Welcome to the end of 2008, and Nokia has finally entered the touchscreen arena with a handset that the UK press has immediately dubbed the ‘Tube.’ The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is a critical moment for the Finnish giant; it is their first mass-market touch device and the first to run the touch-optimised Symbian S60 5th Edition. It’s a chunky, plastic handset that prioritises entertainment over elegance, and for the thousands of UK users who have been waiting for a ‘Nokia iPhone,’ this is the answer. It’s not as slim as the competition, but it feels incredibly solid and comes with a ‘plectrum’ stylus attached to a lanyard, which is a charmingly eccentric bit of technical design.
On the technical side, the 5800 is a specs-heavy beast. It features a 3.2-inch nHD (360 x 640) display, which is a higher resolution than the iPhone 3G and features a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, perfect for watching movies. The screen is resistive, but it features excellent haptic feedback that makes it feel much more responsive than the LG Cookie. The headline act, however, is the audio. The 5800 features front-facing stereo speakers that are arguably the loudest and clearest ever put on a mobile phone, and it includes a 3.5mm headphone jack and an 8GB microSD card in the box. It is the ultimate mobile jukebox, and with the ‘Comes With Music’ unlimited download service, it’s a technical game-changer for the UK music scene.
Connectivity is top-tier: 3.5G (HSDPA), Wi-Fi, GPS, and a 3.2-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and a dual-LED flash. It even features a secondary camera for video calls and a proximity sensor to prevent accidental ear-dials. Under the hood, the Symbian OS allows for full multitasking, meaning you can have Spotify running while you navigate with Nokia Maps. The battery life is a strong suit, with the 1320 mAh pack comfortably lasting two days of heavy music playback. The 5800 might not have the ‘cool’ of the iPhone, but technically, it offers more features for half the price. It is the definitive ‘Swiss Army Knife’ for the 2008 teenager, a rugged, loud, and incredibly capable entertainment machine.