Nokia 5530 XpressMusic
Budget touchscreen phone, anyone?
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Review Nokia’s touchscreen user interface has not had many outings. We’ve seen it before in the original Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and in the much more highbrow, Qwerty keyboard toting N97. Now we have a third appearance in the shape of another XpressMusic handset, the 5530, currently an exclusive offering from Carphone Warehouse from £130. To reach that price some compromises have had to be made. So, while Wi-Fi is here, as well as the ubiquitous Bluetooth, the handset does not support 3G and there is no GPS.
Nokia's 5530 XpressMusic: touchscreens shouldn't go any smaller than this
The 5530 XpressMusic isn’t all that different to look at to the 5800 XpressMusic. It takes a candybar shape, is mostly screen on the front, and has an array of three buttons beneath the screen: call, end and menu. Like the 5800, it is narrower than the standard touchscreen fare.
The 640 x 360 resolution screen delivers clear, sharp viewable information indoors, but outside it was a bit of a pig to see in bright sunshine. The resolution is the same as the 5800, but the screen size is reduced from 3.2in to 2.9in. That reduction might sound slight, but it makes a big difference in terms of usability, and we think it is about as small as a touch screen can go. Overall the phone measures 104 x 49 x 13mm and it weighs 107g.
The build feels fairly solid, and the plastic materials are nowhere disguised as faux metal. In fact, the stainless steel surround to the screen is heavily disguised as black plastic. A red band sits round the edge of the casing, which is otherwise black. There is a camera lens on the back of the casing with a small LED flash unit. Top and bottom on the front are two speakers for stereo output from the handset itself.
Nokia has managed to put a 3.5mm headset connector on the 5530 XpressMusic, which is essential for a music-focused phone. However, there are two problems in this regard. The slot is on the bottom edge of the handset rather than being in its optimum location on the top edge. This isn’t a deal-breaker, but more of an issue is that the provided headset is one piece. The headset delivers reasonable quality sound, and benefits from round in-ear buds, but really we’d have preferred a two-piece headset to use our preferred headphones.
All in one headset assembly limits options
There are big, finger friendly shortcuts to contacts and four user configurable apps on the home screen. On the front of the handset just above the screen is the XpressMusic button we first saw in the 5800. Tap this and a menu drops down up giving you access to music, images, video, the Web and online sharing.
COMMENTS
Nokia 5530: TOO GOOD SMARTPHONE, VERY CAPABLE AND AN IPHONE "KILLER".
Hi,
I purchased the 5530 a week back. Black/Red model. Used it vigorously and let me assure you that it is a "fantastic device", a charm to interact with AND definitely an IPhone KILLER! Here's my user opinion of it:
PROs:
-Slim & trim
-Good Looking [head turner]
-Great memory [16 Gb]
-Quality shooting (pics & vids) [3.2 Mp cam]
-Lovely music [+good online store]
-Easy user interface
-Easy messaging [nice virtual QWERTY pad]
-WiFi
-Value-for-money [low priced]
CONs:
-None, for this quality & price.
INTER-COMPARISON:
-Vis-a-vis Nokia 5800, this is a better phone. More sleek & faster. And cheaper too.
-It doesn't have 3G & GPS. But I didn't feel the need of both since the time I used phones.
-It has Wi-Fi; and that suffices for internet.
-Due to no GPS & 3G, the Nokia 5530 got to lose weight & size. And that's what drew me to it.
-5530 is definitely better than Samsung-Star (Tocco lite).
MY REVIEW:
Besides having all the bells & whistles (the specs. are available in every site, so technicalities avoided here & speaking of ground realities) it's a thriller phone, which is capable of doing everything that we need / look-for in today's mobile phones. It's thrills are in: a) Super-Slim body, b) deadly user interface, c) great shooting capability (both pics & vids), d) top-of-the-line music quality, e) No 3G (its's a boon, it made the phone slimmer & most of us do not need 3G, WiFi being enough) AND e) Amorous Price Tag.
Dear IPhonites, my Nokia 5530 beats you guys all the way thru (I do own an IPhone and am done with it). Why shell-out that dough? The 5530 is better (cheaper) having all it's functions and upscaled! (16Gb card, 3.2Mp camera, good stocked nokia music store that is cheaper than ITunes ...etc.
LAPTOP INTERFACE:
A nice factor of the 5530 is it's ease at managing thru the laptop. There is a cool USB Cable (in box) that connects it with the laptop and thru the OVI Suite (DvD in box) I have downloaded / uploaded all the files (pics, vids, music, contacts, messages and touched every part of the phone, arranged them, modified them without any qualms at all. And the Vids shot looked good too, contrary to what others say.
Overall, I am deeply satisfied with this lovely product. It's getting rave reviews too from my pals & colleagues. And my wife adores it. What more do we need?
So much so that I have put-up my Black IPhone 2G 8 Gb for sale / Gift, rather than getting the new 3G model. Mainly because I never needed 2G / 3G capability during my 1 yr. of usage (Wi-Fi being enough) and I do not wish to shell-out further (and huge) amount just to get more memory. Note, IPhone doesn't have secondary storage capability (Micro SD cards, like the 5530). And then IPhone's cam (2 Mp) is also well beaten by 5530 (3.2 Mp).
PHOTOS:
I say, "the 5530 cam is good enough". The pics are absolutely stunning. Though low light is a bit wanting, so does all camphones. And IPhone was poorer. The pics shot with my 5530 were flawless even when blown-out in my 42" LCD TV. Thus, I do not see the requirement of 5 MP & more cams in the other models. Vids were good too, for a phone shot. Better than lots of other smart / camphones. And then, for a dedicated movie shoot I do not see the usage of a phone. We would rather use our camcorders, no? I do so with my JVC HD-7 (another great FHD camcorder, whatever the websites say, it beats all. -No, I am not dwelling on it here further).
END NOTE:
I find the 5530 a wholesome package, fully loaded smartphone, too good for its price tag. And well above the requirement of any other present models, including the other Nokias. It is beyond value-for-money. Actually, the Nokia pricing is a surprise, they could have easily priced it higher.
COMPARISONS:
I have, as you see above, compared the 5530 basically with the IPhone. As that seemed to be the most "wanted phone" by everyone. I have also compared the 5530 on ground with Nokia 5800 (which is good, but bulkier and not as smart looking as the 5530). This phone [Nokia 5530] is "Classy". And again compared it with similar models of LG, Samsung, HTC and Palm, while doing my market research for an IPhone replacement. I found all the others were "very similar" to the Nokia 5530, Albeit at a "heftier price", which to my opinion, is a pure farce. If Nokia could do it, sure can others. That prompted me to assert that the other brands are "not selling right". Which is why, I definitely advocate the Nokia 5530. It is the Best in the market.
FINAL SAY:
Thus, my friends, I say, "Go for it... now", before the 5530 is sold out of the market; or Nokia re-thinks on it, takes-it of the shelf and brings-out a modified 5530 with another name (model no.) & higher price tag.
I HOPE THE ENTHUSIASTS GET MY POINT.
***HAPPY 5530ing, Friends***
@Chris
"The phone is slow to switch between landscape and portrait and sometimes needs a joggle to make it change.
You loose the wifi signal if you hold it in your left hand in landscape."
I definitely don't have either of these problems. I think your handset might be defective.
"A simple example is that there is no simple way that I can see of setting a reminder a week in advance in Calender"
As for the calendar, there is a view where you can all the days of the entire month. Just click on the date and create a meeting with alarm or a to-do note with alarm.
Update to gripe above
As an update to one of my gripes above. The latest version of ovi suite enabled me to get maps on to my phone. Fantastic.
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