Very good but no cigar (Nokia 5800 XpressMusic)

Member Name: Nix482

Product:	Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
Date:	10/03/09 (133 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quick access to media, easy of texting, large memory

Disadvantages: poor night pictures, random touchscreen freeze

Ok so I am a long term Nokia user and tend to stick with Nokia wherever possible as I like their operating system and getting my head around another type of phone would be too traumatic. So I had been waiting to upgrade my phone but wanted a Nokia as this was the first touchscreen that was out and available to me to upgrade.

Now, I'm a bit of a technophobe and I don't really know much about technology but as I was getting this phone for free, I thought it would be a good deal.


First Impression

The phone looks sleek and stylish and its not as bulky as I first feared. It was quite easy to switch the entire contents from my previous phone (Nokia N95) using the "switch" function on the main menu. This phone makes the N95 look like a brick! The box comes with the usual wire connections for the computer and TV as well as a mini sized CD and a spare touchscreen pen.

Functionality
It took me about 5 minutes to figure out how to put the sim card in (it slides in at the side) and another 5 mins to get used to the touchscreen. Most of the functionality is in keeping with previous nokia phones but the touchscreen makes it a lot easier and quicker to use. Apart from the touchscreen, there are actually three keys that I think are really really useful. Green and red buttons to answer and end a call and the middle white menu button.

The most useful key is the slide funtion on the right hand side which locks the touchscreen pad. It also took me an hour to realise that there is a touchscreen pen hooked unto the back cover.

I was a bit worried that it will be extremely complicated to type out a text and that this would be time consuming but it isn't. This is a very clever phone that allows you to type using a qwerty keypad (large or small but i find that you need a pen for this and this isn't always practical) a normal keypad with the numbers or you can teach the phone to learn your handwriting. As fancy as that sounds it doens't read my handwriting properly no matter how many times I have programmed it so I never use that function. I tend to stick to a normal number keypad as it is the easiest thing in the world to use.

The camera is not as good as the N95. I mean, the pictures are of a good quality but they aren't fantastic. So if you are big into taking photographs then this isn't for you. The photo quality at night time or in a dark room is pretty bad no matter how you manipulate the settings. I'm lucky that I have a separate camera so this isn't a problem for me.

One of my favourite things about this phone is that you can actually change the snooze time. With the Nokia N95 the snooze time was 5 mins and that used to kill me but now I can set it to 10, or 15 mins and so on. Its brilliant!

The Calendar is pretty much the same as previous models and I cant see anything remarkable about it.

The phone will also change to a lanscape view if you tilt the phone sideways which can be irritating at times when that isn't your aim.

As the name of the phone suggests, it is very easy to quickly access your music library and the playback is very good. It comes with an 8GB memory that allows you to store loads of songs.

Above all, I will give this phone an 8 out of 10. The battery life is fantastic and I can go two days without charging it. The camera is not great and the touchscreen has frozen on me a couple of times otherwise this phone would have gotten a higher score. I also wish you could change the facia but i'm not sure you are able to just yet.

Summary: Great first attempt from Nokia at a touchscreen

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Sound quality:
Variety of features: