Nokia E6-00 review

It still has its fans, but they are a dying breed. Even RIM’s BlackBerry OS has surpassed Symbian in usability, mainly by re-organising the options menu into more logical groups, signposted with memorable icons. Symbian’s options, however, require either deep familiarity or reference to the user manual.

The pre-installed apps cover the basics, such as calendar, contacts and email, and there’s even some basic social networking. Office apps are the E6’s strong point, with a version of QuickOffice that lets you edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, and a copy of Adobe Reader for PDF files.

You’re very limited when it comes to adding to the pre-installed apps. Symbian’s Ovi Store is still dominated by games, ringtones and videos rather than serious productivity apps, and with Nokia moving to Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system, you’re unlikely to see many new apps or updates.

Symbian is a sinking ship, and Nokia really has no right to tempt its fans with this excellent hardware; while the phone itself is has some great features and is well-built, we simply can’t recommend its arcane operating system. Anyone tempted by it should take the plunge and convert to another operating system as there are plenty of other great handsets around.