HMD Global, like last year, has recently unveiled the Nokia 6 2018 in China. The phone comes with some similarities to its predecessor, but there are also some differences. Like its counterpart, the second generation Nokia 6 is limited to the Chinese market, at least for now.
So, how does the Nokia 6 2018 compare to the original Nokia 6? Let’s dive right into it.
Design and display
If you’ve interacted with or seen the Nokia 6, you’ll be quick to detect the Nokia 6 2018. The latter looks a quite similar to the former in terms of design and display, but as you would expect, the new model doesn’t lack its own appeal in these areas.
You get the same aluminum unibody design, however, there’s no physical button on the front of the Nokia 6 2018. This means you get on-screen buttons and a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner on the 2nd-gen model, which is the opposite of the 2017 model. With the relocation of the physical button, it means the Nokia 6 2018 is able to accommodate the same 5.5-inch IPS LCD display screen in a much smaller body measuring 148.8mm tall compared to the original’s 154mm. This should make one-handed use a lot easier. HMD stuck to the okay 1080p resolution and Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 for screen protection.
Another design tweak sees the new Nokia 6 get a sleek colored rim on the rear-mounted camera and two stylish color variants of white featuring Rose Gold accents and Black with Copper highlights. On the contrary, its predecessor came in Matte Black, Silver, Copper, Tempered Blue and a limited edition Arte Black variant.
Hardware specs and software
The Nokia 6 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, a low-end chipset. But the Nokia 6 2018 has a midrange Snapdragon 630 chipset on board, which represents a significant improvement. In terms of RAM and storage, you get basically the same thing, but with a few tweaks, or perhaps one. Where the OG Nokia 6 has 3GB RAM /32GB storage and 4GB RAM/64GB storage variants, its successor has 32 GB and 64GB storage options and both have 4GB of RAM.
Both phones have microSD cards slots that can accommodate up to 256GB of storage. The battery capacity stays at 3000mAh and it also comes with support for fast charging technology. The Nokia 6 2018 still gets Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box, perhaps because the Nokia 6 Oreo update is still in beta. On the brighter side, reports just coming in suggest that on starting up the Nokia 6 2018, you’ll be greeted by an update to Android Oreo.
Camera and extra features
Unlike the performance specs, there aren’t major overhauls in the camera department. HMD went for the same 16MP and 8MP sensors on the back and front, but the latter gets a new 84-degree wide angle view for better selfies.
Also, the new Nokia 6 2018 has the bothie feature (Dual Sight mode) that debuted with the Nokia 8, allowing users to capture shots using both cameras at the same time. The two images are then merged into one, which is pretty cool. HMD has also included an extra microphone to support OZO Audio spatial audio capture, but this comes at the expense of the second speaker.
The second generation Nokia 6 also ditches the microUSB port in favor of the new USB-C port, but you still get the traditional 3.5mm audio jack.
Price and availability
As noted earlier, the Nokia 6 2018 is currently limited to the Chinese market. If the original model is anything to go by, the MWC 2018 should be used to unveil the phone to the rest of the world. At launch, the Nokia 6 came priced at $230 for the base model and $299 for the 64GB variant. Similarly, the Nokia 6 2018 has a price tag of $230 for the 32GB variant, but the high-end variant is cheaper at $260.
Whether these price tags will hold for other markets is still unknown, but even if they do change, we don’t expect huge differences.
What are your thoughts on the new Nokia 6 2018? Share with us in the comments section below.
