HMD Global announces the much awaited Nokia 6

After a string of disappointing devices, I’ve now have something average to talk about. Enter the brand new Nokia 6, the much anticipated Nokia Android phone. It’s got a nice design, some pretty decent specs, and the pricing isn’t horrible! It’s not ideal of course, but first let’s take a closer look at the Nokia 6.

Design wise, the new Nokia looks good, if not somewhat generic from some aspects. From the back it’s classic Nokia, with a simple design reminiscent of some of their feature phones. The device features a unibody build, made from 6000 series aluminium machined from a single block.

On the front, the device adopts the popular bezelless look currently used by many different companies. Unfortunately, the bezelless design doesn’t extend to the top and bottom, which are pretty large. Under the display is a home button fingerprint sensor, flanked by the recent apps and back buttons.

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So, what about the specs of the Nokia 6?. For starters, the device sports a 2.5D 5.5-inch Full HD “hybrid in-cell display” with Corning Gorilla Glass. Inside, we have 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, but with only a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset. The battery is your standard 3,000mAh unit, which is alright I suppose.

The smartphone also features a 16MP f/2.0 rear camera with phase detect auto focus, and an 8MP front-facing camera. In terms of software, the Nokia 6 ships with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. There is also space for dual speakers on the bottom, as well as Dolby Atmos support.

For those of you who have been eagerly awaiting the return of Nokia, you’re in for some bad news. The device will be sold exclusively in China via JD.com, meaning you’ll need to rely on resellers to get it. The device will set you back at 1699 Yuan, or roughly $246, which doesn’t really seem ideal to me.

So there it is, the Nokia device that people have wanted and waited for. Are you happy with the new Nokia 6, or do you think Nokia could’ve done better for their big comeback? Tell us down in the comments section below.

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About the author

Airyl
Enjoying life as a student, gently flowing in the stream known as life. Likes playing the piano, isn't very good at it. Likes playing games, is good at it. Constantly sleepy. Also does some tech stuff, but who cares about that?

BuzzatTech
January 8, 2017
It could have been better if they have used a SD625 and would be icing on the cake if it had a 4000mAh battery.
- Muhammad Yasir
  January 8, 2017
  still would have been expensive af !
  needs to be UNDER $200 !
  - Wolvie
    January 8, 2017
    Yeah it doesn’t even comparable to Xaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro or Mi MAX that equiped with a powerfull Snapdragon 650 / 652 and selling around $150 – $180
    - lildwell
      January 9, 2017
      Those shitty cameras though. Does anybody remember anything about Nokia on these sites?
    - Guaire
      January 10, 2017
      Forget these, Mi5 is cheaper than that and a couple of months later when Mi6 announced it will be even cheaper and maybe Mi5s will be cheaper too.

inquirercet
January 8, 2017
3000mah is a deal breaker
Sere83
January 8, 2017
- Andrew P
  January 8, 2017
  Oppo puts weak SOC’s in their phones and it works for them perfectly. The typical buyer ain’t in the rhythm of caring about the benchmarks.
  - Oscar
    January 8, 2017
    Oppo have physical stores in China. Many chinese companies rely heavily on ecommerce therefore this Nokia won’t do well.
  - Raky_b
    January 8, 2017
    Also Oppo buyers don’t have to change their phones every 6 months because of problems with them, as i believe it will be with Nokia phones, unlike some other famous Chinese big names devices.
    - Sere83
      January 8, 2017
      lol yeah but on what planet is oppo software really good? Definitely not on this one…
      - Raky_b
        January 9, 2017
        I am not talking about SW, it’s HW i am talking about… Unlike f.e. Xiaomi, Oppo phones have great built quality.
        Their screen won’t get yellow stein from overheating like Mi4i , or burn ins on amoled, after just 2-3 months, like Redmi Pro…
        Also they are coming with great sound DAC, nice camera…
        And SW…well,it’s typical Chinese Android
        
        sere83
        January 9, 2017
        Huawei/Honor, ZTE/nubia, Meizu, LeECo all have great build too and some include DAC’s. Some models have just as good cameras too. Dont understand the fascination with oppo, they are overpriced and their software is average at best and very iClone like.
        
