Nokia 5530 XpressMusic

Well, we say ‘tap’. Actually it needs a bit of a push to get it to work. But it does mean you have quick access to some key multimedia features wherever you are in the phone. There is also a useful slider on the right edge of the casing for disabling the touchscreen so you can’t make inadvertent screen presses when the handset is in your pocket.

The tab on the right covers the Sim and Micro SD slots

The Sim and Micro SD card both fit into slots on the left edge of the casing. These slots are protected by a single, long, thin, hinged cover. The Sim slides in easily and is likely to stay in situ for a long time. The Micro SD card is more of a bother. You get a 4GB card to augment the phone’s 70MB of built in storage. It is easy enough to get a card into the slot, but a bugger to get the card out.

You need either a long fingernail - which we don’t have - or a pointy object such as a stylus – which the 5530 can provide. The stylus is tucked away in a housing on the back left bottom edge of the casing.

Touch screens should really function without the need for a stylus, and the good news for the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic is that we only found one instance when it was handy – one aspect of the text entry system. But if pinky presses get a bit too random, it’s worth giving the stylus a go.

You have several options here. When the phone is in portrait mode there is a mobile phone style keypad. Switch to landscape mode by turning the handset in your palm and invoking the accelerometer and you can have a Qwerty option. Both can be used with fingers.

Just one of the stereo speaker grilles with call and menu buttons above
Note the dedicated camera button to the right.

There is handwriting recognition in both orientations and for this you probably will need the stylus though you can use a fingernail if you have one. The handwriting recognition system copes fairly well if you write carefully. Dextrous touch-keyboard users will achieve faster text entry. As for the touch interface, S60 Fifth Edition looks and feels very much like the old S60 3rd Edition interface with touch bolted on top. Unlike the iPhone interface, it isn’t designed from the bottom up with touch at the core.