Nokia 6.1 64GB smartphone review, its advantages and disadvantages

Nokia is known to many and sounds like a kind of hello from the zero years. This is not surprising, because for many this name is associated with high-quality, fashionable and cool mobile phones, and it was then prestigious to have a Nokia with you. Questions like “which company is better to buy” did not arise, the answer was obvious. Indeed, the Finnish corporation has held a fairly large share of the global market since 2000 and was able to hold out until 2011. Unfortunately, the sudden appearance of smartphones displaced the company, and attempts to regain its position were unsuccessful.

In 2017, they released a quite good Nokia 6 at an affordable price, and in 2018 they improved and supplemented it to 6.1. Will an inexpensive and budget Android phone be able to occupy the niche of popular models, and the company will again become the best manufacturer? As they say, time will tell.

This device has every chance to get into the rating of high-quality smart phones of the middle price range. A powerful processor, stylish design and good performance - this is briefly what can be said about this gadget, the approximate price of which is 19990 rubles.or 50,000 tenge.

Equipment

Considering the proposed set, the first thing that draws attention is a rigid and durable cardboard box with a good and associative image. We open it, and a beautiful, strict candy bar and a thick stack of instructions immediately catch the eye. It comes with a wired headset, a cord length of approximately 1 meter, a USB type C cable along with an adapter for charging from the Fast Charger (18 W). The key clip for removing the SIM tray is carefully sealed, it takes a long time to remove it.

Main characteristics

The intro itself talked about design and performance. Below is the exact technical description of the device:

• Platform: Android Oreo 8.0 - 8.1;
• Screen: 1920 × 1080, 403 ppi;
• Diagonal - 5.5 inches;
• Camera (Mpx): rear - 16, front - 8;
• Sound: OZO Audio, one speaker;
• Number of microphones: 2;
• Radio: FM;
• Protective glass: Corning Gorilla Glass 3;
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 630, 64-bit, 8-core;
• Graphics card (GPU): Adreno 508;
• Memory (Gb): operational - 3, permanent - 64, microSD up to 128;
• Connectors: USB 2.0 Type-C, headset - 3.5;
• SIM: 1 - nanosim, 2 - dualsim or microSD;
• Communication and Internet: 2G/3G, LTE, Bluetooth 5.0;
• Network: Wi-Fi 802.11;
• Navigation: GLONASS, GPS, BDS;
• Battery: non-removable, 3000 mAh;
• Dimensions (mm): 148.8 × 75.8 × 8.1;
• Color: white, blue, black;
• Weight (grams): 172.

Design

The device is a black candy bar with stylish copper-colored stripes on the edges.All-metal housing with a matte finish, and the metal coating is an alloy of aluminum with magnesium and silicon (6000th alloy). The shape is a little brutal - sharp edges, thin profile and flat edges, but overall it looks expensive.

On the right side there are paired volume buttons and a power button, on the left side there is a symmetrically located SIM card tray and sits very tightly. Headset jack with microphone 3.5 mm - at the top, on the opposite side - USB 2.0 and a speaker with a microphone.

On the back panel, all items are arranged symmetrically. From above and below you can see thin, barely noticeable plates. In the very center there is a vertical inscription - Nokia. Above the inscription is an unlock in the form of a round, fingerprint scanner. Above it is a vertical block of the rear camera, and at the very top of the second microphone. At the very bottom are: The Android logo and technical information.

The oblong shape of the photomodule is located under the glass. Above - a lens, at the very bottom - a double flash and between them - an inscription of the famous company "Zeiss". The module is edged with a copper stroke, which is reminiscent of the style - lumia.

The front panel is covered with protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Above the screen with a diagonal of 5.5 inches in the center is a speaker, to the right is the front camera and a small company logo.

According to positive reviews about the appearance of the smartphone, it can be assumed that its design will help increase the popularity of models. It all depends on the specific selection criteria.

But, despite the representative appearance, convenient arrangement of elements and the lack of backlash of mechanical buttons, there are still some shortcomings, such as:

• Fairly rough body;
• Sharp edges cutting into the palm;
• Marked coating, despite the dullness and pleasant tactile sensations, marks and stains remain on it;
• The fingerprint sensor (fingerprint scanner) is located low and small, it will not be very convenient for owners of long fingers to search for it.

Screen

The display with a classic aspect ratio - 16:9, is equipped with a high-quality liquid crystal matrix - IPS. The pixel density per inch is 403 ppi. The diagonal is 5.5 inches and the maximum resolution is 1920×1080.

The picture is clear and contrasty. The display accurately reproduces the shades of colors. The color scheme does not change if you look at the display at an acute angle. No dimming in the sun as the backlight brightness control helps to counteract the sun's rays.

The display is protected by corning gorilla 3 glass, which smoothly passes into the metal frame of the case. Oleophobic coating allows fingers to glide easily over the surface. The touchscreen is able to recognize about 10 simultaneous touches.

Turning on the blue saturation filter for nighttime viewing allows the eyes to rest.

Unfortunately, there are no modes for the screen in the settings. The only thing is that you can reduce the resolution and adjust the size of icons and elements.

Functionality and interface

The device runs on Android 8.0 Oreo. When you turn it on for the first time, an update to 8.1 is immediately offered. It is attractive that it works without any different shells with a minimum number of third-party programs and utilities, only standard and pre-installed by Google itself.

What else is worth paying attention to is the strict interface without fanciful shells and maximum functionality, just because of their absence.Everything works smoothly and debugged, without brakes in response to pressing and gestures.

Iron

It is surprising that the smartphone, although it belongs to the middle price category, is not bad for active games. The eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 with a frequency of 2.2 GHz, although not the most productive, is quite fast.

The fourth-generation RAM has a small amount of 3 GB, on the one hand it is enough now, but in the future the smartphone may start to slow down. The internal storage is 64 GB, type eMMC 5.1. It can be expanded up to 128 GB thanks to the microSD slot.

Having tested the device for speed and lags when loaded, we can say that the frame rate at medium game settings is 60 FPS, and at high settings - from 45 to 60. At the same time, the case and the processor itself did not heat up much and the sensor worked well and debugged. The Android phone is a pretty good and reliable option for the price and performance. At the moment it is suitable for many games.

Connection

In addition to the well-known function called the black list, a new one has appeared - Caller ID. Its essence is that it gives out information about the organization by a defined number. You can use two SIM cards, but one of them is compatible with SD. The slots work together, so there is no need to rearrange the cards. Just choose from the menu. The selected one will work in 4G, the rest in 3G and 2G. Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi is also available.

Cable data transfer is available via USB 2.0. Connecting new devices is supported by USB-OTG. Geolocation support in the format: BDS, GPS and GLONASS. Exact location, with an error of 2 - 3 meters.

Networking is available via the link:

• 2G: GSM/GPRS/EDGE - 850/900/1800/1900 MHz;
• 3G: WCDMA - 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz;
• 4G: FDD-LTE - 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/18/19/20/25/26/28/29/30/66.

autonomy

A 3000 mAh non-removable battery is housed in an 8.1 mm thick case. The adapter supports fast energy storage. In 45 minutes, the battery is charged approximately 50 - 55%, a full charge lasts about an hour and a half. With average consumption, uninterrupted operation is ensured for 12 - 16 hours.

Wireless charging is not supported due to the metal frame of the case. Lack of flexible energy saving adjustment modes, the program independently manages energy consumption. The main power saving mode is the limitation of the frequency of the processor, slow data transfer and no vibration when making a call.

Camera

On the back of the smartphone, the camera lens with 16 MP is clearly located. Remarkable phase autofocus and aperture - f / 2.0. Equipped with a high dynamic range (HDR) function that allows you to get as close as possible to the subject without any distortion. Additional features allow you to watermark photos with date or weather information, stitch panoramas, and shoot slow-motion videos.

For more professional shooting, manual focus control is available. The ISO setting and adjustment interval is 100 - 3200. It is worth noting an interesting photography mode - the image from the front camera is superimposed on the image from the front camera, the effect is “picture in picture”.

Selfie camera with a matrix of 8 MP, equipped with autofocus and its aperture is f / 2.0. In principle, he can do everything except creating panoramas. It is worth mentioning that photo and video optics were developed jointly with a well-known company - Carl Zeiss.

Many people wonder how an “average” android phone takes pictures. During the day, the camera and camcorder shoot perfectly. Clear detail, excellent work with light, fast autofocus, clean crop and natural color reproduction. You can safely throw into the piggy bank of positive qualities: a high-quality selfie, which not all flagships can boast of, and perfect gluing of panoramas. The blur is superimposed clearly and accurately without unnecessary details.

At dusk, even in relative light, the sharpness of the photo drops a little and grain appears due to the automatic increase in ISO. Despite the negative nuances, the photo quality is still above average.

With insufficient light, colors begin to distort and autofocus begins to lag. Sharpness is lost and photos are smooth and blurry.

Example of a daytime photo:

Compare how he photographs at night:

As for video, the fast processor makes it possible to shoot video in 4K resolution and at a speed of 30 fps. But due to the lack of stabilization, the videos are of poor quality and twitchy, albeit with good color reproduction.

Sound

It is worth noting a good speaker. Sounds pretty loud and clear. It clearly conveys the lower boundaries, while the upper ones do not emit light and do not creak. But using headphones will slightly improve the sound, making it clearer and free from external auditory stimuli.

The bundled headphones sound mediocre. The sound is quite dirty and the transfer of borders is fuzzy.

Price

How much does a mid-range phone cost? The price at the time of publication was $ 290, approximately 19,500 rubles. At the moment, prices in mobile communication stores fluctuate around 19,990 rubles.But sometimes, in honor of different holidays, their subscribers are offered various discounts or loans on good terms. Therefore, it is up to you to decide where it is profitable to buy.

Advantages and disadvantages

Before choosing a “smart” for yourself and which model is better to buy, you need to clearly understand its strengths and weaknesses, based on your preferences. Before closing the review, let's highlight the main qualities.

• Good display with accurate colors
• Oreo platform from Google, without brakes, glitches and with good protection;
• Presentable appearance;
• The camera is above average;
• Clear sound and loud enough;
• Powerful processor;
• Offline work.

• Water permeable;
• Lack of wireless charging capability;
• Uncomfortable case - slippery, sharp edges and quickly get dirty;
• Lack of stabilization;
• Bad night shot.

Once upon a time, the truth "Nokia" was a common noun, symbolizing the "indestructible tank." Despite its fall, the company tried to release a fairly good product using quality materials. Therefore, I would like to hope that the model will gain the trust of many, and the new products produced will revive the brand's popularity.