Ewan continues his multipart look at the new Nokia X6 Comes with Music with, appropriately, a look at its music playing prowess - and sometimes the lack of it, with bugs, memory leaks, missing functions and unwanted clicks... See also part 1 of this review, looking at the X6's externals.
Read on in the full article.
Nokia, same old story, last gen hardware, beta firmware, ancient OS.
It's laughable that the only modern phone Nokia has doesn't even run Symbian (N900).
Seriously 128mb ram in a 2010 smartphone, the competition have moved on to 512mb ram with dedicated graphics acceleration and at least 500mhz + cpu's.
Seems we have another disappointing, unfinished product from Nokia... They had one year to improve on 5800 and apparently wasted that time.
Is it only me, or the external design is ugly? It screams "I am a CHEAP phone"...
I had mentioned it in the discussion pertaining to the first part of the review that launching a new service coupled with a device is a little dicey. Anyways, Nokia have always had clunky, unpredictable data delivery systems. First the Download! app,then the OVI store and now comes with music. I insist , It would've been a million times better if they offered buyers an album of their choice. With CwM,Nokia have clearly gone way too optimistic and made an attempt to promise more than they could actually deliver
And, eh.. Crossfading'... ,Uninterrupted play.... It was present in the Ipod and Iphone aeons ago.Shame to see Nokia losing out on innovation and resting on its 2007ish laurels.
A possible method to have uninterrupted play is to trim(the blank parts from) tracks from start and end(feature available in music editors)but,this would again require modification of original file which,the DRM protected Nokia Music Files may not allow.
dear god... Nokia really should know since the desaster with the N97 that Symbian 5th needs at MINIMUM 256 mb ram! Why do they ignore this with the mini and the X6? It's a fact and not only some blahblah-wish from some PowerUsers. I was seriously thinking about replacing my N97 with the X6 (I like the design and the missing hardware keyboard), but nope. Nokia, change this NOW or forget it.
After the n97, i will never ever buy a device that does not have at least 256 MB of Ram. And if Nokia is not careful, they will push away even there more loyal customers. A lot of the bad reviews for recent Symbian devices is at least 50% due to outdated and insufficient hardware.
If you hit "back" from the now playing screen, does it take you to the homescreen every time, or back to the song listing?
It used to take you to the song listing but now it always goes to the homescreen, which doesn't seem quite right to me.
Dear Nokia, please please please listen to your loyal customers. The feedback channels are there for you to improve on your recent 'misses'. I was a proud a loyal Nokia user for the past 12 years but after switching to iPhone last month I can help but understand what all the hype is all about. Usability and simplicity. Nokia used to be the king of these two factors way back then but now it's a totally different story. Unless Nokia reinvents itself on those two fronts I think I and many others like myself would be hard pressed to return to our ex favourite phone brand.
yeah, I guess expecting the latest XM to handle music well would be like expecting the E72 to let you read emails...
I know both E71 and 5800 also had their own bugs & irritations when they were launched but what we're seeing with the latest models is a disaster.
Decision made then. 2008 design iPhone 3 for me it is. �222 from tesco with �20/12months unlimited internet.
markilou wrote:yeah, I guess expecting the latest XM to handle music well would be like expecting the E72 to let you read emails...I know both E71 and 5800 also had their own bugs & irritations when they were launched but what we're seeing with the latest models is a disaster.
If a device does not do what it is supposed/advertised to do ,then why bother launching it and then promising firmware updates that will enable it to do so.
N97 v10 wasn't able to do most of the advertised things on v10 firmware, Ages later on the arrival of the v2.0 update, It does most of the promised things, even then, not all of them.
I know, it will not even be a month after release before X6 users start demanding Multi touch/Pinch zooming et al in the new firmware.
If Nokia is so bogged down so as to launch unfinished and unpolished devices,
then ,it may be beneficial to polish the already neglected flagships(N97,N86,5800etc.).
just my 2 cents, I'm not a Nokia hater, But the recent quality issues with its new devices make me sick.
Errmmmmm after all my postings starting by querying the N97 harwdware (back in Jul2008) and receiving loads of assurances from AAS team that things would get optimised platform to actually having one of the nightmare weee beasties and living with the disappointment of it. I cannot believe (but somehow so can) they've doen it again by putting bare minimum hardware (actually below min) in again.
I seriously think Nokia have actually forgotten how to make phones and have lost the plot on OS's whilst they try to corner the world in services and take on Google, Facebook, iTunes and worldwide app developers single handedly (not going very well). I think the mapower resources this is sucking in as they try to fend off the world is denuding the handset divisions to such an extent that they are in severe danger of becoming irrelevant in their core activity.
Un-freakin-believable
X6 or E72 all the way up to N97.. just a weak lineup!
Nokia is weak in all the segments right now to compete, the only reason they sell so many phones is because of their brand recognition, thats it. Once the consumers find out that what they're buying is not on par with the competition they will run in masses and never look back!
X6 is so expensive for what it offers, namely a huge headache, it should come with all the CwM music collection pre-installed on the device DRM-free to justify the price.
E72's email client is so laughable that even the free flash gmail app is better to use.
How about, the E-series is supposed to be all business right? Well if you try using the build in calender or contact app, its just pure anti-business! If you want to remember your client's birthdays which are stored in your contacts guess what your calender wont know it and there is no way to tell the calender go and import all birthdays. If you search for a contact and you only remember his company name, well guess what your all business phone wont know you're looking for a business because it only searches the names of your contacts!
Ovi maps is so laughable that it should pay you to use it, not the other way around considering that Google Maps is free to install und much better to use. The Navigation part is not bad, it should be free though.
Their chat app is so laughable i had to immediately uninstall it.
Their touch screens are so ridiculous, if you want to use the N97/mini and all their touch screen phones for that matter, you better sharpen your nail on your index finger and make it pointy in the middle otherwise the phone wont properly recognize when you try to touch it.
I used to like Nokia because they were leading the market, nowadays, they're stuck in the past. They can't fire their senior engineers who are clueless with todays technology demands because they once were actually leaders and helped Nokia get to where they are now, and now the same people who helped it get there will take them down.
Nokia fire your top designers and engineers because for the past 3years they have shown no results, they're old and stuck in the old ways. Get some fresh blood in there and let them make some bold moves.
Thanks for a great and honest review, Ewan. I'm one of the few loyal Nokia and S60 fans (and former Psion fanatic) in the US. I'm still using my trusty Nokia 6120c, but have been looking for a replacement for awhile now in the Nokia lineup, and just don't see any I want to buy. I had high hopes for the X6, but it's clear Nokia has lost its edge. N900 may be the possible exception, but I doubt Maemo will ever gain as large a developer base or following as iPhone or Android. After years with Nokia, my next phone will probably be Nexus One (or Nexus Two?). I agree with previous posts...Nokia needs a company-wide shakeup and severe re-focusing of it's vision and efforts.
Can I just be the first to say:
Thank you Ewan! FINALLY a reviewer at AAS who's not afraid of telling the TRUTH about a product and actually HELPING people with an honest opinion! I get the feeling if Litchfield were doing this review it'd go along the lines of "The X6 is an amazing triumph for Nokia!" *In very teeny tiny writing* "By the way it has pretty bad hardware and some poor music options but don't worry, you can't whine because Nokia will fix it in 3 months time!"
Again, thank you Ewan for this unbiased review series so far, please, and I mean PLEASE keep this up 😊
Nokia do the same again,spoil such a promising mobile again,this will really keep people away from purchasing the X6,the 5800 music player is very easy an simple to use an good album art an so easy to search for the Song you want,the X6 one is totally odd an complicated to use,i had a thought of buying the X6 but not now after this review,thats what we want nowdays Good an Honest Reviews an thanks for this Review
I get it 'comes with music' (which it doesn't, by the way, in my country), but seriously!
