And so it happened ! After years of multitudes of closet prayers and trying to impress whoever and whatever with my techno-laden boring tweets and status updates, by the will of god - it happened ! With an amazing set of fortuitous circumstances (and yeah, they keep happening to me, good or bad !) somebody gave me the chance to review the Nokia E6, with the handset being mine to play with for a month or so ! Unfortunately I can't tag my benefactor due to confidentiality reasons - but yeah many thanks to you !


Also, please don't point out fingers at this being an "already launched and dissected" handset and all that, afterall der se aaye, par finally aaye toh sahi !


Anyways, now getting back to my "official" review, when I had bought my current handset, the Samsung Galaxy Pro, I had duly considered Nokia E6 as an alternative, but due to the significant weight difference (105 g Galaxy Pro vs 134 g E6) - I bought the Pro ! Does that mean, I am regretting now, read on to find out !

Overall Impression (Heh ! Trying to ape the master techno writers !)

The E6 follows in the footsteps of its esteemed predecessors E71 and E72 (remember how almost every corporate honcho had one of these in the pre-touch OS days !) with a white silver body and a fairly large bezel at the bottom (recommend to take that out and increase screen size instead !!). The build is typical Nokia-ish, sturdy as hell, polished and "appearance of quality". Infact, Nokia have always priced their devices on a Cost+ basis in line with their Finnish socialism :), and hence they have always seemed to be on the pricier side in India because they generally use high-end components but the Indian consumer couldn't care less, no !

The touchscreen is capacitive (Finally Nokia gave up on the resistive ones, bleh !) and highly responsive, infact I reckon its as good as iPhone's, trust me !

On the OS side, funnily enough, the Anna OS (latest and greatest Symbian Belle minus 1) feels exactly like Windows (though its based on Linux) - an OS deep integrated with the Hardware unlike the Android implementations ! And hence, the 680 Mhz CPU doesn't feel itchy at all, everything is slick and fine. But, yeah that doesn't take away the bane of the Symbian OS, not enough Apps !! But, if Nokia does a similar deep OS-hardware integration with Windows Phone 7, they sure have a winner on their hands with the ecosystem a given !!

The Plus"es" (And yeah, there are many !!)


1. Amazing keyboard, better than any in the business, Blackberry included - its a delight to type and keep typing :)

2. Great touchscreen

3. Very sturdily built and high-quality components - Gorilla glass, high-res screen, 8MP camera !, high-quality bluetooth (the song volume almost doubled on this one compared to Samsung's Galaxy Pro), very good speaker and audio quality!

4. Amazing maps implementation with fabulous GPS - haven't got a better position lock ever before! With their offline maps feature, it is a complete killer - you can download maps for any part of the world and you don't need any data connection to navigate - what ossumness, Google - hear, hear !

5. Great Battery life, I lasted a day and more using the same stuff which lasted me ~8-10 hours on Android !

6. Inbuilt 8 GB memory, who needs an SD card


7. If the world were simpler (without the Apps ecosystem I mean :)), an OS worth competing with iOS - beautifully integrated with the system, zippy and smooth - does all the Vanilla phone functions very well - calling, SMS, Mail, Internet, MP3, Radio, Camera, Bluetooth etc. !!!

8. Very good Multitasking implementation

9. Many many shortcut keys

10. Dedicated call, end and scroller keys - comes handy even with touchscreens !

11. The price - At 16k, if you are a vanilla user, this is pretty much a rockstar steal !

12. Wifi Hotspot feature, still missing from BB and iOS - yeah really !


And now the bad part :)


Has to start with the OS right :) - and yes, there is a long list !

1. SNS integration with Contacts - today even the Chinees OSes allow people to sync FB / Twitter / LinkedIn to Contacts and Nokia doesn't - how does that read ?? And please, "matching" contacts one-by-one to FB profiles is not syncing !!

2. Missing multiple folder sync in Email app, seriously needed for us Corporate types !

3.  Missing apps namely Google Reader (Nokia, look past your rivalry boss, no point trying to fight what is already ossum, just go with it ! *Update* Nokia is developing something called the Reader, lets see), password storage app (cloud syncable), good system monitor widget etc. !

4. Did not try any games, but I guess, there aren't many, are there :) ?

5. Missing cloud sync for "Notes" - again very critical for Corporate types - will be cool if you could simply sync it to Dropbox - then you can have true cloud implementation !

6. Poor notifications system - I guess Belle has improved in this regard, bring it on Anna !

7. Just simplying the OS and setup wizard - e.g. instead of having "Dual mode" under networks - you could call it 3G & 2G - simple things, but makes a big difference to non-geek user experience

8. Large empty bezel at the bottom - could have removed that and increased the screen size instead

9. The Weight - very heavy at 134 gms, would have been a fab phone if it was just 10-15 gms lighter !

Overall verdict:


For a non-gaming esp. high keyboard user: 7 / 10 (for gaming types, don't even think about it !), loses a couple of points for the sheer weight !

And yes, it is much better than the comparable Blackberry 9900 touch and type which retails at 32k, I am not sure what dope are they smoking though ! Buy this one anyday over that overpriced piece of slab !

So, then take care and I hope for my sake that I write sooner again than later !! Adios, all Amigoz !

*Update* Discovered something called the Nokia Beta Labs which regularly creates new software for Symbian OS (have to marvel at the continued commitment of Nokia for an OS which has been universally panned dead, hats off really - learn Samsuck, learn something !!) - got some of my demand met above through the Beta Labs Apps !