Nokia may have entered the touchscreen market late, but it’s making up for it now with the likes of the Nokia N97, N97 Mini and the pioneer of the bunch – the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. It’s not just about the touchscreen though, this is one musical handset that gives Apple’s iPhone and Sony Ericsson’s Walkman handsets a real run for their money.
First things first. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone doesn’t get a name like that without boasting some serious music credentials. This is one of the best music and media handsets currently on the market. For starters the 5800 has a quick access button above the screen that allows you to get at all your main multimedia needs – music, movies, the internet and even your favourite sites. It works really well, as it means you don’t have to go messing about to start your music player.
Once the music player’s up and running you’re blessed with some truly awesome audio quality, rivalling the very best music-playing devices on the market for grunt and thump.
Being Nokia’s first touchscreen mobile phone you’d be forgiven for thinking this might be plagued with problems. Thankfully that’s not the case. The 3.2-inch, 360×640-pixel resolution screen is large enough to cope with chubby, gorilla-like digits, and big enough to not leave you squinting when watching video.
Getting around the screen on this Nokia mobile phone is a breeze too. It’s very responsive to the touch and the the accelerometer works well when flipping the phone around, switching between portrait and landscape as it should. There’s also a stylus tucked away in case you’re not that comfortable typing with your fingers.
The Nokia 5800′s not short on extras either. You get HSDPA for super-speedy internet access, GPRS, and EDGE support. Plus you get Bluetooth and Wi-Fi built-in as standard. And we haven’t even mentioned the built in A-GPS for navigation. The 3.2-megapixel camera, meanwhile, comes with autofocus and Carl Zeiss optics and is pretty good if nothing special (check out the Sony Ericsson Satio’s 12-megapixel offering) and takes decent snaps.
Verdict
Overall then, and considering that this was Nokia’s pioneering touchscreen mobile, the Nokia 5800 is still an awesome handset that offers you one-touch music playing and a host of other features. Bravo Nokia.
Love
It’s a great little media player
The audio quality rivals the best players
A user interface so simple the Beckhams could use it
Hate
It’s “only” got a 3.2-megapixel camera
The body can feel a tad plasticky
The spec
Screen: 360 x 640, 3.2-inch
Connectivity: 3G, HSDPA, Wi–Fi, Bluetooth
Camera: 3.2MP
Storage: 8GB microSD card (in box), expandable up to 16GB
Size/weight: 109g, 111×52x16mm
How does the Nokia 5800 stack up against the Nokia N97? Find out in our mobile smackdown…