It's like the internet in your pocket. (Nokia 5800 XpressMusic)

Member Name: kevsurv

Product:	Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
Date:	04/06/09 (63 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Many applications, good screen, price, quality feel, Connectivity

Disadvantages: Can crash occasionally,

I've had my Nokia 5800 Xpress Music on T-Mobile now since it came out in February and on the whole I quite like it. I'm not going to compare it to the iPhone or iPod touch like some others as I don't think it's squarely aimed at being a direct competitor to them.

I previously had a Nokia N95, so my expectations were high. However, as the 5800 costs significantly less than an N series phone, I was actually expecting it to be a severe step down. It wasn't I'm glad to say, with only one or two exceptions.

First of all, if you are familiar with the Symbian operating system used on many of Nokia's high end phones in the last few years then this phone will be easy to use. And even if you aren't, like my Sister in law, then it will still be straight forward. As it's a "platform" based phone, many applications are already available for it all over the Internet, and as it's extremely popular, more and more are being written all the time.

Most features are aimed towards using the good media features of the phone, the music player, the video playback and sharing your photos. An 8GB storage card is included with the phone, so straight away you have plenty of space. Video can be watched in many formats, for example, Transferred from your PC using the excellent Nokia PC suite, you have access to You Tube using the built in application, and what I find using the most, the BBC iPlayer. The iPlayer is the killer application for me. It enables you to download content from the BBC and play it back later, in widescreen format and excellent quality, maybe on the train, or wherever you are.

The GPS is excellent, and although it lacks door to door satnav, the built in Nokia Maps will pin point you anywhere. Google maps is also available as a download and will plot you on their maps, and even give you Streetview and Latitude features.

Nokia Sports Tracker is another application that, for me, is excellent, using the GPS and built in accelerometer to measure your work out and give you stats, whether you're walking, running, cycling or whatever.

It has a standard 3.5mm headphone socket, so you can use your favourite headphones with it, the same socket has a TV out function to display your photos on your big screen TV via the supplied Nokia cable.

The Camera is the greatest let down of this phone. I think I was spoiled by the excellent 5MP camera on my N95, and now the 3.2MP camera on this phone seems quite poor in comparison, although it's still better than a lot of phones, as it has autofocus and a reasonably good flash.

There are too many features and applications on this phone to go into depth on them all and more are being added all the time. Don't worry, like I did, about using a touchscreen instead of buttons. You get used to it in no time, and buttons will soon seem like a hassle. If you can text on any phone, then you can text on this, the touchscreen is not a hindrance. I use normal predictive text on it all the time with no problems.

Summary: Excellent value for money, and very useful on the move.

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