Real world (p)review: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic: S60's first touch-driven phone

*Corection: WVGA

Great, great review Rafe. Really useful. I only disagree with you on one point: 5800 is not mid-range by any means. Things like that huge high-res display, GPS, motion sensor and wi-fi still belong to the higher end of the spectrum (with some exceptions of course). In fact it matches the N78 spec for spec AND adds motion sensor to that. It is a kitchen-sink model, just not priced like one.

It is scary how my thoughts are being echoed in these comments. I am a proud owner of N82 and I happen to think it is one of the most amazing pieces of techology the world has seen, being small and light compared to N95.

I also think Iphone is slow and (whisper it) somewhat bland. 15 minutes and you are through everything Iphone has to offer.

So it will take something huge to steer me away from my N82 - and even then I dont think I will be able to sell it. 5800 seems to be precisely that. It loses out to N82 only in terms of camera and processor.

Hi, I know this is a music-oriented phone but since it is built on S60, can you give some insight into its email, calendar, file manager, word, spreadsheet apps functionality. Much appreciated.

How long does the camera start? How many seconds between shots?

Very pleased the screen is top quality. Was worried when specs leaked inc a resistive touch that it would be crap but thankfully that is not so.

I'm in a dilemma.I want the nseries touch but I'm impatient..and this is such a nice phone. If nseries touch only offer 8mp camera, and design changes that the extra dollar won't be worth it. Including a Xenon flash would be sound and make parting with my n82 a little less daunting.

Anyone have any ideas about when the nseries touch will be announced?

Dan

The screen is still going to cause some complaints (as I note there are argument for both technologies), but I was impressed having tried similar tech before. I would give serious consideration to waiting for the future touch products if you think they are in your price bracket. They're not all that far away.

malerocks wrote:One thing I wish it had - Nokia has introduced USB charging with the N85. It should now be a standard and there should not be separate ports for charging and data transfer.

I think we will see it become more standard in the future. As to why - not sure - agree it would have been better sooner.

Jago wrote:Rafe

Great Review - Even though I'm not interested in this phone specifically you can get a feel for the Touch GUI!

How do you think it could be implemented on a Touch Communicator?

Similar small external screen with a numeric keypad out with internal touchscreen and physical keyboard
0r
Large external touchscreen, no physical keypad and non touch internal screen with physical keyboard
or
Large external touchscreen no keypad and internal touch screen (with physical keyboard as well):biggrin:

I guess some of the Sensor APIs would need to be changed so the movement of opening the internal screen didn't trigger them (like turning off alarms etc?)

Only trouble is well have to wait until probably Q4 2009 (at the earliest!) to find out!:frown:

Cheers
Jago

Yes lots of possibilities. Personally I think a standard phone on the outside and touch inside would make sense... but in some ways the communicator doesn't necessarily need touch. I do think we'll see some touch with QWERTY though.

Unregistered wrote:Hi rafe, how's the browser -- any better or worse than a regular N-Series?

Better as you'll find out in the next part - a lot of thats to do with the bigger screen though.

Jago wrote:Rafe -

Back to the point - how integrated is the touch in the GUI?

One of the things that bugged me when I mad a small diversion to the WM MDA Vario III/TyTN before my current E90 was that a mixture of keyboard/menu keys and stylus/screen was needed to navigate around.

I know WM is not the most constent in this aspect and wondered how Touch compared? :con?

Can you navigate around and enter everthing with just the screen/stylus/finger and similarily with just the menu keys and keyboard/D-pad (if it had one!)

Thanks
Jago

It is very well integrated - that's the thing that impressed me most - most people don't realise how hard this is to do. You can use it just using touch if you want to (though the home key make things easier). WRT to keyboard devices - well would have to wait for devices, but yes you can (like current S60 phones), there are some thing you can't do (no touch clock shortcuts).

Arcade wrote:Can you put up some screenshots of the web browser ? Is it any different from the N series browser ?
Most importantly, will it be possible to copy text from an open web page and paste it elsewhere; say in notes or somethin ? Wonder if images can be saved by touching them as well.

Coming next part, but yes some differences. No copy and paste, but remember this is a preview (though I don't see that being added).

Andy Pandy wrote:Thanks for the review Rafe, what's the GPS like?....and what (if any) navigation software is installed?

Cheers

Yes Nokia Maps. GPS seems good, but always tricky to judge with pre-release devices.

RadicalSatDude wrote:Since the review is so extensive (Thanks for that AAS), the big question for me is does it offer overal better value than the mighty Nokia E71.
I have serious concerns about the 5800's screen getting scratched pretty quickly and start to look banged up after a while, with all that touching.

Very different products in my opinion. The 5800 comes with a nice case that does a great job of protecting it. In absolute terms though I think it is a better value product than the E71. And yes finer prints everywhere... like all touch devices.

Enfors wrote:The most interesting question I can think of, is how does it handle old (S60 3rd) software? I'm guessing some of them that are entirely based on native UI elements should be fine - but what about other software, such as full-screen (non-Ngage) games?

More on this in the next part - its a mixed bag really.

OhWell wrote:If you're considering a TS phone on contract...

HTC Touch HD with 3.8" WXGA resolution available FREE on contract for �30 / �35 per month.

HTC Touch HD is a good option, though I thinks its more PDA focused than phone. In countries with no subsidies it also very expensive. It costs twice as much as the 5800. So you'll probably see the 5800 in �25 contracts fairly soonish.

talhamid wrote:Great, great review Rafe. Really useful. I only disagree with you on one point: 5800 is not mid-range by any means. Things like that huge high-res display, GPS, motion sensor and wi-fi still belong to the higher end of the spectrum (with some exceptions of course). In fact it matches the N78 spec for spec AND adds motion sensor to that. It is a kitchen-sink model, just not priced like one.

It is scary how my thoughts are being echoed in these comments. I am a proud owner of N82 and I happen to think it is one of the most amazing pieces of techology the world has seen, being small and light compared to N95.

I also think Iphone is slow and (whisper it) somewhat bland. 15 minutes and you are through everything Iphone has to offer.

So it will take something huge to steer me away from my N82 - and even then I dont think I will be able to sell it. 5800 seems to be precisely that. It loses out to N82 only in terms of camera and processor.

Mid range specs are always changing, when I see mid range I mean the price. And to be fair it is at the upper end of mid range. I'm still amazed what's in it for the price level. But yes in some ways this should have been the N70 Touch or whatever. But compared this �260 to the �520 you'll pay for the N96 and you'll see what I mean about mid-tier in terms of pricing. There's a significant difference in the materials.

N82 is under rated in my opinion, one of the bext S60 3.1 phones out there (might even include 3.2 in that too). 5800 serves a different market, but I think there may be some touch devices to come that will really, really tempt you 😊

Unregistered wrote:Hi, I know this is a music-oriented phone but since it is built on S60, can you give some insight into its email, calendar, file manager, word, spreadsheet apps functionality. Much appreciated.

More of this in part 2.

BoyBawang wrote:How long does the camera start? How many seconds between shots?

About 1 secodn to start, 1 second to focus. About 4-5 seconds between shots, but this is pre-release hardware. More on this in part 2 of the review/

--- Phew - sorry for the delay in reply to the questions, will try and be responsive in the next few days. Looking to get the next part up on Monday (mybe over the weekend).

The UI looks so confusing and cluttering. These guys just can't make good software. Their low-end phones are OK but high-end software is pathetic.

Rafe, PLEASE make sure you mention the TV-Out functionality in the second part of your (p)review. A comparison to the N95 would be great.

You can't close apps from the task switcher 😞

Dear Rafe i am using N96 and im not so happy with it do u think this would be a better option changing it for 96

I think the 5800 is one of the best smartphone Nokia has ever produced. It�s relatively cheap, build quality is good and it has got all the basic goodies: 3,2 megapixel camera (could be better), hsdpa, wlan, gps and very good screen. I even like the UI a lot, but the browser could be faster. Browser handles feeds brilliantly.
Videoplayback is very good if you optimise bitrates and tv-out is ok. I don�t think that 5800 is just a music oriented phone, it is a rock solid allrounder. I really love it.

