it has a 16:9 rather than 18:9 aspect ratio, which will start to look dated very soon. Apart from a night mode that cuts down on sleep-disturbing blue light, there’s little in the way of colour customisation. As it is, they’re reasonably vivid without looking over-saturated, although the colour temperature is just a wee bit cool.

Camera: a mixed snapper

The Nokia 6’s 16MP rear camera now has a Zeiss lens but its aperture is still f/2, which isn’t super-wide by current standards. That means it captures great detail in consistently well-lit scenes, particularly close-ups, but struggles in less favourable conditions and at night. It can shoot 4K video, though, which is not a given at this price. Neither is spatial audio sound recording, which gives your video clips something a little extra that you won’t find on other bargain phones.

Performance and software: punching above its weight

With its Snapdragon 630 CPU, you won’t get high-end performance from the Nokia 6 but games like Asphalt 8 run near-perfectly when maxed out and loading speeds seem to have been whipped up a little, although there’s still the occasional delay before the keyboard pops up. The built-in 32GB storage gives you enough room for games and apps but the speaker could be better – it’s lacking the extra bulk that you’ll get from the best, plus its positioning makes it easy to block when playing games in landscape orientation.

Battery life: a full day’s stamina

Like most larger phones the Nokia 6 has a 3000mAh battery and it’ll easily hang on for a full day of real-world use. Even with a 7am start that took in audio-streaming, YouTubing and photo-snapping, it still had 30% charge left at midnight. It has fast charging too, with the bundled power block revving up from the usual 5V to 12V to get the Nokia from empty to full in around an hour and a half. That’s a big upgrade over the original Nokia 6, which didn’t come with a fast charger.

Nokia 6 verdict

With the Nokia 8 at the top of Nokia’s phone line-up, the new 6 settles firmly in the mid-range, which is pretty much the perfect place for it. Despite costing more, this version is better than the phone it replaces, the “old” Nokia 6. It looks better, packs more power and the newer CPU seems to have a positive effect on day-to-day battery life. Slight downsides are that the Nokia 6 camera is only fair and the 16:9 screen will probably look quite dated in six months. But, all in all, this is a solid phone if you like the idea of owning a Nokia. Stuff says: ★★★★