With the Apple iPhone's arrival on Orange and its recent launch on Vodafone, other mobile phone manufacturers face quite a battle to get your business.
You can't fault Nokia for effort. If you sign up for a ‘Comes With Music' handset, such as the X6, you're entitled to a year of free music downloads from Nokia's online music store.
After the 12 month contract runs out, you can keep all the tracks with no catch. This is a great lure, but Nokia's latest music mobiles have been rather hit-and-miss. Does the X6 do enough to change opinion?
Promising spec
The early signs are good. A quick glance at the phone's specification reveals a 32GB hard drive, 3.5mm headphone jack, and compatibility with MP3, AAC and uncompressed WAV files.
Other niceties include a 5MP camera with fancy Carl Zeiss optics, wi-fi connectivity and a 3.2in, 360 x 460 pixel screen.
The Phone's Symbian operating system works well, with only the slightest hesitation during menu navigation. The X6 can't quite match the fluidity of the iPhone and the touchscreen response isn't as instantaneous, but the handset isn't light years behind.
Easy access to your tunes
Nokia's Ovi Player software works smoothly and transferring music files from a PC is done without any major traumas.
Spin some tunes and the Nokia reveals an entertaining musical persona. Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind sounds open and detailed. The track bounces along at speed. Vocals sound expressive and bass notes display great punch and definition.
Transfer high-quality video content and the 3.2in screen showcases good insight, edge definition and punchy whites.
There's a wealth of multimedia handsets on the market and all of them get compared to Apple's iPhone. So, it's nice to say that the X6 stacks up reasonably well. Although the phone isn't without a couple of flaws, it's enough of a draw to give it a whirl.