I have had a long line of Nokia phones, but when I'll be replacing my 5800 in a few months, as someone said before, there just isn't a Nokia available I would want anymore.
Every Nokia phone seems to be crippled by either lousy HW specs, or unfinished firmware, or combination of both.
Unless Nokia gets their act together, they are just going down, down, down 😞
My first cell phone was a Nokia, so was my second and third. But I tried Samsung and did not like it so much. I went back to Nokia. Got burnt again by low hardware specs and the beta-like firmware again. Got ticked off and tried the HTC Hero (thanks Tim Salmon!!!) and have never looked back since! My next phone will be a Google phone, preferably by HTC.
As for the knocks on Steve... I know he may come across as a Fanboy for Nokia, but he does at least look at other manufacturers and he does try to remain objective about his reviews of them. I mean, hell, I'm even glad to see his views on Android/Google phones. Cut Steve some slack, he's trying, and that is alot more than I can say for other fanboys around the web these days (especially them rabid iPhone Fanboys).
Keep up the great work Ewan!
No waffling about "market positioning", no reciting the specifications on the side of the box - excellent stuff.
2008 design iPhone 3 for me it is. �222 from tesco with �20/12months unlimited internet.
O2 is bad enough for both data and voice, but Tesco? You plan to use this "unconnected"?
I thought it would never happen but I've got to the end of my tether. I was stubborn and resolute that there would be a Symbian phone on the horizon for me. The N95 brought me to Nokia/Symbian, but it is to the dark side I must now go.
I just hope that the iPhone 4G when it arrives has a reasonable camera ~5MP and I'm sold.
No chance of me going to Google though, I have some pride!
"How about, the E-series is supposed to be all business right? Well if you try using the build in calender or contact app, its just pure anti-business! If you want to remember your client's birthdays which are stored in your contacts guess what your calender wont know it and there is no way to tell the calender go and import all birthdays. If you search for a contact and you only remember his company name, well guess what your all business phone wont know you're looking for a business because it only searches the names of your contacts!"
You're right about both of these. A good way to raise those points though is to go to ideas.symbian.org and put them on there.
"Ovi maps is so laughable that it should pay you to use it, not the other way around considering that Google Maps is free to install und much better to use. The Navigation part is not bad, it should be free though."
This is completely false. Ovi maps (at least in its 3.0 revision) is perfectly good map software. And what do you mean by 'it should be free'? This is just tripe - navigation is a highly desirable service that has a business value to many people. Sure, Google offering free navigation is a big move - but that doesn't mean everyone needs to offer it!
"Their touch screens are so ridiculous, if you want to use the N97/mini and all their touch screen phones for that matter, you better sharpen your nail on your index finger and make it pointy in the middle otherwise the phone wont properly recognize when you try to touch it. "
I'm really getting tired of this hoary old clich� about resistive screens - get over it everybody, you know you're exaggerating when you say this.
Unregistered wrote:No waffling about "market positioning", no reciting the specifications on the side of the box - excellent stuff.O2 is bad enough for both data and voice, but Tesco? You plan to use this "unconnected"?
Tesco use the o2 network you cock. And as I have free WiFi in about 80% of where I need data I will be very well connected thanks.
scully wrote:
Ovi maps is so laughable that it should pay you to use it, not the other way around considering that Google Maps is free to install und much better to use. The Navigation part is not bad, it should be free though..
Crap. Google maps is crippled so as to be unusable unless you have a data connection. Not very useful if you are somewhere remote - where you might need some help with navigation. We had this discussion, a near unanimous consensus wrote off Google Maps.
And these people who can't use resistive screens need a doctor. They have many advantages and have contributed to Nokia dominance in Asia.
Finally wrote:
Thank you Ewan! FINALLY a reviewer at AAS who's not afraid of telling the TRUTH about a product and actually HELPING people with an honest opinion! I get the feeling if Litchfield were doing this review it'd go along the lines of "The X6 is an amazing triumph for Nokia!" *In very teeny tiny writing* "By the way it has pretty bad hardware and some poor music options but don't worry, you can't whine because Nokia will fix it in 3 months time!"
