Nokia C6 Short Illustration

The Nokia C6 would be the latest in a long brand of modestly priced touchscreen smartphones with side-sliding keyboards on the Finnish company. Nokia doesn't have a particularly good track record on the subject of touchscreen smartphones, though, so can this model finally put Nokia back within the map?

Not being a flagship cellular phone, it's no surprise that the C6 isn't by far the most glamorous, with its largely cheap exterior. Indeed the soft plastic screen looks particularly crummy on account of its wobbly finish and propensity to receive fingerprints. At least the slide mechanism is constructed out of steel and feels strong.

Regardless, while it feels strong, caused by a combination of the slippery matt surface on the back and the stiff fall mechanism, we found the phone fallen out of our hands occasionally, if we tried to start it one handed.

Adding to this rather mediocre first impression would be the mess created by the multitude of buttons, flaps, and sockets strewn about the phone's sides. For the most part it is simply down to them being poorly incorporated into the design, with no symmetry or aesthetic fascinate their placement.

However, a couple can also be completely superfluous. A headphone jack port, microUSB socket, microSD slot, level rocker, and camera button are extremely essentials, or at least handy, but the proprietary charging plug and screen lock switch absolutely aren't.

The proprietary charging socket pays to for the fact it prices quicker than over microUSB, but less that it's really needed. Also, you can't charge this phone by any means over microUSB, which is downright ridiculous in this point in time. As for the screen fastener switch, while it's a hangover by previous similar Nokia phones that some people can often, on this model its operates are replicated by other keys and software gestures – press the center button on the front then swipe left within the screen to unlock the phone and press the email end button then select tv screen lock to lock it.

Interestingly, considering how otherwise mediocre the structure and build of this phone is, its keyboard is actually top notch. The keys have a definitely nice light action, so the process under way type at speed, and this layout, despite a few eccentricities, is generally easy to access with. The addition of a directional pad (D-pad) is additionally very useful. The caveats are a reduction in dedicated number keys, the underside row of letters is altered left, and the D-pad can interfere with the right-most important factors. All told, though, it's easily up to scratch to suffice.

In the box you receive Nokia's rather funky new charger that includes a pop up earth connector anytime stowed makes it only half the height of any normal plug, which is handy for travelling. You also receive a very short USB to microUSB cable (in order to connect to your PC) as well as a basic headset, which includes an inline remote that has a single button for answering calls as well as a microphone, and a clip. It's great for making handsfree calls, but not very much cop for listening to new music.