Nokia X6 pre-launch review

I got a Nokia X6 as part of the Nokia Music explorer. So it has been over 2 weeks now that I have been using the phone. So how and what do I feel about the phone? What are the pros and cons of this phone?


Let's see how I am going to do this without comparing it to other phones I have had. So what it all about the hoo haa of this phone? In terms of usability, the design of the phone is plain and easy for users to pick up on how to use it. The only problem seems to be the unlocking key which if you have long fingernails, you risk pulling out the whole thing all together. The sim card compartment is on the side. A good feature if you ask me as it allows you to put your SIM card in without removing the battery which usually causes a lost of information like recent calls. The problem lies in how are you going to get the SIM card out. Yes you guessed it right. You still have to pull out the battery. There are also complains of needing something thin to really push the SIM card deep enough.


There is also the 3.5 mm audio jack which doubles as a TV output. Next to it is the USB cable connector for you to connect to your computer. Next we have the double 3D sound surround speakers which I could still hear my music playing from 20 meters away in my office. Talk about revving up the bass. It is also used in speakerphone mode while on call. The music player supports mp3, SPMidi, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA formats. Then you have the 5 megapixel double flash led Carl Zeiss camera at the back which hangs and ask you to restart your phone while on sequence mode(multiple shots). Totally 'UP' to the standard of phone cameras. There is also the 30 frags per sec video recording mode and both modes comes with the 4 times zoom. Then we have the headset. It's a stereo headset which gives you the privacy of listening to your own music without disturbing others. There is one problem thou. The wires for the headset are real thin and fragile. They might just snap if you handle them roughly. The buttons on mine is already not working within 2 weeks. One of the design fails I would say else, it still proves to be a good one. Oh and did I tell you that the Stereo Headset is foldable for easy storage and it comes with a carry case?


In terms of the display, it's a 3.2" wide 16 million colors capacitive touch screen meaning you don't need to tap your phone screen real hard to get it to detect the touch. There is one problem thou. It's highly sensitive to touch but you can't use a stylus even if you want to. Then it has the sensors to change from the normal keypad to the full QWERTY keyboard mode when tilted to the side. One of the standard items on smart phones up to date. No there is no multi touch. Maybe they should consider this too during firmware update . I also allows voice commands and short cut keys personalization. The menu is as the standard Nokia icon menus. I loved the drag and scroll feature in some of the menus like choosing songs and contacts but I just don't know why the menu doesn't support that feature. Then there is the proximity sensors when you make calls to shut off your screen which proves to be a big failure. I always mute the call whenever I use the phone. Maybe this has got to do with my face contour but I will still blame Nokia for this. On the entertainment side, we have the "comes with music" which means you get to download all the songs you want for 12 months LEGALLY. Yes, all available songs ranging from the latest to oldies. All YOURS TO KEEP even after the 12 months. Happy? There is also the build in radio. The problem seems to be on the tuning of channels. It doesn't allow fine tune and goes by ticks of 0.5 instead of 0.1.


That's not it. We have the Nokia Ovi Maps which comes with voice navigation also free for life. So throw away your navigation device and opt for this all in one device. I just tested the latest maps and it's pretty accurate. The map would come in handy when traveling as there are the driving and walking mode. It even have support on traffic info. There is a flight mode(offline mode) for you when you board a plane or you just want to shut yourself from the world enjoying the music on your own. So with all these features you might ask if there is enough memory. If you haven't know it yet it comes with 32GB internal memory. That's like enough for you to store 10k of songs averaging at 3Mb each. There is the con thou. It doesn't have a memory card slot. So you need to rely on bluetooth or the cable to transfer data. That's not all. There is also the WiFi which is much needed in phones for us to stay connected indoors. This phone also comes with 3.5 g support. Yes I tested in my area and made video calls with it. The quality I would say is superb. Talk time? 3 hours on 3.5 g video call, 11 hours normal call, standby over 5 days without charging and minimal usage, video playing around 3-4 hours and finally up to 35 hours of music playback time. I tested this by letting it play from full battery on 1 notch of volume.


For sms, there are unlimited numbers of storage. A big YAY I would say. It also supports pop email and attachments. The web browser supports even javascript and flash. There are enough RAM to open a large site without the mobile mode. So I would say that this is a big improvement. This drowns the slightly slow response time due to the processing speed of the processor. There is also build in and downloadable social connectivity widgets such as facebook, friendster, youtube and others for easy communication. You will never lose touch with the cyber world ever again.

There are slight problems with this phone thou. The firmware V12.0.088 is also unstable. There might be hangs where you could either wait it out or restart the phone. If all else fail a hard reset is inevitable. Multitask too much and it dies. Mine just shut down on its own for twice. Music player could close on its own. Let's hope that all these bugs will be solved in the next release. One more thing is the Comes with Music store on the phone. I just wish they would have all the page numbers for the charts. Imagine having to scroll to page 4 and you accidentally pressed back. You are back at page 1 to repeat the process again. Damm!! is the word. Someone also need to fix the Ovi Maps's interface. It's misleading to press the X on the bottom right and exit the program. Maybe add in some confirmation to prevent unwanted restarts of the maps. One more function to add is to allow charging through the USB cable. Drawing Board? Go go go!!

Coming up SOON -> Nokia X6 launch, Nokia Music Explorer Presentation, LG Da Vinci exhibition, Wacoal Calender Girl Search, Tiger run, LG's Why I like it longer, Places of interest in KL you never thought you knew and lots more. (Damm I need to buck up on my posts. Too much backlog for now)