So is this the point to remind people a second writer at AAS reads over the major reviews and articles before being posted, and for the X6 Steve actually helped me shape this critique and said the correct thing to do here was to go with my first draft of structure and critique on the device, even though it doesn't seem to have been reported in other reviews? Or would that cloud the basic stereotype you have of the writers at AAS?
😉
Quote:
Originally Posted by Finally
Thank you Ewan! FINALLY a reviewer at AAS who's not afraid of telling the TRUTH about a product and actually HELPING people with an honest opinion! I get the feeling if Litchfield were doing this review it'd go along the lines of "The X6 is an amazing triumph for Nokia!" *In very teeny tiny writing* "By the way it has pretty bad hardware and some poor music options but don't worry, you can't whine because Nokia will fix it in 3 months time!"
So is this the point to remind people a second writer at AAS reads over the major reviews and articles before being posted, and for the X6 Steve actually helped me shape this critique and said the correct thing to do here was to go with my first draft of structure and critique on the device, even though it doesn't seem to have been reported in other reviews? Or would that cloud the basic stereotype you have of the writers at AAS?
😉"
It would cloud the basic stereotype I have for the writers at AAS 😉
I'm sorry but until Steve comes up with something written like this (about a product that needs to be shown for it's true colour, not some glaze promises *Cough* N97 *Cough*) then I'll keep my opinion about him 😊
Cheers for the reply Ewan, like I said before, waiting on your next part of the series, and less so about your silly "unboxings" 😉
Tesco use the o2 network you cock.
Exactly my point. Dear me, the Tourettes part of the Forum must be closed today for refurbishment,
O2 is the worst network in the UK for coverage, dropped calls, data throughput and data network uptime. Tesco Mobile gets O2's sloppy seconds. Do you know how bad that is? You will soon find out.
If you have WiFi 80 per cent of the time and that's enough for you, then you'll be wanting an iPod Touch not an iPhone. You can even make phone calls on it with an adapter for a fiver.
And don't say "cock" again. With all this snow about, you might start an avalanche.
Thanks Ewan for giving this fine community an opportunity to vent its gall.
The N97's music player has the same problems as ones you mentioned. It's unacceptable for a music oriented device, and I hope Nokia will change it real quickly. (They probably will write a new player... one day).
Unregistered wrote:Exactly my point. Dear me, the Tourettes part of the Forum must be closed today for refurbishment,O2 is the worst network in the UK for coverage, dropped calls, data throughput and data network uptime. Tesco Mobile gets O2's sloppy seconds. Do you know how bad that is? You will soon find out.
I do already know. I've been using it for months without any problems data or voice. And it's the only network that gives a signal where I work.
Unregistered wrote:
If you have WiFi 80 per cent of the time and that's enough for you, then you'll be wanting an iPod Touch not an iPhone. You can even make phone calls on it with an adapter for a fiver.
I need to make and receive voice calls without some ropey voip adapter.
and if 'cock' is good enough for James May.....
Unregistered wrote:I thought it would never happen but I've got to the end of my tether. I was stubborn and resolute that there would be a Symbian phone on the horizon for me. The N95 brought me to Nokia/Symbian, but it is to the dark side I must now go.I just hope that the iPhone 4G when it arrives has a reasonable camera ~5MP and I'm sold.
No chance of me going to Google though, I have some pride!
Try the Satio. It's got the hardware Nokia should be using in, it's still Symbian so you'll be right at home and Sony Ericsson bolted on a homescreen that has more functionality. Better media player as well.
Oh yeah, and it's got a fantastic camera. Made me give up my N82 😃
Unregistered wrote:Try the Satio. It's got the hardware Nokia should be using in, it's still Symbian so you'll be right at home and Sony Ericsson bolted on a homescreen that has more functionality. Better media player as well.Oh yeah, and it's got a fantastic camera. Made me give up my N82 😃
I hadn't really considered an SE, but I will look at this option. Thank you.