My husband loves Nokia phones so when he decided to upgrade his phone he went for the Nokia X6 8 GB which is an update to the Nokia X6. I did not get on to well with my iphone it is great and has lots of gadgets but I just did not use any of them and as he is more of a technical lover we decided we would swap phones.

**The look**

The phone is rather small for a smart phone it is not tiny but a great size to hold and use easily. As it is a touch screen this means the only buttons are the call button and the end call button along with a menu button in the middle these are located at the very bottom of the phone and obviously the lack of buttons for numbers etc help keep this phone small. It is thicker than other smart phones but a lot smaller in length and I find this more comfortable to hold and operate.
Another thing I love about this phone is the screen. Although it is smaller than my previous phone it has a scratch resistant screen meaning that those annoying scratches from the slightest touch do not appear making the phone stay newer for longer. It is not invincible from scratches and after a year of use there are a number of visible scratches but compared to other phones I have owned it certainly lasts a lot longer.

**Durability**

I have now used this phone daily for over 18 months and apart from a few scratches the phone is still in perfect order. I have dropped it a number of times and my children have often got their hands on it meaning it has received some rough handling and it still works fine. I do find it can be slow at times and lately it has began crashing which is rather annoying as turning it off and back on does take a little while but I do find this tends to be when I have not transferred videos and photos from my phone to the computer and when I do transfer them and delete all content after I find it runs a lot better.

**Features**

Although I am not the best person to talk about features as this is the reason I swapped with my husband in the first place due to the fact I hardly use them I will do my best to explain about them. When you receive the phone it already has a range of features stored to it including

Clock - This is one of my most used features it is as it says where you adjust the clock and you can set alarms. It is easy to do use your finger to slide down through the 24 hour clock and choose the time you would like the alarm to go off. Then press the on feature and your alarm are set you can set it to be reoccurring or just a one off.

Internet - This is how you can connect to the internet you are taken straight to the o2 homepage in my case as that is the network I am on. Then you simply type in the web address you want to visit and the page will load. As long as there is a decent wifi available then the phone is rather fast at loading page and it is fairly easy to navigate although I do find the writing can be very small and sometimes difficult to click on a link from a page but this is due to the screen size.

Call log - This allows quick access to your most recent calls meaning you do not need to go in to the contacts to call someone you have had a recent conversation with which makes it both quick and easy to access your most recent conversations and really is a time saver.

Contacts - This of course is where you can add contacts very simply by adding the name and number and they are saved in alphabetical order. Also you can access saved contacts here where you are given a choice to view the contact and either call or text them with one click. This is pretty much the same as every other phone on the market and is very easy to navigate by scrolling down the list with the bar on the left hand side and then highlight the contact you wish to talk too.

Messages - This has the usual new messages, sent and draft messages and by clicking on each you are greeted with messages stored in your phone. When creating a new message it is very simple you click the main box to write your text and a small keyboard pops up if you turn the phone to the side it brings up a QWERTY keyboard which I find a lot easier to use. The buttons are large enough to type fairly easily and then once you have finished you simply tap the to box and either type the number in or choose from your contacts.

Ovi store - I do not use this to be honest I'm not a great lover of apps and so this feature has never been used by myself. Although this is how you would purchase your apps for your phone and looking at the instructions manual it seems fairly easy to do if it interests you.

Settings - This is where you can change many features of the phone including the layout of the menu, the ringtone, call and connectivity and many other features including Bluetooth. I will be honest and say other than my photos and videos I have really left the phone as it was at factory setting. If you did wish to personalise the phone this is where you would head but I found the layout and navigation the phone began with was simple as easy to use so I have rarely visited this section other than to have a nose around.

Music - This phone is designed for music lovers and when you click into this application you are greeted with radio, mp3 player, DJ playlist and a recorder. The sound quality is great on the phone and anyone who was to make use of the features is sure to be impressed. The high storage means you can save thousands of songs and really make use of this feature.

Maps- This phone has maps pre- loaded as an application when you purchase and it is free to use although we have a sat nav in our car when I have been with my sister in law as we always end up getting lost it has come in very handy. When you open the application it pin points where you are so all you have to do is enter your destination and you receive directs on how to get there both by someone talking use through each turn and lit up on a map on screen.

**In use**

The phone is very simple to use I was a little worried as I don't often get on with touch screens but I find this phone is not too over sensitive. I do have to double click on applications to get them to open but everything else is operated by just one touch and as the buttons are a good size this is easy to do without touching the wrong place which can be very frustrating.
The whole lay out of the menu is logical and very easy to make my way around the most used features like the contacts and messages are at the top of the menu screen while those I do not use as often are at the bottom. You can scroll down through the options easily by using your finger to slide down the bar at the side of the screen.

When using the internet I find the small screen size can make it rather hard to use. When a web page loads the writing is tiny and although you can turn the phone on its side to rotate the screen and this slightly zooms the page in a little I still find it hard to navigate around pages as some links are so small my fingers often hit the wrong link over and over and I do not have overly large fingers.
Making calls is very easy you can either press the green call button type in the number you wish to contact and then the green call button again or go into contacts and click into the profile you wish to call and then the green call button. The sound quality is great and you can turn the volume up and down very easily by pressing buttons located on the side of the phone. There are options on screen to open up the dialler in case you need to save a number or key in a number while on the phone and also you can access your contacts which I found very helpful. What I have found is as the button to take a picture is located on the side I have a few times entered my gallery to find random pictures that had been taken while I had been holding the phone and talking.

**Battery**

This is one of my favourite features with this phone it lasts forever it charges up really quickly and then the phone runs and runs. Once I went to England for the weekend and forgot to take my charger I was fully expecting to have to purchase a car charger for it while I was away when I realised I had forgotten it but the phone was still charged when I returned home two and a half days later and I had been using the phone rather a lot while I was away arranging to meet up with family and friends. Compared to other smart phones I have owned this is by far the best at holding its charge.

**Storage**

This phone is the upgraded version of the Nokia X6 and has 8 GB of storage in it which means I can store hundreds of pictures and texts without having to worry at all. It is designed to be a music phone and although I do not use this feature I do believe the memory would easily cope with constant use of the features available and although there is no space for a SD card for further memory I honestly do not think anyone would need it.

**Camera**

The camera has a 5 megapixel camera which is really good for a camera on a phone and although you will not win any prizes for professional photography it is perfect for taking half decent photos when you do not have your camera to hand. It has basic features like zoom and a flash and I find it perfect for taking pictures while I'm out and about. The pictures do not turn out grainy like I have found happens with pictures taken from previous phones I have owned. It can also take videos which again are a fair quality considering it is taken from a phone and it comes in handy for family videos when I want to capture something in a hurry but I still tend to stick with my camcorder as it is much better quality.

**Price and availability**

We brought our phone through contract we thought we were getting a rather basic phone as it only cost us £12 a month with around 500 minutes and unlimited texts so we were surprised when we found it was actually a rather new smart phone. We purchased ours on contract from o2 but I cannot see it available now although it is available on eBay for around £100 which is not too bad for a smart phone.

**Summary**

I really like this phone it is simple to use yet is packed with features I feel this phone is wasted on me as I just use it for making calls and texts and there is so much more available. I do think it would be great for a music lover or for anyone that likes to play around with Applications.
The phone works well but does begin to freeze when a lot of content is stored on it which is a little disappointing and may be a problem for someone that uses more of the features than me but as I only store photos on it I do not find it too much of a problem. I love Nokia phones as they tend to be high quality and really durable and this phone lives up to the quality I expect.