Mobile Review : Nokia 5800 Express Music

Nokia`s 5800 Express Music for is fully touch screen phone which proves that Nokia is serious in touch screen phone business. This is the first device to run on Symbian OS v9.4, Series 60 rel. 5. XpressMusic Brand help this phone to prove its power as a music phone. This phone comes in mid-high range of phone with a strong Nokia Brand name, quality music and touch screen features.

Before reviewing this phone let's have a look on its main features.

* Symbian S60 5th edition
* Dimensions 111 x 51.7 x 15.5 mm, 83 cc
* Weight 109 g
* 3.2 inch 16M-color TFT 16:9 display (360 x 640 pixels), Full touch screen
* 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash
* VGA video at 30fps
* Dual-band 3G with HSDPA support, 3.6 Mbps
* Quad-band GSM support
* 369 MHz CPU
* RAM 128 MB
* Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, UPnP technology
* GPS ,Nokia Maps 2.0
* MicroSD card memory expansion(8GB card included)
* FM, TV out
* Bluetooth with A2DP and microUSB v2.0
* Headphone jack of 3.5mm ( this is standard type of headset jack )
* Landscape on-screen QWERTY keyboard
* Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
* Handwriting recognition
* Accelerometer sensor for automatic UI rotation
* Motion-based gaming
* Unmatchable audio quality
* Office document viewer
* Direct image and video uploads
* Standard battery, Li-Ion 1320 mAh(BL-5J)
* Stand-by Up to 406 h (2G) / 408 h (3G)
* Talk time Up to 8 h 45 min (2G) / 5 h (3G)
* Music play Up to 35 h

Now we will review phone by its features............

Design and construction
Nokia 5800 has a long body with elegant color screen, display of 16:9 is unique , Samsung F490 is probably the only handset to be used as a reference. I can tell you one thing that Nokia 5800 XpressMusic has its own identity in looks , just like IPhone has. No doubt Nokia will be proud of this design.


Impressive high-resolution screen
The Communicator series and the exotic 77xx tablets aside, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic 3.2" display is the largest in the family. The resolution of 360 x 640 pixels is also second to the E90 business monster. In fact, outside the Windows Mobile realm there isn't any other device to match the display resolution (Not even the Omni).

Operating Platform
Series 60 is always a better performing platform in terms of customizing and better UI. This device proves S60 capability to transform in touch screen UI. Overall we find it very good... It doesn`t hang like some previous devices.

Music and Radio
XpressMusic branding, actually it doesn`t satisfy up to a extent... User interface is quite similar as S60 3rd edition version. There are few small changes but music player interface could be more better.
Coming to music quality , it's very good and you can say one of the best in Nokia.
Simple interface of FM radio on Nokia 5800 XpressMusic can automatically scan and save the available stations in your area with RDS support.

Video playback
Well video playback will set Nokia 5800 XpressMusic in back foot. It supports a limited number of codecs, no DivX and Xvid. This issue was not there in previous versions of S60 as third party applications are available for them. Developers yet to come with a solution for this issue in 5th edition of the S60 UI.

Accelerometer Gaming
Accelerometer-based games were the most attracting features of Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. It comes with two preinstalled games and only one of them could make use of the sensor. Control is not that much good and but big high resolution screen and touchpad always an advantage for gamers.

GPS (Global Positioning System)
Nokia 5800 XpressMusic comes with a built-in GPS receiver , and it seems a highly sensitive unit. The handset was quick enough start in a moving car in about two minutes. A-GPS might have sliced a few additional seconds when you turn it on.

VOIP( Voice over IP)
There is no SIP-client built-in. But you can install other sip-clients on it. Well Fring will be the best suit for 5800.

Total box Contents
We cannot remember a mobile who offered this much in the box without getting out-of-reach kind of high-end. Nokia 5800 XpressMusic comes with an 8GB memory card. There is also a microUSB cable to use for your data connections, a TV-out cable that normally ships with high-end N-series models only and a two piece hands free. It's 3.5mm on either end so you can easily replace the provided headset without sacrificing the remote.

Price in India --- Approx Rs 18500
Price in Europe --- Approx Euro 250-350
Price in USA --- Approx 370$ for unlocked


Main disadvantages:

* Symbian S60 5th is new so software availability is limited
* User Interface is not very much good
* No smart dialing
* Poor image quality , comparing with other phones of same class
* Touch web browser not as good as IPhone`s Safari
* Unavailability of voice-guided navigation in GPS
* you cannot charge mobile with micro USB

At the end we still feel Nokia 5800 is a worthy deal. You will get interface that not as competitive as others are having in same range but the package you get for 250Euro with a brand name of nokia is still a fair deal..

Over all We can give 4 out 5 to Nokia 5800 XpressMusic because of its cost to feature stats.