Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Review

I finally got around to replacing my old Phone, an HTC Trinity, with the Nokia 5800. There are two varieties of this phone, the Navigation Edition and the XpressMusic which I got. Both phones are practically the same in features, except that the Navigation Edition is more inclined towards maps.

Moving on. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic was Nokia's first entry into touchscreen phones. But, while everyone was trying to be copy-cats of the iPhone or tried to be an 'iPhone Killer,' Nokia made no such claims (after all, they are still the number one phone manufacturer) and instead built a touchscreen phone around their proven Symbian OS.

To be honest, all touchscreen phones tend to look pretty much the same, but what distinguishes the Nokia 5800 is its sleekness which means that you can easily operate it with one hand. The screen is wide enough and has a very high resolution that helps make the user interface easier to use. The Nokia 5800 has a wide range of input options: finger touch, stylus and plectrum with a virtual alphanumeric keypad, full and mini QWERTY keyboards and handwriting recognition. The display will rotate automatically when you turn the phone to landscape mode. Usually, XpressMusic phones have dedicated buttons for music but in keeping with touch, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic has a dedicated virtual media bar for quick access to music controls, as well as functions like the gallery and web browser. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic handset still has a lot of physical buttons though, these are for the power, send and end, menu, screen lock, volume and camera.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic doesn't have a hot camera but is just enough for instant point-and-shoot situations. It comes with 3.2 megapixels, which is really low compared to other touchscreen phones but it uses Carl Zeiss optics, has autofocus and a double LED flash. It can also record video at 640x480 pixels, 30 frames per second, and in stereo sound. It has a front-mounted video camera which enables you to make video calls on a 3G network.

The Nokia 5800 Xpress Music has a quality web browser and very fast download speeds thanks to the 3G HSDPA implementation. It supports Flash, so you can watch videos from YouTube and other sites on your phone. It comes enabled with WiFi so you can get super fast data transfer speeds in the vicinity of your home wireless network or a WiFi Hotspot. GPS is included too, along with Nokia Maps.

Connect your Nokia 5800 Xpress Music to the Internet, then head over to the OVI store to download hundreds of free or paid third-party applications for your phone.

I'm a music enthusiast, so the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic fit what I wanted in my new phone. The touchscreen controls for playing music is very easy. It includes an 8-band graphic equalizer and a 3.5mm headphone jack which I can easily connect to an amp and blare music away! By default, it comes with 8GB memory card, which can store up to 2,000 MP3's, and is upgradeable to a massive 16GB. It also has a built-in FM radio if you get tired of your collection. Sound is superb whether I play music on the phone's loudspeakers or on my Nokia BH-604 bluetooth headset. Excellent combination!

Touchscreen phones are power-hungry, but the battery for the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic seems fit enough. I played music on it for 12 straight hours while connected on my bluetooth headset and I still had enough to make phone calls and take pictures. Check out my post on how to keep your battery in tip-top condition here.

I got the red version, but the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic comes in black and blue too. The phone comes with an ugly looking stereo headphone that comes in handy should I forget to charge my bluetooth headset, a massive 8GB memory card, a stylus and a guitar pick looking thingy for use on the phone's touchscreen, and of course, the battery charger.

Nokia's first touchscreen phone isn't perfect and has its occassional bugs, but the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic obviously spent a lot of time in the design studio, and it looks like Nokia wisely resisted the temptation to rush joining the touchscreen phone bandwagon. The 5800 XpressMusic manages to combine the benefits of touchscreen, without many downsides, and avoids being just another iPhone clone thanks to Nokia's attention to detail.

It may not be perfect, but I am certainly impressed. The Nokia 5800 Xpress Music, a high-tech gadget at an affordable price.