Here's my review of the C6:
At first glance, the C6 is a well built and priced phone. The slide mechanics on the unit I tried is very solid - identical to E75 / N900 & AT&T Surge 6790. The battery cover is secure and made of soft plastic providing an comfortable grip. The phone's built and form factor makes it easy to pocket and use. :2thumbs:
Sliding the phone open reveals the qwerty keypad and the very much welcomed directional pad. Normally a d-pad is silly on a touch device, but for Symbian^1 is has become a very important element for me, at least. Because the Symbian^1 touch UI is sluggish and pinch zoom is absent; navigation can made easier with the d-pad - to select and hit those tinny links and buttons on the browser. The d-pad is also a big plus for people who enjoy gaming on their phone. :2thumbs:
The keys or buttons on the unit is very similar to the N900, not as good as it, but have a very similar feel to the quality and size. Despite praises I've made, there is a fault with the overall layout of the qwerty. Since the d-pad is included, the button layout is shifted to the left which makes the user feel off centered - ie. imagine yourself typing the letter "m" all the time while trying to hit "n." This should normally be something that an user can easily adjust; but the metal lining (slide mech) in the middle of the phone give the user a false impression that the fingers are centered when they are not. :disappoin
The overall feel of the UI i pretty much identical to the N97 & N97 mini, you have the home screen with widgets plugins you choose and receive live updates. Despite the same technical specs and OS version of the C6 to the N97s; when you visit Ovi Store some of those apps are not made available to the C6. ie. you can get free games like Space Impact Meteor Strike on the N97s but on the C6 it doesn't allow you to install it - guess it's a way for Nokia to tell their consumers that this is not a premium device? :befuddled
A smart thing that Nokia did was to put Ovi Suite on the C6's 2GB memory card and it seems to be the new trend as I've also found Ovi Suite on my s40 6700 Classic. When you connect the C6 to your computer it will prompt you to install Ovi Suite if your computer does not have Ovi installed already. After Ovi is installed, the program will allow you to delete it from the memory card to free up space - definitely a nice job for Nokia on this. :2thumbs:
The 1200mah battery is sufficient for my normal daily use; which is having emails on with live update; home screen with the accuweather and bloomberg widgets with live updates; about 5-10 minutes of talk time (I only make calls when something urgent needs to be communicated) and 2 hours of internet use. The 5MP camera takes pretty good pictures under good light conditions. The GPS took some time (5 min) to locked on when I first tried it but afterward it gets signal pretty quickly (1 min). :2thumbs:
I have mix emotions toward the C6 as I have used many Nokia qwerty devices in the past, but ultimately I decided this was not the phone for me. :sad:
Why? :befuddled
The Symbian^1 OS is just a painful experience :devil:. The phone is under powered and would crash when I'm multitasking. Let me elaborate what I do when I multi-task. I have email and homescreen widgets on at all time, and would turn on Opera or the default Nokia browser to surf the net. Whenever I visit a heavy media site, the phone would crash and restart. This goes the same when I try to watch youtube and have those 2 essential apps on. :doh:
I just can't see myself committing to the C6 and dealing with power resets when there are better products coming very soon. Symbian^3 N8 coming within a few weeks and shortly afterward the rumor new line up of Symbian & Meego phones will arrive. :yummy:
At the moment I'm using a 6700 to fill in the gaps between the next upgrade. :lol:
Hope you enjoy this post and it'll help you decide if the C6 is right for you.
:clapping::clapping::clapping:
