Monday 3 August 2009

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Review



I have always been a big fan of Nokia although I went side track of getting an Iphone 3G myself not too long ago. The smoothness of the Mac OSX on the Iphone 3G makes life very easy for an end user. However, there are some disadvantages of using the Iphone 3G too. I don't really like the paltry digital camera and not being able to record movies, let alone at 30fps. The second thing which I have to complain is that the Iphone 3G is terribly expensive. It is more expensive if you are looking at the Iphone 3GS (Just think about blowing £540 on the 32GB Iphone 3GS makes me sick).


Besides the above problems with the Iphone, there is another major obstacle from Apple. One can't simply do teethering as and when they like unless they pay for a fee. I think that is such a rip off. I have come about to try an Iphone 3GS alternative - The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.


Don't be deceived by the sheer lightweight of the phone. It is by no means lightweight in functionality. After using it for one week, I have to say that it is still not as good as the Iphone 3GS in a few areas but nevertheless, I don't feel pressurised in blowing a big hole in my pocket. That is why I have decided to write a review regarding the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.



Size


The 5800's demension is 111 x 51.7 x 15.5 mm. With it's weight hovering around 109g, you don't really feel that it is too heavy to put it into your pocket and feeling that you are dragging it as you are walking along. You do feel that there is something in your pocket but yet, you do feel it is not a burden to you at all.



Screen


Something which I particularly like about Nokia is that they have set the standard of supporting up to 16.7 million colours on their mid range to high range mobile phones. The Nokia 5800 XM is of no exception. Couple with a 3.2" screen with accelerometer, it makes using the phone quite simple especially if you want to use your phone vertically or horizontally. The screen is bright and will work under sunlight so you do not have any problems with it.



Input Methods


Coming from the legendary Nokia E71 and also the Iphone 3G, a qwerty keyboard will most suit me. The 5800 XM does not disappoint. You can choose either a numeric keyboard, a full qwerty keyboard or a half qwerty keyboard (just like the Blackberry Pearl 8110 and 8120 or the upcoming Nokia E55) or just like a normal keypad which you will find on a typical Nokia mobile phone. I am quite impressed with the speed of the keypad when I am typing but I have to say that you need to press a little bit harder as opposed to the Iphone 3GS where it is more sensitive, hence you use less energy.



Power, Functionality and User Friendliness


When it comes to power source, the 5800 XM does not disappoint. It comes with a 1320mAh Li-Ion battery (BL-5J) which runs quite good on my 5800 XM. On an average, the 5800 XM will last around 2.5 days with bluetooth, e-mails and surfing the internet (including VOIP). I always use the 5800 XM to watch programmes on BBC's Iplayer when I am on the train. It is really useful. No doubt that users may be able to use their netbooks (around 10") for a better viewing on their bigger screens, they can't really use their netbooks to make a call as easy as a mobile phone can do (technically, one can use programmes like skype on the netbooks to make outgoing calls but it is rather a hassle). The 5800 XM is a true portable device which will be very kind to your pocket.


The 5800 XM is equipped with a whole range of applications for users to use. Users will have access to bluetooth, wi-fi, e-mail (including Microsoft Exchange), Quadband GSM (850mhz/900mhz/1800mhz/1900mhz) and Dualband UTMS (900/2100) - for Euro and Asian countries and UTMS (850/1800) for Latin and African countries. It runs on GPRS, EDGE and HSDPA (3.6Mbps) and features auto select on GSM networks. That is good, isn't it? Besides that, it comes in black, blue and red. Pick your favourite colour.


The 5800 XM comes with the latest Symbian OS 9.4 5th edition which features supports touchscreen. To me, the 5800 XM is by no means a direct alternative to the Iphone 3GS but it gives Apple a run for its money. Sound and music are generated by a pair of stereo speakers and Nokia is wise to include a 3.5mm audio out jack so users will be able to use better headphones like BOSE on their 5800 XM. Pretty cool, isn't it?


A 5800 XM user will have to apply a little pressure for the OS to register the input. This is by far means no problem as users will get used to it in due course. It was just like the very first time a person using the Nokia E71. The qwerty keyboard is small but all keys are raised so one will be able to master the art of typing quite fast in no time. Trust me with this.


I am not going to set the Iphone 3GS as a bechmark in every mobile phone review but in this case, it is quite appropriate as the Nokia 5800 XM is also a touchscreen phone. The big advantage of the 5800 XM over the Iphone 3GS is that you have a dual LED flash which the Iphone 3GS does not have. The next thing is that you can add more memory while you can't do so with the Iphone 3GS. The menu speed of the 5800 XM is fast and I do see no problem in running youtube on HD although the 5800 XM runs on a mere single core 369mhz ARM 11 cpu. The Iphone 3GS runs on a faster 600mhz Cortex A8 cpu with a brilliant 256kb L2 cache.


To conclude, I quite like the Nokia 5800 XM for now even though Nokia might be releasing an update to the Nokia 5800 XM which is called the 5800i XM. Early reports showed that the 5800i XM does not feature wi-fi. It is a shame as I think many people will expect it to include wi-fi. Nevertheless, with build in GPS and a digital media player on the 5800 XM will increase Nokia's mobile phone market share. It is so far the most popular Nokia mid range phone where the N97 is the most popular high range Nokia mobile phone for now.


Have your say!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How do you enable half qw-er-ty layout, as I only have mini-qwerty, qwerty and alphanumeric layouts

ぜるもう said...

When you are trying to type a message, click on the 'option' menu and choose half qwerty keyboard.