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Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Review in the Philippines

UPDATE 3: I have a review up of the new Nokia N97 — following the successful touch screen experience of the 5800.

UPDATE 2: More hands on with me playing with the phone. I talk about the touch screen in particular.

UPDATE: From Nikka Abes of Nokia Philippines:

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone is selling at a preorder price of P20,000.00. To place a preorder please sign up at the Nokia Philippines website. This goes to the first 58 sign ups.

The price of the 5800 XpressMusic is pegged at about P18,000 without tax so we can estimate this to be at the early P20,000 mark when it comes out officially (nota bene: this is only speculation, btu it gives you a rough estimate how much of your Christmas money to save).

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NOKIA 5800 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

A bit of history: the XpressMusic line is Nokia’s flagship brand for anything and everything music. If the Nseries concentrates on multimedia (video mostly), the E series on corporate use, the XpressMusic line is distinct because it has two things – a separate high quality audio hardware (loud and crisp speakers) and a 3.5mm speaker jack. This is consistent throughout all the Nokia phones branded as XpressMusic.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone is Nokia’s first Nseries touch screen device as well. Nokia has had two other semi popular touch screen phones in the past – the Nokia 6708 and the Nokia 7710, released back in 2006. Here is a walk through of the various features. My first impressions were very positive as the touch screen integrates well into the device. Unlike the iPhone which is an SMS composing nightmare, the 5800 slightly vibrates each time you press a button. There are three text input modes available – full QWERTY keyboard, mini QWERTY keyboard and the traditional numerical keypad.

Photos and full feature after the jump.

Full QWERTY

Mini QWERTY

Numerical Keypad / T9

The first two methods present a slight learning curve, and this to me is no surprise, especially for the mini QWERTY where a “widget keyboard” pops up in the message composition screen (stylus use advised!). The traditional text input (numerical keypad) is perhaps the most efficient way to enter text and the overall experience doesn’t stray from having a real hardware buttons. In other words, you can type on this third input method with 100% accuracy once you get hold of the device. As expected, it supports predictive text (T9) as well.

The Nokia 5800 comes with a built in accelerometer that tilts the device depending how you hold it. Landscape mode is the default mode for the 3.2MP auto focus camera. Here is a sample shot I took sans the flash (the yellow table decor below) using the 5800. All the controls are in the touch screen with a slight variation in the user interface. The virtual camera buttons are bigger so that they can be pressed easily.

The home screen is completely revamped. According to Nikka Abes from Nokia Philippines, you can now assign special four contacts to your home screen. These four contacts (i.e. “best friends”) will have pertinent information displayed, apart from making them easy to reach. Such information would include RSS feeds from their blogs so you are constantly updated on their lives. To the right of the 5800 XpressMusic branding is a small icon that is actually another shortcut button to open up more functions.

The 5800 only has three buttons on the front face – two for accepting or rejecting calls and a middle home button. There is a jog slider on the right side of the phone for locking and unlocking the device.

Bottomline
The 5800 XpressMusic is a stroke of genius from Nokia. If you’re the type of person who is allergic to a touch screen interface, I urge you to give this a try when it comes out in your local dealer’s display. You’d be amazed how intuitive the tactile feedback responds, especially in the regular virtual keypad mode. The new S60 v5 software is also fast, decreasing UI lag by leaps and bounds.

The 5800 is packed with strong features including wireless Internet (802.11g), GPS, Bluetooth, a decent 3.2MP Zeiss auto focus camera, TV out, 3.5mm jack, 140MB of internal memory and 8GB microSD expansion card included in packaging. It also comes with a stylus which slides into the back of the phone and is used, I assume for the mini keyboard.

By Jayvee Fernandez

Jayvee Fernandez is a tech enthusiast and sitting Techbology Editor for The Philippine STAR.

He is also an EAN certified SCUBA Diver and underwater photographer based in Metro Manila, Philippines. His photos and videos have appeared in various international and local publications including Random House Germany, Discovery Channel Canada, and CNN.

60 replies on “Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Review in the Philippines”

yeah, how were you able to get one? where? im definitely getting this phone/ i also have an e71, bagay sila ng 5800….