        Raky_b
        January 9, 2017
        and of all that you mention here, only Huawei have more or less “normal” android skin, so i don’t understand why you don’t like skin that Oppo use, when all other here are not better at all.
        and then…you see, i drive Audi, and it costs wey more then my wife’s Nissan Note…they both do same purpose, driving us from home to job, and even though A4 have better built quallity, i have wey more problems with it then with Note.
        but, i would again buy Audi over Nissan for myself…same is with phones.
        even Samsung have one of worst skins ever (for me), it is premium, and obviosly they can sell phones for a prices that other can’t….
        it’s similar with Oppo and Vivo, they are premium…same as Huawei f.e.
        if it’s sells, price is good…if not, it’s overpriced.
        
        lildwell
        January 9, 2017
        Lmao at just as good cameras. Chinese phones have a horrible track record when it comes to cameras. The only decent camera phone brand is Huawei and they cost a premium. Leeco doesn’t even have a 3.5mm jack for Christ’s sake and has horrible software. Worst I’ve seen.
        sere83
        January 9, 2017
        Except your chatting nonsense. Nubia Z11 has good cameras, Oneplus 3 has a good camera, no chinese brand has the best high end camera admittedly but in the low, mid and upper mid range there are some strong contenders.
        
        lildwell
        January 10, 2017
        And both of those phones cost premium cash compared to their rivals. Thanks for proving my point.
        sere83
        January 10, 2017
        Oneplus does not cost premium cash, it is one of the cheaper phones in the high end category for the spec. You also ignored my mention of all the great mid range and low end chinese handsets that are considered some of the best in category and have good cameras. Old lumia phones? You mad? windows phone was garbage, they made one good camera phone which was the 1020 and despite it taking good images the software was slow and garbage. Also you don’t even have a clue if this nokia phone will perform well camera wise, I expect it will probably be average for the category. I own a Nokia n1 tablet and the camera was very average. Also nokia is not the same company as it used to be. So you basically have no case at all.
        
        lildwell
        January 10, 2017
        You mentioned 2 phones in your response to me. And yes. Compared to other phones with the same soc as the OP3, it is more expensive. Huawei is expensive for what get. Meizu is charging this amount of money for crappy mediatek soc phones and are coming out with a 6753 soc phone this year. That’s insane. Windows OS was garbage because it was windows. Even though the software was garbage, the hardware represented Nokia. Indestructible. And yes, the old lumia phones had good quality cameras for their price ranges. They compare with the Chinese crap they are shoveling today. The lenses are top notch on the majority of them And I don’t have a clue about whether the phone would live up to old Nokia traditions but at least I understand old Nokia traditions. They’re phones had excellent cameras for their price range, were indestructible, and they were extremely friendly to the modding community. That was what Nokia was known for. I’m saying that before you open your mouth and spout rubbish about something because it doesn’t have a certain soc like most Chinese phone followers do, take the other things that haven’t been seen yet into consideration . Especially when those other things are what Nokia was known for. Now, Nokia might not be the same old company like they used to be, but the new company could quite possibly be trying to follow in the originators footsteps. If that’s the case, soc choice has little to do with this.
        
