Some pretty good touches (Nokia 5800 XpressMusic)

Member Name: davomrmac

Product:	Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
Date:	27/04/09 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good screen, nice features, great for music

Disadvantages: Touch screen misses touches sometimes

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone is one of Nokia's first attempts at a touch screen handset for the masses. Before its release, many were hoping it would rival the iPhone. Well, what you must understand, before making a purchase of the 5800, is that Nokia are not targetting the iPhone with this particular handset, though they may make their challenge later this year with a different model.

The 5800 is a superb touch phone though. It is aimed at those who really like the Nokia user interface and who want their mobile phone primarily for music. This is where the 5800 excels. It is superb for music and movies too. However, in movie playback things can get a little jerky. In addition to the main screen being fully touch sensitive, there is also a touch media button located just above the top right corner of the screen. This gains you quick access to your media files. Music playback is awesome, nice and detailed, easy to control and you can add memory card storage to expand the handset capacity. You get 81MB of memory in the phone itself, which is a bit measly considering it is aimed at music lovers. However, Nokia do include a generous 8GB microSD card in the box and the phone supports up to 16GB cards, so plenty of storage capacity.

I like the camera. OK, so it is only 3.2 megapixels, but the photos I get out of it are nice and clear and have good colours. It also has a dual LED flash, which is quite good. Indoor shots in dim light are pretty well lit, especially if you are quite close up. The flash is nice and bright, but the range lets it down a little.

Battery life is a bit mixed to judge. If I listen to an hour of music a day and make a dozen phone calls, then I get about 4-5 days between charges. Any more use than that, like viewing some movie clips, internet related stuff or using the GPS and it goes down quite fast.

The touch screen is very responsive, with just a few misses. Sometimes an extra touch is needed to get it to respond, but this doesn't happen too much. The screen is nice and clear and call quality good. The mix of features is pretty good, so I am enjoying owning this handset. It is very good and will come down in price quite quickly, so shop around for the best price.

Summary: Overall a very good user experience

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