We’ve had the Nokia C6 – Nokia’s new mid-range smartphone – for a couple of days now, and the more we use it the more it impresses. It had a lot to live up to, following in the footsteps of the Nokia N97 Mini, but we think it delivers. Find out why in our Nokia C6 review…

The Nokia C6 is a 3.2-inch touchscreen smartphone with a sliding QWERTY keyboard. It sits in the middle of Nokia’s smartphone range, so it’s packed with features, but uses slightly cheaper materials to keep costs down. As such, it’s a bit of a bargain.

The 3.2-inch screen is the same panel as you’ll find on the Nokia N97 Mini, with bright colours and sharp images. It’s great for web browsing, and we also found it responsive – although the haptic feedback – with the handset vibrating when you tap the screen – won’t suit everybody.

Despite being made predominantly from plastic – rather than metal like the Nokia N97 Mini – the Nokia C6 still feels like a high-end product. The plastics on the rear feature a matt, almost soft-touch finish, and it’s both tactile and hardwearing.

The QWERTY keypad slides out with a quality action – it’s lost the tilting mechanism of the Nokia N97 Mini, but it’s still impressive. The keyboard is perhaps the best bit of this handset, however.

The keys are bigger than its siblings, and it’s a pleasure to type on for long periods. Emails are dispatched in minutes, and the D-pad to the right of it also works particularly well.

Software-wise, the Nokia C6 is pretty familiar. You’ll find the Symbian S60 5th Edition OS in place, and it works well on this handset. Sure, it’s not quite so impressive as the Symbian ^3 OS found on the Nokia N8, but it’s easy to use and there are thousands of apps available through the Ovi Store.

Speaking of apps, the Nokia C6 comes with Ovi Maps pre-installed, and with A-GPS included as standard, you’ll be able to use the C6 as a satellite navigation device.

Connectivity wise, the Nokia C6 features 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, following closely in the footsteps of other high-end smartphones. It loses the 8GB of memory in the Nokia N97 Mini, but there’s still a microSD card reader for adding more storage.

We haven’t had a chance to play with the 5-Megapixel camera on the Nokia C6 yet, but we’ll be bringing you a dedicated review next week.

Overall then, we’re really impressed with the Nokia C6. It’s not quite as desirable as the Nokia N97 Mini, but it’s definitely capable of offering 90 per cent of the user experience, delivering a high-end feel to the masses.

Check out our Nokia C6 review photo gallery below: