Nokia 5800 XpressMusic: First Look
Discontinued 3rd October 2008
Late yesterday, Nokia finally announced
their long-awaited Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen
phone. It isn't Nokia's first
touchscreen device, but because of the gap between
models then it is effectively Nokia's first current-generation
touchscreen phone.
The 5800 introduces a lot of new features
with the upgraded version of the Symbian S60 operating
system, many of which will find their way into other
Nokia handsets. We will look at some of these in more
depth at a later date.
To begin with, we'll look at the basics.
The screen is the main point of interest - it's a 3.2"
widescreen panel with a 640 x 360 pixel resolution,
featuring a touchscreen technology along with tactile
feedback (we assume this is similar to the haptics technology
used by rival manufacturers).
The touchscreen can be used with a stylus
or finger and features handwriting recognition. The
5800 automatically flips between landscape and portrait
displays using a built-in accelerometer.
The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is a 3G device
with HSDPA high-speed data and WiFi connectivity (at
least in Europe, other variants worldwide may lack 3G
or WiFi support). It's a quad band GSM phone with dual-band
UMTS 900/2100 support, plus a UMTS 850/1900 version
for South America. Local connections can be made via
Bluetooth 2.0 or USB 2.0. In other words, the Nokia
5800 ticks pretty much all the boxes when it comes to
connectivity.
There's
integrated GPS with a "touch" version of the
Nokia Maps application, making the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
the first really viable satellite navigation phone.
The high-resolution screen should be ideal for this
type of application, but even so we have never seen
a phone that can really compete with a dedicated SatNav
system when it comes to usability.
The "XpressMusic" part of
the name indicates that the 5800 is a multimedia device,
with support for MP3, AAC (and variants), WMA, RealPlayer,
MPEG4 and WMV media types. There's also an FM radio
and integration into Nokia's music store (assuming this
isn't blocked by your carrier). There's also a standard
3.5mm audio socket so a standard headphone set can be
used.
On
the back is a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics,
dual LED flash and autofocus. Maximum video capture
resolution is 640 x 480 pixels at 30 frames per second.
Although the camera isn't as exciting as some of the
5 megapixel and 8 megapixel ones that we have seen recently,
the Carl Zeiss optics should ensure good quality photographs
and the video capture resolution should certainly be
good enough for most purposes.
Software includes a web browser, email
client, RSS reader, a couple of games, support for Microsoft
Exchange email and of course an improved user interface
with customisable elements. We haven't seen this in
action, so we really can't ay how it compared with the
iPhone.
Inside is a high-capacity 1320 mAh BL-5J
battery which can power the 5800 XpressMusic for up
to 5 hours talktime on 3G (8+ hours on GSM), with up
to 16 days standby time, 5.6 hours of gaming or
35 hours of music playback. Despite the impressive feature
set, the 5800 weighs only 109 grams and is a pocket-friendly
111 x 52 x 16mm.
The standard sales package includes
a set of styluses, music headset, video out cable, USB
cable, carry case and an 8GB microSD card as standard.
The price before tax and subsidy is €279 (around £200
or $380). Nokia say that the 5800 XpressMusic should
be available during Q4 2008 in red, blue and black colour
combinations.
On paper, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
looks to be a very attractive device, and it's pretty
good value too. The two biggest problems that we can
see are the megapixel count of the camera and the frankly
uninspired design. But with the all important "Nokia"
badge on, it is likely to be a success... even if we
have had to wait a very, very long time for it.
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Nokia
5800 XpressMusic at a glance
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Available:
|
Q4
2008
|
Network:
|
GSM
850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
+ UMTS 900 / 2100 or
850 / 1900 or no
UMTS
|
Data:
|
GPRS
+ EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSDPA
+ WiFi Chinese variant has
no 3G or WiFi.
|
Screen:
|
640
x 360 pixels, 16m colours
|
Camera:
|
3.2
megapixels
|
Size:
|
PDA-style
device 111 x 52 x 16mm
/ 109 grams
|
Bluetooth:
|
Yes
|
Memory
card:
|
microSD
|
Infra-red:
|
No
|
Polyphonic:
|
Yes
|
Java:
|
Yes
|
GPS:
|
Yes
|
Battery
life:
|
5 hours talk / 16 days standby
(3G)
|
|
|