IntroductionThe Nokia C6-01 comes in as a reasonably priced and well-built smartphone with great all-round connectivity and a unique feature to set it apart from rivals. The ClearBlack display can actually give Nokia quite an edge if it lives up to the expectations.The Nokia C6-01 has got a tall task on its hands. It comes to replace an iconic phone like the 5800 XpressMusic. The Nokia 5800 (despite all its imperfections) introduced Nokia to the touchscreen game with a winning move but now it’s time for it to bow out of the way with dignity.

     

 Nokia C6-01 official photos

One bestseller out – the next one in. The next generation is here and we’re happy to greet the Nokia C6-01. Let’s start with a quick check-up.Key features Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support Quad/Penta-band 3G with 10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA support 3.2" 16M-color ClearBlack AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel

resolution 8 megapixel fixed-focus camera with dual-LED flash and 720p video @ 25fps

recording; geotagging, face detection, smart-zoom in videos Symbian^3 OS 680 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 256 MB RAM Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n TV-out functionality (SD) GPS receiver with A-GPS support and free lifetime voice-guided navigation Digital compass 340MB on-board storage, microSD expandable DivX and XviD video support Built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor Standard 3.5 mm audio jack Stereo FM Radio with RDS microUSB port with USB On-the-go support Flash and Java support for the web browser Stereo Bluetooth 3.0 Excellent audio quality Smart dialing and voice commands

Main disadvantages Disappointing battery life Symbian^3 is still behind Android and iOS usability (mostly in text input and web

browsing) The camera is a fixed-focus unit, tends to oversharpen images by default No office document editing (without a paid upgrade) Relatively limited 3rd party software availability

The Nokia C6-01 seems better equipped indeed than most of its direct competitors. HVGA (320 x 480 pixels) seems to be the standard in this price range and nHD (360 x 640 pixels) trumps that and even keeps some deeper blacks in reserve. Not to mention stuff like HD video recording, USB On-the-go, DivX and XviD or Flash support, which are still rare enough to make a great selling point.

     

 Nokia C6-01 at ours

From where we stand there are some personality issues the C6-01 needs to tackle if it wants to keep the competition at a safe distance. The Symbian^3 shortcomings (no split-screen typing and a sub-par web browser) may not be make-or-break in the mid-range but they certainly matter. The other thing is the fixed focus imaging Nokia are so fond of.Anyway, this phone looks good and we really hope it delivers on the promises it makes. It’s not the top of the smartphone food chain and the C6-01 doesn’t feel particularly threatened. On the other hand, strong newcomers are always welcome in the midrange.

File management and USB on-the-goUnlike some competing platforms, Symbian handsets have always enjoyed a proper file manager. The File manager on board the C6-01 is a capable app that can basically do anything you can think of with your files - moving, copying renaming, sorting or sending - you name it. You can also password-protect your memory card if you see fit.You can also search for a specific file or directory. All you need to remember is a part of the desired name and where it was located (phone memory or memory card), the Nokia C6-01 will find it in no time.

       The file manager

With USB on-the-go enabled on the Nokia C6-01, you can also use the file manager to access USB flash drives and even other phones connected over the optional USB cable. Nokia C6-01 recognized all of the USB flash drives we tried but two.As we already find out non-Nokia handsets are not supported by the USB on-the-go service. But when you plug the other end of the USB cable in a Nokia phone, its memory card immediately pops up inside the C6-01 file manager.The gallery is not much of a lookerSymbian^3 might have vastly improved the UI but the gallery was definitely not on the upgrade list. The Nokia C6-01 comes with virtually the same image browsing software as its predecessors and, honestly, it’s barely passable by modern standards.Sure, sweep gestures have been available for a while now and you are also getting pinch-zooming so it’s not all bad but some eye-candy would have been more than welcome.

     The C6-01 image gallery

Once you’ve zoomed on an image however, there’s no kinetic scrolling and panning and that’s sure to cost the C6-01 a few points. On the positive side, opting between portrait and landscape mode is automatic, thanks to the built-in accelerometer.In addition to the familiar pinch gesture you can also zoom in by double taping, the volume rocker or even the on-screen slider.

   Zooming in on a single photo

Selection of multiple photos for deleting or sharing is available straight in the gallery. Unfortunately, sharing is only available via MMS, email or Bluetooth with no image sharing service integration. We guess that can be easily fixed by installing the necessary uploading profiles for the services you’re interested in. At least that’s how it works on non-touch Symbian smartphones.The other features of the image gallery include the image tagging system for easier image sorting, the slide show and the albums system (again helping you sort your image database).Overall, picture browsing is relatively fast even with 8MP pics, but zooming is somewhat slow. You need to wait for a second or two every time you start zooming in on a photo.Album Cover Flow lands in SymbianSymbian never had trouble with the music player features but its looks were far from impressive. With Symbian^3 however Nokia introduces a new Cover Flow-like interface, which adds the much needed eye-candy.There’s automatic sorting by artist, album, genre and the option to create custom playlists straight on the phone.

   

 The music player got a visual upgrade too

With the huge number of supported formats, equalizer presets and effects the feature set is complete.

       Functionality is pretty solid too

Quite naturally, the player can also be minimized to play in background. In this case you can control it through the music player widget on the homescreen, which also displays the currently running track.Great audio output In terms of audio quality the Nokia C6-01 behaves just as good as the other two Symbian^3 handsets we have tested so far. Despite the lower price, the C6-01 isn't any worse than the N8 multimedia flagship, or the Cseries leader - the Nokia C7.When attached to an active external amplifier (i.e. your car stereo or your home audio system), the Nokia C6-01 performs greatly with no weak points whatsoever. All readings achieved in that part of our test were simply excellent and directly comparable to the best on the market.