        Sere83
        January 10, 2017
        lol how are mediatek socs crappy? Admittedly they dont make good high end chips, but their mid range and low end chips all have solid performance and cost very little. Meizu is only using that old chip in one model for some weird reason, they also use p10,p20,x10,x20, 6750 etc etc. Every phone I have had with a meditek chip runs just as well as any equivalent qualcomm chip or better. In fact my xiaomi mi4i with SD615 was one of the worst phones i’ve ever owned. Don’t recall many windows nokia phones apart form the 1020 getting high praise for their cameras. Most chinese manufacturers are using sony or samsung sensors same as nokia. Again, there are some solid chinese smartphones in the mid and low range with decent cameras you clearly have just never used any if you think all low and mid range chinese smartphones are crap. The SD430 is a weak cheap at that price range so weather it has a good camera or not performance will be sub par, not sure how you can try and argue with that its a simple fact. I hope they keep up nokias legacy but I find that a bit hard to believe based on their chip choice for the price in the chinese market.
        lildwell
        January 12, 2017
        The sd650 matched performance with mediateks flagship in the last generation x20. Meizu is known to overcharge for mediatek chips. When it comes to cameras the sensor, while important, isn’t the only thing that makes the camera great. The majority of Chinese phones, while using good sensors, use cheap lenses and badly coded software that degrade the pictures quality. That’s a fact. What’s also a fact is that the chip isn’t what always determines the performance of the phone. Software optimisation is also very important. Go ask elephone for example. Their x20 phone doesn’t perform nearly as well as others with decent software. I’m not saying that I know for a fact that this phone will be a hit. What I am saying is that based on my experience with the old Nokia and the other articles around the net that speak about the rigidness of the phone etc, they seem to at least appear to be attempting to act like the old Nokia. When thinking about the old Nokia, soc choice means little. Its to early to tell how this is going to turn out.

Muhammad Yasir
January 8, 2017
Airyl you’re being too nice , even a bit BIASED !
Andi and Yash would be burning Nokia/HMD effigies by now !
January 8, 2017
With this spec no way to be great come back for Nokia.If they come out with dual rear camera or higher cpu will be good.
newphoenix
January 8, 2017
If zuk z2 with SD820 and 3500mah is $176, then this is $146 phone.
@Airyl don’t be polite say the pricing is bad and wrong for 2017.
- Airyl
  January 8, 2017
  I’d rip it a new one, but there’s potential here. Though you can’t imagine how much I held back from just tearing it apart.
- lildwell
  January 9, 2017
  Software is shite though. People seem to have forgotten why people bought Nokia. They were never bang for your buck phone. They we’re always a best lenses and camera software in the world, battery lasts a century, open source and encouraged the modding community, indestructible, not the cheapest but not the most expensive phone company. If they come through on these aspects while throwing in ridiculous ideas that more than likely will fail but push the industry forward, Symbian/meego OS, N-gage, etc, then they will be a true successor of the original Nokia brand.

realjjj
January 8, 2017
Boring as hell ,low end octa core with just LTE Cat 4, back cam with 1um pixels….
Why even bother?
Rich Hafley
January 8, 2017
I wonder if they will use model numbering from the old Symbian days.
6 series – average handset
7 series – stylish
8 series – camera centric
9 series – flagship

goodwill
January 8, 2017
Nokia better pull a bunny out of the hat on this one with it’s software.
gersonjunior87
January 9, 2017
Snapdragon 430? Really?

johala02
January 10, 2017
I think its a good test for Nokia/HMD Global to try first in China and see what work and not. JD.Com in one of the largest e-commerce retailers in the world that they have chose for the distribution so I guess they will recive a lot of statistics from them.
And the Nokia brand must have some value I suppose, many YouTube videos on the Nokia 6 and articles with many comments.
But the next Nokia androids for the rest of the world we will probably see in MWC 2017.
Guaire
January 10, 2017
Not bad, but not bad isn’t enough. They still might have a strong brand loyalty of some consumers, though most of them moved on.
Nokia fanboys will cry when they begin announcing losses quarter after quarter again.
Nokia brand isn’t strong as it used to be. Market is changed. They don’t have anything really special anymore.
Today every phone manufacturers out there including Apple and Samsung losing ground especially to Chinese brands. Very few of them making profits, most of them constantly bleeding money.
Oppo and Vivo as I know have physical stores across whole China. That’s why they can be able to selling so much phones despite not being budget friendly as for example Xiaomi.

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