Nokia has just announced the 5800 XpressMusic and we were there! It's time for the first meeting and our first findings.
We had to wait quite some time for the first touchscreen model of Nokia, the 5800 XpressMusic, but now it is really happening! The device weighs something more than 100 gram and that is not a lot for a device of its size. But than again, it isn't that big either, it's even smaller when compared with the iPhone, although it's thicker than its competitor.
Nevertheless, you don't really notice these couple of millimetres thanks to a special band Nokia has placed on the 5800 XpressMusic that change colours with the lightning. This gives the 5800 a descent premium look.
The back of the device shows a 3.2 megapixel camera including autofocus with Carl Zeiss lens. A dual LED flash isn't missing, unlike an anti-red eye flash. You can record videos with a VGA resolution (640 x 480 pixels) with 30 frames per second. 4x digital zoom is also one of the features. A QCIF secundary camera enables video calling. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic stays standby for 400 hours when charged and offers 35 hours of music playback. You can watch videos for 3 hours, just long enough for a movie.
Just above the display a button has been placed with which you can open Media Bar. This 'bar' has some shortcuts to start multi-media applications.
The bottom of the phone has only 3 buttons: record, the red button and the famous Symbian-button. You can get access to the menu through this last button.
The top of the device has all the connections you need; miniUSB, a 3.5mm headset auto-jack and an entry for the recharger. The microSDHC memory card and the SIM card are placed on the sides of the device. The SIM card can't be removed or replaced without removing the battery. This is quite strange, because why is the SIM placed there in the first place?
Lets take a closer look at the menu and the new user interface. Nokia uses Symbian S60 9.4 that has made it appropriate for the use of touch. It has also optimized the OS for auto-rotate, that can be used almost everywhere. Only the home-screen doesn't support it, other displays do.
Nokia has changed the home-screen quite a lot. There are 4 contact persons that can be chosen by the user. Once chosen the user gets to see the history of calls and received text messages. Furthermore, some RSS feeds can be linked to a contact person, for example from Facebook. On the bottom of the display you will find a shortcut for the keyboard, indispensable to call a number, and a link to the phone book.
The user can also klick on the connectivity icon on the right of the screen. This makes the screen to pop-up, so for example Bluetooth can be opened or a WiFi network can be chosen.
You can also click on the profile to change it. In a meeting can be chosen for the profile "Silent" easily.
We have played with the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic for quite some time and found out that it is the most logical to use the stylus. We think this is a shame, because we think it is quite a hassle to use the stylus. If you really don't want to use the stylus we recommend to use your nail. This is the best solution. The touchscreen is working by touch and not with infrared like with the iPhone. So, you can also use a plectrum. Nokia is actually advertising with this to focus on the musical aspect of the 5800 XpressMusic.
We will end these hands-on with some pictures of the menu. Stay with us to keep up-dated about all the news about this new Nokia device.
