Software and User Interface
Nokia 6 – Software & User Interface
With the initial lineup of Nokia branded smartphones, HMD decided to go for plain stock software experience with a little bit custom touch. Like Nokia 5 and Nokia 4, the 6 also packs with pure Android features that Google ships with its own set of apps.
Hence Nokia 6 runs Android Nougat platform (Android 7.1.1) straight out of the box with its own theme. The user experience is mostly similar to the Google Pixel but with its own set of icons which are mostly blue. Very first look at the home screen tells that there is no icon for app launcher in the sticky row of apps on the bottom. Instead, a little caret provided right above that row of app icons that you can simply tap once or more pleasantly pull it up to open the app drawer. Similarly you can swipe the app drawer down to close it. Well that’s exactly the same in middle Nokia 5 and the basic Nokia 3.
You have to stick with just that blue icon pack as theme can not be customized on Nokia 6. Lock screen is also simple with the options to unlock with swipe or a short cut to swipe from a camera icon on the right-bottom corner which takes directly to the camera app. That camera shortcut on the lock screen actually by-passes any security and takes you to the camera app. However that only allows to take photos or record videos, as you can not go beyond the camera app in case if the security is in place.
Lock Screen and Security
Notifications are listed on the lock screen in standard Nougat style – grouped, expandable and quick actions like replying to messages. You can set the security level as how could notifications be listed on lock screen. In following the example all three possible options were shown.
Home Screen and App Drawer
Home screen gives you a blue shot at once when you unlock the phone. All system icons reflect Nokia’s blue color. And certainly, you can not change them. You might or might not get used to with the same/single colored/circled icons. However it could be hard for you to identify what you are looking for, at first.
Thankfully, this blue theme is only limited to standard apps – such as phone, text, contacts, camera, etc. Third party apps that you download, come with their own icons and aren’t overridden by system theme. Likewise, Google apps also have their own icons with distinct colors which you normally know them with. The system, however may modify the icons only to mask them in circular shapes.
Everything is pretty much same in experience like choosing app icons from the app drawer and placing them onto home screen or organizing them into folders. Adding, removing home screens and placing widgets in those home screens, etc.
Customizing Home Screen, Background Tasks, Split Screen
Home screen can be turned into edit mode by just a long press in a free space or by a pinch-in gesture on the screen.
The task switcher or recent apps view appears as standard Android rolodex with app snapshots that you can swipe away to close. A cross button is also provided on each snapshot. All apps can be closed with a single tap on “Clear All”, however, to reveal that close all button you need to swipe the rolodex all the way down – that’s not really convenient.
Split screen can be initiated by a long-tap on “recent apps” key when an app is already open is supported to be viewed in split screen. Even though Nougat has provided the built-in support for split screen, but frankly, you don’t want it on a small screen with not enough resolution. Anyway, 1080p and 5.5-inch display of Nokia 6 is better than the smaller Nokia 5.
Google App (Google Now) and Google Assistant
Coming back to home screen, Google App (Google Now) lies on the far left home-screen by default. It can be turned off via settings from home screen edit mode.
Google App on home screen is quick and fluent like it’s just a part of the home screen. It doesn’t give a kind of impression for being an app at all. You also don’t see it in currently running apps. On the other hand, a long-tap on the home button initiates the Google Assistant.
Status bar and Notifications
The top status bar is the stock one that you can pull out by swiping down. It’s the two-step pull-down panel with a quick set of toggles and the notification below them. The second swipe-down on the panel will expand the quick toggles section to provide more options with more glance. In addition, you also get access to the brightness controller. However you can not turn on/off the adaptive/auto brightness. For that you have to go to settings > display.
The quick actions or toggles can be customized right from there by editing them and adding or removing them. Standard Android “users” feature is also available on Nokia 6 and can be reached right from the status bar. More options are available in “Settings” app.
Add-on Gestures & Motions
Last but not the least, there are some gestures and motions which can be accessed from Settings > Accessibility. Only a couple options of “Mute on pickup” and “Turn over to reject call”.
Continue to checkout the battery and system performance of Nokia 6.
