Preview: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic aka Nokia Tube
Written on 10/04/2008 12:44:00 AM by poison_ivy
At last, Nokia finally released their much awaited touchscreen phone, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. We've heard of Nokia's Tube phone before, their potential iPhone killer, and now, it's already official and will be released worldwide during the fourth quarter of 2008. So, I got to see the prototype version of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic during its launch so a word of warning to Nokia fans, this review has a few bashing against the phone so if you really don't want to read that then kindly move along.
Design
The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is again a full touchscreen phone with a 3.2 inch screen. It has three buttons at the bottom, the menu button and two soft keys flanking the menu button. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is a little bit on the thick side compared with the iPhone or the Omnia. The 5800 also has more curved edge compared with the other touch screen phones but that just gives it a bit mroe edge over the others in terms of design.
Features
Okay, so let's get to work on this baby. Since it's a touchscreen phone, most of you are probably wondering: does it beat the iPhone's interface? Well, based on the prototype, sadly no. The screen was a bit unresponsive and you have to press the screen most of the time, twice, in order to get a command done. But with the other parts that do work, the screen seems responsive enough. Is it multitouch capable? Nope but you get to do all that cool swiping and flicking thingy like on the iPhone. I don't think Nokia did a pretty good job making the Symbian S60 more touchscreen friendly. With the symbian menu screen, you scroll using the scroll bar on the side. It would have been nice if they added another swiping interface to get to the next page.
The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic comes with a stylus for handwriting recognition and some say that you can use it as a guitar pick because there's a guitar game on the device but I wasn't able to see that. EDIT: Sorry bout that, it seems that the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic has a plectrum which looks like a guitar pick that can also be used as an input option and it's not the stylus that can be used as a guitar pick. I wasn't able to get a look at the plectrum but you can use it for the upcoming Gameloft Guitar Rock Tour that will soon be released for the device.
The Nokia 5800 also has a 3.15 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. I wasn't able to test the camera out since this was a prototype so the camera function doesn't work as good as those in the commercial version but those looking for a cameraphone won't have to worry as Nokia makes the best cameraphones amongst its competitors.
iPhone users who would want to convert to the Nokia Tube will probably like the fact that the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic offers haptic feedback. The QWERTY keyboard have big buttons and are easy to press but when you turn it sideways, the built in accelerometer will give you a landscape view and the QWERTY keyboard will take up most of the screen.
Of course, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is loaded with other goodies such as 3G/HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth with A2DP, GPS, TV-Out, Stereo FM Radio, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Unfortunately, Nokia didn't feel the need to add a lot of internal memory on this device as some say it only has a measly 81MB of internal memory and you have to rely on the microSD slot to store your files.
Conclusion
Since this is Nokia's first attempt at a touchscren device, I won't bash it as much. Nokia needs to get back to the old drawing board and add more functionality to the Symbian S60 interface, and if they can make their touchscreen interface more seamless (maybe if they up the processor on the device, they say it only has a 369MHz ARM Processor and a 128MB of RAM) then it would be worthy of being called a true iPhone killer. But if they didn't fix the unresponsiveness issues then they better expect a lot of returns during the first few weeks that the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will be released.
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About your comment of the touchscreen, it is said that you need to double tap to select something, I don't think what you experienced was related to the responsiveness.
It was related to the resonsiveness. When you tap the screen you get no response and then tap it again after a few seconds and it responds, that's what I meant by double tapping and not "double tap" in the sense that it was what the application required.
i just buy nokia 5320 xpress music last month and now the come to know about nokia 5800. tell me when it will available in india and what will be price . i want this phone as soon as possible.
great review
Sorry! You forgot to mention about multiple ways to enter text inputs. The user has flexibility to select. This phone has 10 times more functionality and tools than an iPhone.
if you are not able to make a review, please don't make it. you just dig your own hole. Nokia 5800 is the best music phone ever
@Toh. ??? I'll dig a hole but YOU jump in. I'm only giving a preview and who said anything about the 5800 XpressMusic NOT being a good MUSIC PHONE?!! I was commenting on its touchscreen capabilities not on its music playing capabilities which I'm sure if Nokia followed their formula for their previous XpressMusic Line, the 5800 XpressMusic WILL be a good MUSIC PHONE.
I am posting this USING a 5800 to say that for about €300 you get a nice 3g phone with LIMITED WiFi accesibility and maybe a handfull of usefull applications and definately NOT an iPhone killer. You get what you pay for and nothing more.
NOKIA 5800 IS MOST POOR CREATION BY NOKIA
i am from varanasi UP, India. i purchase this set on 21-1-09 and next day it was at nokia care with serious problem. nokia care said that this is manufacturing defect and will be replaced by distributor. But till today i not get my phone back. Nokia distributor at varanasi RK distributor said that it will take more 4-5 days. i think i west my Rs.19000/- for this poor set and that is no useful to me. So for all viewers save your money. Don’t buy this poor phone otherwise you will feel sorrow. if any one want to see nokia care job sheet of this poor phone, i will mail. My id is Manish_contact@yahoo.com
Hi I've just upgraded to a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. I've had Nokia Phones for 14 years now and I've thought of the company as a market leader. There is a big problem with the new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. As we'll all know automated company telephone answering services are more or less the norm. My second phone call with this new phone was to my service provider Orange. The service asked me to enter the second and fourth characters of my password. I have not found it to be possible to enter letters with this phone when requested to for the purposes of entering characters from a password for instance because when you bring up the dialler there are no letters on each of the phone pads numbers. It is possible to find an alphanumeric keypad on this phone -in the text messaging option but switching to this lost my call. My colleague at work has a similar Motorola version of this phone and the dialler on the Motorola does have letters on each of the number keys. This may be a big clanger dropped by Nokia.
