Nokia 5800 review


Tube-tastic

We've been waiting for Nokia to come and frolic with the touch phones, and here it is the Nokia XpressMusic 5800. We were expecting a stupendous N-series with all the bells and whistles but what we got was a mid-range Symbian smartie, but is it any cop?

Out-of-the-box we can't deny this phone is a looker, comparing it with other Nokias it's the same length and width as the N82 and weighs in at 109g, slightly weightier than other tactile mobiles, but it feels like a solid Nokia. Sporting a micro-USB, and an SD card slot it certainly looks the part in its gloss black Sunday best.

Touch sensitive?
So, this is my first touchscreen by Nokia, aged 143. It's taken them long enough and we must admit they've come out trumps. Nokia claim that this isn't meant to be compared with the iPhone, but it's the only touch screen that comes close. Scrolling through the menu is a breeze, and writing a text is a piece of cake using either the QWERTY keyboard, or hand-writing with the stylus. Flip the phone to the side for widescreen web-browsing, and with inbuilt Flash as the ace card, you can see a truck load more of the sites than on the iPhone. It can be a little over sensitive at times, but to be honest we're not complaining after the blisters we got from the other cack touchscreens.



Music-head

Although not available yet, the 5800 is pipped as the phone to use Nokia's XpressMusic service. On the home screen there's a one touch button to your media bar that lets you whizz to your favourite music in your library, pics or browse the web. Packing 8GB of memory from the off you can store up to 6000 tracks from your Bowie to Barbara. Whack in a pair of your own cans through the 3.5mm jack and the sound is impressive. Compared to a Sony Walkman, it's as good if not better.

Share and share alike.

One of the other nifty things that sets this mobile apart is how easy it is to share your content. Snapping pictures on the 3.2 Carl Zeiss lens is a breeze with the standard capture button on the side, but as soon as you've papped, zap it onto Flickr, Facebook or any other jiggery-pokery sites online. Picture quality is nothing to quibble about, it doesn't compare with the 5MP's out there, but pictures are detailed and it's easy enough to twiddle about with the manual controls for contrast, sharpness and the flash.

If you're more of a stalker than sharer, keep a close eye on your targets using the contacts bar. Add a contact to the home screen and then you can keep an eye on every text message/email/call they do (well between you and them). You can also keep an eye on anything they do online on sites like Facebook and Twitter. The updates are slightly annoying; they do pop up and stay there on the homescreen.

With all these featires in tow and for a non N-series phone and Finn's first serious dabble into touchscreen the 5800 is a scorcher. Getting our mitts on the XpressMusic service will see the handsets stretch its little techy legs, but for a mid-range gambit from the play safe Finnish company it's not a bad first effort.

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