There wasn't much quality deterioration when we plugged in the headphones either. Sure, the stereo crosstalk got a bit worse (but still remained lower than on any of the previous two Symbian^3 handsets) and we recorded some intermodulation distortion, but for all purposes practical the output should be considered perfect.And here come the full results so you can see for yourselves:Test Frequency

responseNoise level

Dynamic range

THD IMD + Noise

Stereo crosstalk

Nokia C6-01 +0.07 -0.37 -88.2 88.1 0.0073 0.017 -89.4

Nokia C6-01 (headphones attached) +0.48 -0.25 -88.1 87.8 0.016 0.362 -71.7

Nokia C7 +0.06 -0.33 -88.1 88.0 0.0069 0.017 -88.9

Nokia C7 (headphones attached) +0.46 -0.21 -88.1 88.1 0.017 0.362 -66.2

Nokia N8 +0.07 -0.33 -89.9 90.0 0.0059 0.015 -90.9

Nokia N8 (headphones attached) +0.50 -0.18 -89.9 89.9 0.016 0.300 -55.6

Apple iPhone 4 +0.01, -0.07

-90.1 90.0 0.0068 0.012 -89.6

Apple iPhone 4 (headphones attached) +0.01, -0.07

-90.4 90.4 0.0036 0.092 -68.4

 Nokia C6-01 frequency response

You can learn more about the whole testing process here.Excellent video playerWhen it comes to video playback on Symbian smartphones, the Nokia C6-01 is still among the lucky few to have DivX and XviD support out of the box. And it doesn’t stop there.The playback was silky smooth on all files with a resolution up to and including 720p, which is quite impressive.

   Nokia C6-01 video player

The media player app itself only works in fullscreen landscape mode but, since anything else would have made the widescreen display useless, this is understandable. In fullscreen mode, a tap on the screen shows the controls, which are otherwise hidden. The amply sized high-contrast screen is also more than welcome for truly enjoying your videos.

   Watching a video on the C6-01

Some restrictions do apply though. For one the handset cannot play any file that is larger than 2GB and you cannot fast forward and rewind ones larger than 1.5GB. If you manage to keep your files below that limit (which basically excludes full-length 720p HD movies) you will be fine.The other problem with the video player is the lack of any kind of subtitle support.Generally, the Nokia C6-01 does extremely well on the video playback front but is certainly not perfect. Nokia should be able to address all those little shortcomings in some future software updates.And in the Web TV section you'll find a handful of apps giving you access to the latest news as well as to movie trailers or even whole episodes of various TV shows. The apps here include YouTube, CNN Video, National Geographic, and Paramount Pictures' Movie Teasers applications. Of course, each of them requires internet connection (over 3G/3.5G or Wi-Fi) and note that not all content is free.FM radio comes with RDSThe FM radio on Nokia C6-01 has the same neat and simple interface as on its Symbian^1 predecessors. You can search skip preset and new stations alike with sweep gestures or you can use the virtual buttons.

     The FM radio app is nice to look at and easy to use

The C6-01 has RDS support and automatic scanning for an alternative frequency. This means that if you travel, the C6-01 should hopefully be able to auto-tune to your selected radio station.RDS info representation is the best part of C6-01 radio app. The radio station name gets displayed with cool effects across the whole screen, while the rest of the readings are printed in nicely legible font at 

Final wordsNokia C6-01 feature pack and capabilities are almost the same as the previous Symbian^3-powered C7. The thing that makes C6-01 special is its elegant and unique look plus it’s compact form factor. We guess the lower price will be a factor too.This time Nokia has bet on a smaller AMOLED screen in order to give us a more pocket friendly phone. Of course, shrinking the phone has made an impact on the thickness, but most users won’t have problems with that additional 3mm.At the time being Nokia C6-01 can be yours for around 300 euro, which is close to the price announced initially by Nokia. As things stand right now, the Nokia C6-01 is too close to C7. The only differences are in the slightly bigger screen and the FM transmitter.

 Nokia C7

For a few more bucks you could get the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10, which has just got its long awaited update to Android 2.1 or the Motorola MILESTONE XT720, which runs Eclair as well. Both of them pack 8MP snappers with autofocus and 720p HD video recording.

   Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 • Motorola MILESTONE XT720

In case you’re into the Bada thing or want to bet on another relatively new OS, you should definitely check the two Waves. The Bada pioneer Samsung S8500 Wave offers 3.3-inches of Super AMOLED screen, Hummingbird processor and 5 megapixel camera with HD video recording. It costs 50 euro less than Nokia C6-01.The recently unveiled Samsung S8530 Wave II should start selling later this month for about the same price as Nokia C6-01. It is also based on Samsung’s Bada (v1.2) platform but this time around, you get a 3.7” LCD display instead of a 3.3” Super AMOLED.

   Samsung S8500 Wave • Samsung S8530 Wave II

As it happened with the Nokia C7, the C6-01 sees a real threat only within its own family. If you have decided on Symbian, then your choice is between C6-01, C7 or the seriously more expensive N8.Nokia C6-01 is the company’s first smartphone for quite some time that has managed to impress us with its design. If you can forgive the uninspiring camera performance and the few Symbian faults, then C6-01 is a friendly little chap that deserves attention. The one thing we really hope is Nokia fix some of the things we noted throughout the review with the future firmware updates. That would make it a bestseller.