Nokia 6 (2018) review: Simple. Solid. Supreme.

Performance

On a technical level, the new Nokia 6 is a neat and tidy improvement on its predecessor. In terms of the everyday performance we got out of the thing, we rarely came away unhappy with it outside of the issues we had with the camera (again, more on that to come). Apps loaded fast and we could multitask with relative ease, despite the small-ish screen size.

In terms of benchmarks, the Nokia 6 fared quite well also.

Credit: Fergus Halliday | IDG

At a glance, you might notice that the device we’ve compared it to below edge out the Nokia 6’s scores almost entirely across the board. However, when you bring the fact that the Nokia 6 comes in about $150 cheaper than the most-affordable of them (The Xperia XA2) into the equation, that picture begins to look a little different. Comparing the Nokia 6 to devices that operate in the same price-bracket as it, and the value of the performance you’re getting becomes easy to see.

Credit: Fergus Halliday | IDG

This case is further strengthened by HMD’s decision to the keep the Android experience as pure as possible. Like the recent HTC U11, the new Nokia 6 is part of the Google’s Android One program. Launched in 2014, Android One was an initiative by Google to take a bit more care and control over the experience offered by vendors producing mid-tier and bottom-end Android handsets. As part of the program, hardware vendors would agree to guarantee regular security, regular Android OS updates, base the out-of-box experience around just the core Android interface and Google’s own apps and only use hardware approved by Google.

All this is to say, that the software experience powering the new Nokia 6 is probably one of the best Android experiences out there this side of the Google Pixel.

Update 5/11/2018: The Nokia 6.1 has now been upgraded to Android 9 (aka Android Pie) and supports slices, simplified gesture controls and Google's Digital Wellbeing app.

Next Page: Camera, Battery Life, The Bottom Line