Nokia 6.1 Review UK

Nokia 6.1 Review: Overview & Price

The Nokia 6.1 (2018) was finally released to the on April 11^th 2018, in this Nokia 6.1 review we will be looking at what makes the phone special, also showcasing some of the best Nokia 6.1 deals in the UK.

The Nokia 6.1 is priced at £199.99 here in the UK, offering users some decent specifications for a price that won’t break the bank.

Check out these Nokia 6.1 deals…

3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage (expandable with microSD) and the Snapdragon 630 CPU are all some of what you can expect of this phone.

The Nokia 6.1 specs are pretty impressive, perfect for those that like to browse social media and occasionally game on their handset.

It’s nice to see Nokia finally back in action after all those years of living under a rock, bringing a solid phone to the market and offering lots of value for money.

Let’s take a closer look…

Nokia 6.1 Review: Design & Display

The Nokia 6.1 design is an aluminium unibody with Gorilla Glass 3 around the front and curved edges.

The sides and back are extremely flat, with no curvature at all, making for a very grippy phone.

This phone won’t slip out of your hand easily and will stick to your desk or worktop like there’s no tomorrow.

You may be wondering is the Nokia 6.1 waterproof?

The answer is no, unfortunately, the Nokia 6.1 is not waterproof so you will need to be very careful when using the device in and around water.

We were lucky enough to get ou hands on the Black/Copper phone to conduct this Nokia 6.1 review. We have to say it is simply stunning, it has a beautiful matte look and the copper compliments it really well.

If this is not your colour of choice then you have White Iron as well as Blue/Gold to choose from, each looking as amazing as each other.

We did find that on our colour-way that it was a magnet for fingerprints, we definitely recommend investing in a case for this phone if you want it to look clean.

The phone weighs in at a solid 172g, making it feel nice and premium in your hand whilst not being so heavy that will pull your trousers down when placed in your pocket.

On the back of the phone is where you will see the fingerprint sensor, its placed rather awkwardly and we found it took some getting used to, our finger would often miss or hand would need to be in an awkward position to land on it accurately.

Just above the fingerprint sensor is where you will see the camera setup, it’s thin and quite long, it also is a tiny bit raised but not enough to cause any problems when placed flat on a desk.

On the right-hand side of the phone is where you will find the power button and volume rocker, these aren’t ideal to press either any require a fair bit of force to get them to activate.

A USB-C port is present down at the base of the phone, whilst over to the left, you will find the microSD slot.

As a whole, the Nokia 6.1 design is well built, looks good and feels great. However, we just wish that the phone had some water resistance.

The Nokia 6.1 display is a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with 1080 x 1920 resolution, this is the same as last year but it does perform exceptionally well.

Blacks are nice and deep and the brightness levels are good too, meaning you won’t have any problems when using the phone in direct sunlight.

The display is bright, sharp and colours look good too, its full HD and offer 403ppi meaning you get plenty of big pixels which makes for a good viewing experience.

The Nokia 6.1 has a 16:9 aspect ratio too, whilst almost every other phone is sticking to an 18:9, colour reproduction is great on the display although there is no colour temperature control in the settings.

The phone also has a ‘Night Viewing Mode’ too which will essentially warm up the colour temperature to be less harmful to your eyes when using it in darkness, ideal for those late-night Instagram wormholes.

Nokia 6.1 Review: Performance

The Nokia 6.1 2018 is part of the Android One program, meaning it includes stock Android and you get the fastest updates.

The phone runs Android 8.1 Oreo and the experience is great, it’s clean, pure and easy to manage.

Users will get super-fast Android updates and the interface is extremely easy to get used to, there is no heavy bloat on the phone and besides Google’s standard suite and a Nokia support app, there’s not a great deal here.

This leaves it up to you to download what you want without the 32GB of internal storage already being clogged up when you pull it out the box.

If your someone who is going to be storing lots of music and videos on the phone, then you may want to invest in a microSD card, as you can expand the storage all the way up to 256GB providing endless space for movies and apps.

The Nokia 6.1 uses the Snapdragon 630 CPU, which is the best you can expect out of a budget smartphone.

The phone literally glides through the UI effortlessly, 3 or 4GB of RAM for this phone is huge too.

See Related:

*Nokia 7.1 Review*
*Nokia 8.1 Review*
*Moto G6 Play Review*
*Huawei P Smart 2019 Review*

The amount of RAM coupled with the chipset allows you to play games smoothly without any lag or stutter, around 60% better than last years model.

We tested out Asphalt and PUBG on the phone and it ran just as we expected, perfect without any lag or stutter.

Don’t get me wrong this certainly isn’t a Huawei Mate 20 Pro, but for the most part the performance is strong and we believe that the average user will be happy with the performance of the phone.

The Nokia 6.1 specs are decent, with enough power to not suffer from lag or fps drops when gaming or browsing through the UI.

The downward-facing speaker at the bottom of the phone is average; we did find ourselves accidentally blocking the speaker when holding the phone too and trying to record video footage.

The earphone supplied in the box are very cheap and basic, we would definitely recommend in purchasing some or using a different pair over the ones supplied as they really hinder the gaming experience.

Nokia 6.1 Review: Camera

The Nokia 6.1 camera has a 16MP sensor with an f/2.0 aperture and a dual-tone LED flash.

The Zeiss branding coupled with the easy to use camera app makes it easy to capture some solid images.

The phone doesn’t have any fancy AI technology like what you would find in Huawei devices, but it is capable of producing some Instagram worthy shots.

In good lighting we found the colour accuracy to be great, however, the dynamic range does lack a little.

When in low light situations the camera does struggle, images come out blurry and with low amounts of detail, if you’re taking social media shots on this device then you should make sure your making use of good light.

We were delighted to see that there was barely any shutter lag on the Nokia 6.1 camera either, meaning if you’re trying to grab a shot of a moving car or flying bird then this won’t be a problem providing you’ve got a quick draw.

Unfortunately, there is no optical zoom present and there is no background blur either, so you’ll need to optimise the setting as best you can before taking images.

The 8MP selfie camera is average too, it’s not going to win any gold medals but providing the lighting is good then it has the capability of producing a decent selfie.

There is a ‘beauty mode’ too which will help define your jawline and smooth over any blemishes you may have, resulting in a better-looking selfie-ready for the gram.

Just like the main sensor the selfie-cam is not the best in low light either, so if your going clubbing then we suggest using a friends phone for selfies, as low light shots came out extremely blurry and not very attractive at all.

The Nokia 6.1 can shoot 4K video as well as 1080p; the video quality is generally great with plenty of contrast and dynamic range. There is low noise and colour accuracy looks good too.

Throughout this Nokia 6.1 review we found the camera to be one of our favourite aspects, it works great and it’s super easy to take some strong shots.

Overall we were impressed by the Nokia 6.1 camera, especially when in good lighting, the selfie cam is able to provide you with some stunning selfies providing you’re in good lighting.

Video recording is strong too, impressive for a budget device.

Nokia 6.1 Review: Battery Life

The Nokia 6.1 has a 3000mAh battery that is more than enough to get the average user through a full day of usage.

We did find that when using the phone intensely for watching movies and gaming, it would drain a lot quicker and we would need to reach for our charger.

That being said the phone support fast charging and an hours charge will bump you up to 50%, this is twice as fast as the previous 2017 model of the phone.

There is no fancy wireless charging here but for this price this was to be expected, overall we were extremely pleased with the phones battery life and how fast it charged up.

Nokia 6.1 Review: Summary

So should you but this phone?

We really enjoyed writing this Nokia 6.1 review, and feel that if you are looking for a smartphone that won’t break the bank, but still offers good specs then this could be the phone for you.

The Nokia 6.1 design is great, with some cool colours, however it is a magnet for fingerprint so definitely invest in a case.

The Nokia 6.1 specs are impressive and plenty for gamers out there looking to save some pounds but still want to be able to play PUBG and Runescape.

We would have liked to see water resistance on the Nokia 6.1 and a better-positioned fingerprint scanner would have been nice, there is no wireless charging here either.

Now, unfortunately, the Nokia 6.1 is not waterproof, which means you’ll need to be very careful when using the phone in the bathroom.

That being said it does charge up quickly with the supplied charger and can still get you through a full day of use.

We absolutely loved the super clean UI and the fact that because it’s in the Android One program it gets access to the newest software updates.

This phone is an ideal daily driver and its affordable too, although we recommend checking out our Moto G6 Play review before making any purchase decisions.

Nokia 6.1 (Nokia 6 2018) TA-1043, 64GB, 4GB RAM, Dual SIM, Unlocked - Blue/Gold 

If you are a big fan of Nokia and have a little more money to spend we would recommend checking out our Nokia 7.1 and Nokia 8.1 review.

We hope you have enjoyed our Nokia 6.1 review, feel free to leave a comment and check out the best Nokia 6.1 contract deals for the phone at the top of this post.

Nokia 6.1 Review: Full Specification

Launch: 2018, April

Body:

• Dimension: 148.8 x 75.8 x 8.2mm (5.86 x 2.98 x 0.32 inches)
• Weight: 172g (6.07oz)
• Build: Front glass, aluminium body (6000 series)
• Sim: Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)

Display:

• Type: IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colours
• Size: 5.5-inches, 82.6cm² (-73.2% screen-to-body ratio)
• Resolution: 1080 x 1920 pixels, 16:9 ratio (-402 ppi density)
• Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass 3

Platform:

• OS: Android 8.1 (Oreo), upgradable to Android 9.0 (Pie); Android One
• Chipset: Qualcomm SDM630 Snapdragon 630 (14nm)
• CPU: Octa-core 2.2 GHz Cortex-A53
• GPU: Adreno 508

Memory:

• Card slot: microSD, up to 256GB (uses SIM 2 slot)
• Internal: 32/64GB, 3/4GB RAM

Camera:

• Primary:
  – 16MP, f/2.0, 27mm (wide), PDAF
• Features:  Zeiss optics, dual-LED dual-tone flash, panorama, HDR
• Video: 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps
• Secondary:
  – 8MP, f/2.0, 1/4″
• Video: 1080p@30fps

Sound:

• Loudspeaker: Yes
• 3.5mm Jack: Yes
  – Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic

Comms:

• WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
• Bluetooth: 5.0, A2DP, LE
• GPS: Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
• NFC: Yes
• Radio: FM radio with RDS
• USB: 2.0, Type-C reversible connector

Features:

• Sensors: Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass

Battery:

• Non-removeable Li-Ion 3000 mAh battery
• Charging: Fast battery charging 18W: 50% in 30 mins

Misc:

• Colours: Black/Copper, White/Iron, Blue/Gold
• Price: As seen in above post

Tests:

• Performance: Basemark OS ||: 1648 / Basemark OS || 2.0: 1517 / Basemark X: 14365
• Display: Contrast ratio: 1278:1 (nominal), 4.052 (sunlight)
• Camera: Photo / Video
• Loudspeaker: Voice 67dB / Noise 74dB / Ring 85dB
• Audi Quality:  Noise -37.5dB / Crosstalk -93.3dB
• Battery life: Endurance rating 76h