Nokia 5800 XpressMusic: The Phone Hold Music
By: Jay Busari
I just got a hold of this Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. This is an amazing new device which shows why Nokia dominates the mobile phone market with a big choice of innovative designs and experiences suitable for each individual user.
The price is unbeatable. You'll keep hearing this line about the price, and when you get a hold of it, you'll agree.
This is the phone with the most complete set of features I have ever wanted.
The device is light, feels ready for some hard knocks, it is a little bulky (compared to my trusted E51:).
Update to the latest firmware 11.0.008, and you'll feel much better about the usability of this device
It's not quite "touch" sensitive, but "press" sensitive. This proves to be an advantage, since I'm more in control when I use the device on a bus, train, boat or tuk-tuk (a 3 wheel vehicle, with 2 stroke engine, sort of a "Thai Model-T" seen all over Bangkok).
The switch between portrait and landscape mode, is actually much simpler and quite natural once I got the hold of it.
I set up access to my GMAIL account within 2 mins.
Messaging App, Options->Settings->Email, say "Yes" to Define Mailbox, Enter Email Address, Password, choose POP3 or IMAP4, and I'm connected to my GMail Account!
You can choose the best way you see fit to enter text
1. Handwriting recognition
Took 5 minutes to get used to it. I don't quite like writing in block letters, but the 5800 handled fast writing quite ok. I'm overly critical of all current handwriting recognition products, since they don't even come close to the Newton, way back when I could expect my own handwriting to be recognized.
2. Small QWERTY keyboard
Most typically used in portrait mode but much more readable than WinMobile keyboards
3. Full QWERTY keyboard
It felt more stable than the iPhone QWERTY keyboard. I prefer to "press" the keyboard as is needed with the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. I don't like the iPhone QWERTY key since it's too sensitive to touch and I can't type when I'm on the move. I've never been able to get used to the Blackberry or Nokia E71 style full QWERTY keyboard.
The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic full QWERTY keyboard switches to landscape mode and feels almost right that I have to use 2 thumbs to reach all the keys...almost like 2 hand typing.
4. Alphanumeric Keypad for traditional one-thumb typing with T9.
There's a really cool driving game that shows the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic sensitivity to turns. You literally hold the phone with both hands and "steer" the car!
The media player (from RealPlayer) is much improved, allowing me to play more types of VDO format files. Quite useful to get the nice video podcasts downloaded and find that they are actually viewable on the device.
The Music Player is the same. Sound quality is really good through the speakers.
The Media Gallery is a little static, with all files arranged as a grid. The N95 Media Gallery would be a nice touch.
You will soon see many useful applications on Nokia's range of "touch" handsets.
This device requires developers to publish a Symbian sdk5 version of their application.
We tested a few apps released for Symbian sdk3 devices (N-Series and E-Series mainly), and they almost always worked without any changes.
Tags: Phone Hold Music, Phone Music, The Nokia Hold Music
The price is unbeatable. You'll keep hearing this line about the price, and when you get a hold of it, you'll agree.
This is the phone with the most complete set of features I have ever wanted.
The device is light, feels ready for some hard knocks, it is a little bulky (compared to my trusted E51:).
Update to the latest firmware 11.0.008, and you'll feel much better about the usability of this device
It's not quite "touch" sensitive, but "press" sensitive. This proves to be an advantage, since I'm more in control when I use the device on a bus, train, boat or tuk-tuk (a 3 wheel vehicle, with 2 stroke engine, sort of a "Thai Model-T" seen all over Bangkok).
The switch between portrait and landscape mode, is actually much simpler and quite natural once I got the hold of it.
I set up access to my GMAIL account within 2 mins.
Messaging App, Options->Settings->Email, say "Yes" to Define Mailbox, Enter Email Address, Password, choose POP3 or IMAP4, and I'm connected to my GMail Account!
You can choose the best way you see fit to enter text
1. Handwriting recognition
Took 5 minutes to get used to it. I don't quite like writing in block letters, but the 5800 handled fast writing quite ok. I'm overly critical of all current handwriting recognition products, since they don't even come close to the Newton, way back when I could expect my own handwriting to be recognized.
2. Small QWERTY keyboard
Most typically used in portrait mode but much more readable than WinMobile keyboards
3. Full QWERTY keyboard
It felt more stable than the iPhone QWERTY keyboard. I prefer to "press" the keyboard as is needed with the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. I don't like the iPhone QWERTY key since it's too sensitive to touch and I can't type when I'm on the move. I've never been able to get used to the Blackberry or Nokia E71 style full QWERTY keyboard.
The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic full QWERTY keyboard switches to landscape mode and feels almost right that I have to use 2 thumbs to reach all the keys...almost like 2 hand typing.
4. Alphanumeric Keypad for traditional one-thumb typing with T9.
There's a really cool driving game that shows the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic sensitivity to turns. You literally hold the phone with both hands and "steer" the car!
The media player (from RealPlayer) is much improved, allowing me to play more types of VDO format files. Quite useful to get the nice video podcasts downloaded and find that they are actually viewable on the device.
The Music Player is the same. Sound quality is really good through the speakers.
The Media Gallery is a little static, with all files arranged as a grid. The N95 Media Gallery would be a nice touch.
You will soon see many useful applications on Nokia's range of "touch" handsets.
This device requires developers to publish a Symbian sdk5 version of their application.
We tested a few apps released for Symbian sdk3 devices (N-Series and E-Series mainly), and they almost always worked without any changes.
Tags: Phone Hold Music, Phone Music, The Nokia Hold Music
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