Joni
taskussa.fi

Please also tell us about the gaming experience o the 5800 XM ..

c'mon steve. part 2 please.

I'm working on it right now.

fernando20 wrote:You can't close apps from the task switcher 😞

Yes that's true, there's no c key to do this... Honestly though there isn't really a problem you can just leave apps running, there's enough RAM. Or you can switch to the app and exit it using the red / end key.

or it could also be possible to do it via some third party app, maybe a modified smart launcher for s60 touch that includes closing apps..
it is s60 after all! 😉

sorry for double posting
but i found out that there's actually a way to close apps on the 5800!
You have to hold the menu key, that brings up the task manager, now how to close without a physical C key??
simple!
just hold on the app icon you want to close and a pop-up appears giving you an option to close!
check this screen i took via the s60v5 emulator!

yet another awesome innovation by s60!! :tongue: :icon14:

Like RadicalSatDude I was considering the E71 or the N95 with the E90 as a rank outsider on cost and form factor (it is too massive to fit in a shirt pocket and costs more than a low end laptop). The introduction of the 5800 has made me think again.

Here is what I want a smart phone to do:
I want a multimedia entertainment device which is also a minature PC and Phone. It has to be small enough to carry in my shirt or jeans pocket but have an onboard screen large enough to enable me to do PC things like write A4 letters in native MS Word format, edit spread sheets and read web pages without too much scrolling left/right or zooming in and out. That excludes every 320 pixel phone out there. GPS and a Camera would be a bonus.
Since it is a minature PC, I must be able to easily enter text and numerals at any time, straight from the shirt pocket. Standard phone key pad layouts are just not good enough for this purpose.

However to be truely useful, I want the facility to hook it up to a large screen and blue tooth keyboard at work or at home.

The 5800 sounds like it is very close to being the perfect portable personal PC.

Two things I would like to know, is the 5800 compatible with existing S60 series three software.
And does it come with any office software?

Unregistered wrote:Like RadicalSatDude I was considering the E71 or the N95 with the E90 as a rank outsider on cost and form factor (it is too massive to fit in a shirt pocket and costs more than a low end laptop). The introduction of the 5800 has made me think again.

Bought the E71 this Friday, for 1500 AED (414 USD) logic being, physical keys are real, on a real keyboard. Apart from the input part E71's got a better battery and better over all build being 3rd gen in its class.

Nokia touch phones will be awesome by their 3rd generation just like any other hardware/software product.

P.S. Nokia 5800 will be 1650 AED (455 USD) in UAE, when released next month.

Two things I would like to know, is the 5800 compatible with existing S60 series three software.
And does it come with any office software?

Thanks for a great review on the phone. But I have one question for you now. I have a Nokia N95 myself but would like to get a touch phone that is as good or better than the phone I have now. Do you know if Nokia have a touch phone that has 5meg camera in it coming soon after the 5800??

plz post the part2
we are still waiting

Hi Rafe,

I was wondering what your thoughts are on how the haptic vibration feedback might impact battery life or the internal vibrating motor's lifespan? I've been wondering this for a while, actually.

What are your thoughts?

And nothing at all about its music playback?
Nice overall round-up though....

can u pls tell me whether the 5800 is better than N91 in the music department?

For everyoune that wants data transfers and charging from one cable at the same time, run a Google search for "Nokia DKE-5". Living in New Zealand, I've managed to find a few third-party ones on TradeMe for $10 - $15 NZD.

I have a question, which is better for watching movies, the n95 8gb / n96 or the 5800, I mean on one hand the 5800 has a 3.2 inch 360x640 resolution screen which is really amazing, but on the other hand the n95 8gb is supposed to be the best video playback device and that was well focused on in their marketing campaign, while i didn't hear much about the video playback capabilities of the 5800, does it support the same codecs as the n95/n96 or less?

So which is better for watching movies the n95 8gb or the n96 or the 5800?

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic can be charged with a USB cable, CA 100, obtainable from any Nokia shop dear pal whoever you are!