I'm not a phone techie - just an ordinary user. I'm not up to much when it comes to using the full capability of a mobile phone - usually just texting and the odd call. in the two days since i got my phone i've installed photo's, music and maps all from pc. i've surfed the web on my mobile - not just the mobile wap thingy, and i;ve watched Sky Tv on my mobile. On top of that i've surfed the web using the phone but on my bt home hub LAN. I think the phone is extremely user friendly, i didn't need a degree in microelectronics to do stuff. Yeah, there are a couple of very minor points that could be improved to make things a bit easier - or, they may be there but i've not found them yet, but, I'm enjoying exploring and finding ut more. The handwriting recognition software is great and the display is the best i;ve ever had on a mobile. Hope this doesn't put the cat amongst the pigeons! John
I have tested nokia’s Bluetooth and I don’t think its
really that good I use a Sony Wireless DR-BT20NX and I when I use this
with any other phone close enough (phone is in my pocket and I am
wearing the wireless Bluetooth) there no problems at all for the transmission
of music but nokia 5800 stops most times in the middle of the track for
about 5 seconds then resumes changing the bpms of the song
(here the track goes faster than before)
And this is close enough but some phones I have used with this
gadget (Sony Wireless DR-BT20NX) at a long distances (5meters)
don’t find any problem
Could they give us a reason as to why does this happen.
First my nokia 5800 got locked on upgrading the firmware. A swap phone was supplied by company in 20 days . This phone is unable to upgrade to newer firmware version. The music content are locked. Also, the phone does not plugs into system and does not gets connected to PC Suite. Other than that the phone headphone adaptar is mulfunctioning in a months time. Phone and adaptar are now at Nokia care for replacemnet.i.e. 2 times in 2 mts. time.
First my nokia 5800 got locked on upgrading the firmware. A swap phone was supplied by company in 20 days . This phone is unable to upgrade to newer firmware version. The music content are locked. Also, the phone does not plugs into system and does not gets connected to PC Suite. Other than that the phone headphone adaptar is mulfunctioning in a months time. Phone and adaptar are now at Nokia care for replacemnet.i.e. 2 times in 2 mts. time.
Ugh. I hate this phone. Sluggish and I constantly have to press the screen twice in order to get something to respond!!! Go back to the drawing board, Nokia!!!
I love this phone! It's a free upgrade from my LG Shine and I never thought id get so attached to the 5800. im writing this review to help people get a better idea of the phone and that the screen cracks rather easily! everything about this phone is great, in reply to the alphanumeric pad etc, i think the multiple ways of writing a text msg is fantastic and a great change to using the alphanumeric pad. Why would u want both together again? its great how it is. Im not the biggest fan of all this 'xpress music' hype, the audio quality isnt all that great in my opinion and nothing that special from other phones. My only issue is that the other night the phone fell out my bad flat on the footpath and resulted in the screen cracking, not on the outside but underneath. It's in repairs now..:( Overall, fantastic phone, you'll get used to all this touch screen sorta stuff if ur not used to it, and end up loving the phone! GPS, handwriting feature, wireless internet, good resolution, use of stylus (ha ha), screen lock, ...thumbs up yo!
I think it's an ok phone. I find it not responsive when pressing with skin of the finger but respond very well when tap it lightly with my finger nail. I guess it's because it's a pressure sensitive phone rather than heat sensitive like the iphone. I like it that it has GPS system in it. : )
hi i bought the nokia 5800 and i think it is great. The qwerty keyboard is really good and big enough. I dont think its better that the iphone but it is nearly there. Since its nokia's first touch screen phone, i'm really impressed. I would recommend this to anyone as a alternative to iphone!
Nokia 5800 is an exceptionally easy to use mobile phone with popular user interface, the device is very basic to navigate and use. The Nokia 5800 has a screen dial-pad which is large enough to use with fingers.
The 5800 has a large touch-screen interface which ideal for web browsing and one-touch web-surfing. The Nokia 5800 is designed to handle fast download speed via WiFi or from 3G networks.
When it comes to music the Nokia 5800 device, provides it users with the greatest music experience - with more memory, loud and powerful speakers, easy synchronization to other compatible devices.
The Nokia 5800 now available in the UK on payasyougo mobile phones purchase plan or get it free on pay monthly contract from all major networks, such as orange, vodaphone, and T-Mobile
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The Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition offers an improved voice-guided navigation with text to speech functionality,3D landmarks and premium content and its all for free.Ovi Maps provides accurate locations where you want to go.This handset also offers Wi-Fi,Bluetooth,3G and a 3.2-megapixel camera.The backside also features a soft-touch finish to give the phone a bit more texture and prevents it from feeling too plasticky or slick.
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I have always like the design of the nokia 5800