Nokia C6-01 Review - Specifications, Design and User Interface

Nokia C6-01 Review - Specifications, Design and User Interface
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Nokia C6-01 Review

With the rise of Android and the iPhone, Symbian has been relegated to the sidelines. It is no longer considered a major threat, even though it is still the most widely used smartphone OS. Even the Symbian Foundation has wound down, and only Nokia is managing Symbian development nowadays. Almost all Symbian supporters except Nokia have now moved on to other OSes like Android etc.

Even so, Nokia is not giving up at all. It just launched two new phones powered by the Symbian OS - <strong>Nokia N8</strong> and the <strong>Nokia C7</strong>. Now, it has launched another one, a relatively cheaper one - the Nokia C6-01. It is powered by the Symbian ^ 3 OS and comes with some really good hardware. It is quite similar to the <strong>Nokia C6</strong>, but comes without the physical keyboard and with Symbian ^3, compared to Symbian OS 9.4 in the C6. Also, it has a much better 8 MP camera.

nokia-c6-01

Nokia C6-01 Specifications

  • Dimensions: 103.8 x 52.5 x 13.9 mm
  • Weight: 131 gms
  • Display: 3.2 inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 360 x 640 pixels
  • OS: Symbian ^3
  • Processor: ARM 11 processor, 680 MHz
  • Graphics: 3D graphics accelerator
  • RAM: 256 MB RAM
  • Memory: 340 MB internal storage, up to 32 GB microSD cards
  • Camera: 8 MP camera, 3264 x 2448 pixels, fixed focus, dual LED flash, 720p video recording at 25 FPS
  • Radio: FM radio with RDS
  • Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP
  • GPS: GPS transceiver with A-GPS support
  • Battery: Li-ion battery, 1050 mAh

Design (4 out of 5)

The Nokia C6-01 has a very stylish design which reminds you of the Nokia C6. It is almost the same as the C6, except that the QWERTY keyboard has been lopped off to make it slimmer. It has dimensions of 103.8 x 52.5 x 13.9 mm and weighs about 131 gms which makes it quite compact, though a bit heavy.

The C6-01 comes with a 3.2 inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels. The display is a Nokia ClearBlack one, and offers excellent display quality and contrast. Below the display are three keys - Call, End and Menu. On the right of the phone are the volume rocker, lock button and the camera key while on the bottom, there is the microUSB port and the audio jack. The back sports the 8 MP camera and a dual LED flash.

User Interface and Hardware (4 out of 5)

The Nokia C6-01 comes with the good old Symbian ^3 OS and user interface which we have already seen in the Nokia N8 and the Nokia C7. Symbian ^3 is a vast improvement over the S60v5 UI which Nokia had initially cobbled together in order to take on Android and iOS. It is powered by a 680 MHz processor and comes with 256 MB RAM, ample in this case. It has about 340 MB internal storage.

It is much better, both visually and functionally. It offers homescreens, widgets, notifications, shortcuts and all the other stuff you would expect in Android. It also comes with a really good default Task Manager app and supports many applications from the Ovi Store. The application support is not as good as Android Market or the iPhone App Store though.

Multimedia (4 out of 5)

The Nokia C6-01 comes with a superb file manager and a nice image gallery application. It supports USB-on-the-GO, which allows you to connect USB drives directly to the device. It also comes with an 8 MP camera with an image capture resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels. The camera is a fixed focus one and comes with a dual LED flash. The camera interface is pretty detailed and easy to use and the image capture quality is also quite nice, but the lack of autofocus is clearly visible. The camera can also record 720p video at 25 FPS with very nice capture quality.

The C6-01 also packs in a stereo FM radio with RDS. The default audio player does a nice job and offers a nice interface with a lot of features. The audio quality is really awesome, especially when coupled with a set of good headphones. It also comes with a nice video player which can play 3GP, MP4, DivX and XviD videos out of the box.

nokia-c6-01-2

Connectivity (5 out of 5)

The Nokia C6-01 comes with a nice set of connectivity options - the basic ones which you can find in every other smartphone. It has GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA and also offers Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP. It also has microUSB 2.0 connectivity and comes with a GPS transceiver with A-GPS support and Ovi Maps. USB-on-the-Go is easily one of the best features you can have in a smartphone.

It comes with the Webkit based browser found in all Symbian phones, which is pretty decent. It is powered by a standard 1050 mAh Li-ion battery which lasts for about a day with moderate usage.

The Final Verdict (4 out of 5)

The Nokia C6-01 is a very nice budget smartphone option, if you want a Symbian smartphone but can’t get the Nokia C7. It offers almost everything you would need in a smartphone. You could also look at the <strong>Samsung Wave</strong>, if you are OK with Bada OS. If you want an Android phone, check out our list of the <strong>best Android smartphones</strong>.