Nokia 5800 Review – Unlocked and expensive

Nokia hesitated a lot to jump the touch screen bandwagon, I don’t know why and the Nokia 5800 is one of the first phones by the manufacturer to have a touch screen interface, so lets see the complete Nokia 5800 Review. As compared to this, Samsung made lots of touch screen phones when the technology came out. 5800 is supposed to Nokia’s rival to the Apple iPhone. The looks too are quite similar and the phone comes in slim and sharp package along with a big touch screen.

Nokia 5800 does have a few shortcomings when you compare it with other phones in the competition during our Nokia 5800 Review. The input methods and the user interface is far from ideal and the touch screen too needs to be worked upon. Nokia Music Store hasn’t launched here in the US yet so you cannot exploit the full functionality of this device. This gives an edge to the iPhone which has iTunes integration. I am not saying that Nokia 5800 is a bad phone but at the price of $399 (it is unlocked) I find it hard to recommend it.

Nokia 5800′s design is same as Samsung Omnia or iPhone. The candy bar shape gives you rounded corners along with burgundy and black color scheme. The phone is 0.61 inch deep, 4.37 inches tall and 2.04 inches wide. This device is also a bit thicker than standard phones. The handset weighs 3.84 ounces and it feels quite comfortable in the hand.

The display is 3.2 inches big and has a resolution of 640×360 pixels along with 16 million color support. I was impressed by the big screen, the color are bright, photos and graphics looks sharp. You can play around with the backlight time, font size and brightness. The phone has proximity sensor which means the screen will get locked when you bring it close to your ear during a call in order to prevent accidental touches. The ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the screen brightness according to the light in the ambience.

Nokia 5800′s menu design is pretty standard, the icons are put up in a grid format. The submenus are quite intuitive but I still feel Nokia could have done better here. The phone has built in accelerometer which automatically changes the screen orientation from portrait to landscape when you tilt the phone. The accelerometer is not available in all the applications but it is there when you need it the most.

Nokia 5800′s display is responsive enough, you can either use the included stylus or your finger. Things are a bit confusing here though, some items open up with a single tap where as some need two. Quite often, I tapped the icon once and then waited for something to pop up only to realize latter that it needed two taps. On the bright side, the items open pretty fast when you click on them and you don’t need to press the display as hard as other resistive touch screen phones. You will need to use the phone for a while because the menu scrolling needs a learning curve. Scrolling is definitely not as smooth as the iPhone. The display offers haptic feedback but you cannot adjust the intensity.

Nokia 5800′s home screen has phone book and phone dialer icons. There is also a customizable short cut bar for putting the apps that you use the most. Buttons on the phone dialer are large enough but there are no numeric labels on the key. For this, you will have to swtich to the landscape mode of keyboard. Once you have dialed the number, the onscreen shortcuts pop up on the display for muting the call, speakerphone activation and putting the call on hold.

There are lots of ways to punch messages on the Nokia 5800. during our Nokia 5800 Review we found that below the display, there is a full QWERTY keyboard which exploits the big screen advantage. I don’t think any users would complain here because the keyboard is quite roomy. There is another keyboard for the symbols and numbers. For switching between these two keyboards, you just have to press an onscreen button. The keyboard offers dedicated shift key, big space bar and return and back controls. The old school alphanumeric keypad is still there. Finally, there is also handwriting recognition for writing your own messages.

There are three hard buttons below the screen – Menu button, and Talk/End keys. These buttons are quite thin but yet they feel tactile. On the right side, there is a volume rocker, camera shutter, and lock button. On the left, there is memory card slot and SIM card slot.

Pros

Sharp touch screen, compact design, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3.2 megapixel camera, support for 3G.

Cons

UI needs to be worked upon, Nokia Music Store cannot be accessed here in the US

Outcome

The phone looks attractive and the feature set too is impressive but the high price is a turn off and there are some issues with the touch screen.

Specifications

• Two inch wide, 0.6 inch deep, 4.3 inches height and 3.8 oz weight
• Technology – WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM
• Band – WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900
• Phone Design – Candy bar
• Internal Antenna
• Basic features – Vibrating Alert, Polyphonic Ringer, Call Timer, Conference Call Capability, Voice Recorder, Caller ID, Speakerphone
• Wireless Interface – IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11b
• Speech Codec – AMR, FR, EFR
• Additional Features – Built-in stereo speakers
• Synchronization With PC supported
• Operating System – Symbian OS
• User Memory – 81 MB
• Messaging & Data Services – Short Messaging Service (SMS), Mobile Email
• Supported Email Protocols – SMTP, POP3, IMAP4
• GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates For Global Evolution), High Speed Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD), Internet Browser, JAVA applications, HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access)
• Supported video formats – MPEG-4, 3gp
• Downloadable Content – Themes, Games, Video files, Ring tones, Audio files, Wallpapers, Screensavers
• 3.2 megapixels camera, maximum still image resolution – 2048 x 1536 pixels
• Still Image Format – JPEG
• Digital Zoom – 3x
• Video Recorder Resolutions – 640 x 360 pixels (nHD)
• Digital Video Formats – MPEG-4 and 3gp
• Organizer features – Alarm Clock, Calendar, Reminder, Basic Calculator
• 3.2 inch TFT LCD display with 640 x 360 pixels resolution
• Color depth – 24-bit (16.7 million colors)
• Features – Screensaver, Wallpaper, LCD touch screen
• Supported Digital Audio Standards – AMR, AAC, MP3, WMA
• Connector Type – Headset jack – Mini-phone 3.5 mm , Micro-USB, Audio / video out
• Included Accessories – Stylus plectrum in wrist strap, Extra pen stylus, Video-out cable, Headset, Carrying case, 8 GB microSD card, Portable stand
• 1320 mAh lithium ion battery with rated talk time of 540 minutes and standby time of 408 hours

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