Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

While Nokia has ventured ever-so rarely into touch screen phone territory (we're thinking of the Nokia 7710, the first and last S90 smartphone, dating back to 2005), the iPhone craze seems to have gotten them on their way. Better late than never, as the cliche goes; and the Nokia 5800 is worth the wait. This is Nokia's first S60 5th Edition phone-- 5th Edition is the touch screen version of S60, while 3rd Edition is the non-touch version used on all other current Nokia smartphones such as those in the N and E series. There is no 4th Edition since many high tech companies that market products in Asia avoid the number 4 because in Chinese the word for four sounds the same as the word for death. The flagship Nokia N97 will run 5th Edition as well (due out mid-2009), which makes the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic even more interesting since it gives us a sample of what's to come in that top-of-the-line model and it offers an affordable alternative to the pricey N97.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic NAM

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic was first available in Europe several months ago and is now available for the US in the NAM (North American) edition. We're reviewing the NAM model which has 3G HSDPA for AT&T's 850/1900MHz bands. The NAM version works on EDGE with T-Mobile US and overseas. The Euro version has Euro 3G (900/2100MHz) rather than US 3G and lacks a US warranty. The Nokia 5800 is a GSM quad band unlocked world phone, and it's sold direct from Nokia's US website and from online retailers like Amazon and Dell.

Priced at $399 list with no contract and available for less from a variety of online retailers, it offers a wealth of features for the money. These include WiFi, GPS with Nokia Maps, a 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera, Bluetooth and Nokia's usual bevy of built-in S60 smartphone applications. The 3.2" resistive touch screen runs at 16:9 widescreen resolution (640 x 360). It has haptic (vibration) feedback and an accelerometer. S60 5th Edition supports both capacitive and resistive touch screens, so why did Nokia go with resistive? To support character input (handwriting recognition), which capacitive can't do. While US buyers might not be in love with handwriting recognition, it's very popular in Asia for character input, and Nokia is a global company.

Touch and Display

The Nokia 5800 requires a slightly firmer press than the iPhone, but it's a light touch compared to other resistive touch screen phones. It's similar to the Samsung Eternity and requires a lighter touch than most Windows Mobile Pro phones and the LG Vu. This is in part due to the large targets (icons and menu items)-- Nokia has optimized S60 to work well with a finger and there's no need for a firm, pinpoint touch on tiny user interface items. It's a pleasure to use the touch screen with fingers, and there's no need for the included stylus that tucks into the back cover, unless you want to use handwriting recognition or sketch with a paint program (Nokia Hong Kong has a paint program available for free download). S60 looks largely the same as it does on other recent N and E series phones, so the learning curve is short for those accustomed to Nokia S60 smartphones.

You can scroll by dragging a screen of icons or a list in the same direction as you'd move the scroll bar (yes, there are scroll bars-- that's so 90's). That feels a little weird since it's the opposite drag direction from touch screen phones like the iPhone and Samsung Touch Wiz feature phones. Finger scrolling works very well in the web browser and image viewer, however. Oddly, in some cases you'll double-tap and in others single-tap to accomplish a task. For example, you single-tap an icon to launch a program, but double tap to select a list item. Perhaps Nokia did this to avoid accidental list item selection when scrolling?

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic NAM

There is no d-pad and the only hardware buttons are call send, call end and the S60 programs button on the front face. There's a camera button, screen lock/unlock slider and volume up/down buttons on the phone's right side and that's it for mechanical buttons. There's a touch sensitive button above the display that brings up shortcuts to the web browser, video player, image viewer, music player and Share Online (Ovi, Flickr, Vox and other services).

How to select a phone profile? You can press the power button briefly to bring up the profile selector or tap the carrier name/date at the top of the homescreen (there's an option to view the calendar too). How to set an alarm or bring up the world clock? Tap the clock on the homescreen. Want to access connectivity settings (Wifi, Bluetooth, cellular)? Tap the display's upper right corner where the Bluetooth and WiFi icons appear when those radios are on.

While some third party S60 3rd Edition apps do install and run, they're generally designed for a d-pad and soft keys so there's no way to effectively use them without some hacking. Thankfully, developers are releasing 5th Edition apps (Garmin, MobiSystems OfficeSuite 5, MobileDVD, QuickOffice, themes) quickly; though we still don't have the broad collection of apps that are available for 3rd Edition. Games particularly are lacking right now, though by the end of 2009, I'm sure we'll see a decent selection (keep in mind this isn't an N-Gage phone).

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic NAM

The Nokia 5800 and the iPhone 3G.





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The programs key brings up the applications window, just as it would on any other Nokia phone. Press and hold the programs key to bring up the S60 task manager that allows you to switch between running programs. There are two home screen layouts available: the first is similar to the standard active desktop on other S60 phones, with 4 shortcut icons to applications (there are fewer icons since they're larger to be finger-friendly). It shows upcoming appointments, has a link to search the phone or Internet and a music player controller that shows when the music player is playing tunes. Two icons near the bottom link to the phone dialer and contacts. The other home screen layout replaces the 4 application shortcuts with 4 speed dials, each with a photo of the contact. Pressing the call send button brings up call history, while the call end button minimizes the current running program.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic NAM

We love the high resolution, 24 bit color display. At 360 x 640 pixels, it's the highest resolution Nokia phone on the market and it's perfect, when in landscape mode, for viewing web pages and watching movies. The 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio is perfect for films, and Nokia includes a $50 Amazon video on demand gift certificate in the box along with an 8 gig microSD card.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic NAM

We also appreciate the proximity sensor that turns off the display and touch screen when the phone is against the face, but wonder why Nokia forgot to include letters on the on-screen dialer keys for vanity number dialing. There's an accelerometer than handles screen rotation and it's just right: not too twitchy nor too slow.