Any idea about it’s initial price in the PHilippines? What concerns me is that its cost almost double the projected value in Russia and Spain etc. I hope it won’t cost more than P20,000 in our country. What do you think Jayvee?

hi seth,

thanks for the correction – the 7710 was a really old device. maybe we should include their browsers as well. the 5800 though is the first “non experimental” touch screen device as i’d classify the 7710 under nokia’s line of experiments. i used to have a 7710 for a couple of days way back and wasn’t very impressed. 🙂

i just buy nokia 5320 xpress music last month and now the come to know about nokia 5800. tell me when it will available in india and what will be price . i want this phone as soon as possible.
great review

Should be in Philippine Nokia stores by mid-to-end January 2009. Save your money for that folks! As soon as pricing becomes available, I’m sure Jayvee will be informed. =)

well everybody who wants it should preorder 1st 100 will have th privilage to go to a party and 1st 58 will receive headphones. nice a??

to Jehzeel: ngsign up na pod ko. wEeE… mayta mkauna ta hehehe…
excited nko to have it…merry christmas!!!

i just received email from nokia that i can purchase Nokia 5800 XpressMusic device on January 10, 2009 at the Nokia Store, B3 Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City. One pre-ordered registration form equals one device. Be one of the first to own the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic for only Php 19,990!

would it be be possible if i will just purchase it to nokia store here? pls reply

i am one of the lined up customer for this. see you at B3. i have already a registered text and email from nokia. id’s and my credit cards are ready to go. see yah guys. – luis

wEeE…at last i have it nah…kakapagod mgpila kahapon…nasa ika 103 ako n nkapila…grabe! daming pumila…pero ok…meron silang snacks hahaha

103rd of the first batch? …i wonder,, lahat ba yesterday nabigyan? ..i was 253rd in line but i didnt stay to wait because i was pissed off… i asked the girls in pink if all of the people who are in ine will get a device and she said with a shy smile “yun ang hindi po namen masasagot kase hindi po namen inexpect na ganito kadame” so i was like “huh?” dont tell me il wait here for hours and i have no assurance il get a device,,knowing that i have pre-ordered the device and even got a phone call from nokia that my pre-ordered device is ready for pick up… sheeesh

and i also asked,, after this promo how much is the market price of 5800? ..and she said “20k rin po suggested retail price niya” nyek! ganun din pala!?

can anyone tell me if secondary camera of 5800 can be used for picture taking just like the other nokia phones. if it does, pls teach me how… tnx(//_^)

Can i possibly be a model of Nokia 5800 XpressMusic? That fon was very impressive.. and adimres to everyone.. Friendly user..

Can i possibly be a model of Nokia 5800 XpressMusic? That Phone was very impressive.. and adimres to everyone.. Friendly user..

im working here in saudi arabia as a nurse and 5800 here is everywhere costly 1200 riyals(approximately 15thou pesos) but made in China and im looking for finland or Hungary but according to Nokia salesman there is no available nokia product from finland now……is it true?does 5800 made from China is as good as made from finland?

hi!

i’m selling my brand new Nokia 5800 for 16thou to get new camera lenses. 🙂 you can get in touch with me at 09273458392.

salamat!

guys, im looking froa brandnew nokia 5800.im working at night then asleep on day. do you know how much is the nokia5800?

is it cheaper in spain? or anywhere in abroad rather in the Phil. ?? ANSWER PLEASE! :))

There are actually FOUR (4) text input modes – you forgot the “handwriting mode”. This model has a stylus that you can use as a pen. It’s located in the right side of the unit.

hey.. sa megamall… 13k na lang xa…

ung n97 30k..

ano ba yan?! bagsak presyo na ang mga smartphones ngayon… dami na kasing competitors eh…

The phone of my dreams, I mean people like me who are music lovers would admire it a lot Nokia 5800 has a good audio quality and cool music player which
is arguably the highlight of this device.
It is a trusty reliable phone. I have it for a while now and it is still in really good condition.

Is it selling until now? Where can I buy? And how much? Please answer me. I need it today. Or tomorrow.

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