Why I no longer own a 5800

I have no problems with it at all, in fact it's the best Nokia I have ever owned. For me it's not slow at all... and the touch screen is very responsive...

What firmware were you running?

It's not really fair to compare it the the iPhone either, because the pros for the tube is a much bigger list.

Coming over from a Palm TX, I am quite happy with the device. I understand lamenting the lack of a D-Pad, but the problem is not the lack of a D-Pad per se, but rather that third party developers have been slow to catch up to S60 5th Edition. I'm sure using apps designed for a D-pad is frustrating, I won't use apps unless they are compatible, which right now limits my choices and excludes some apps I want. I am hoping they will catch up as the N97 moves out.

Although I have used a stylus centric platform for years, I have easily shifted to almost never using the stylus. I easily type with the full screen keyboard and I can even use the scroll bar with my fingers (even though my fingers are big-- secret for me is to press finger into crease of the bezel and use it as a guide). On the other hand, I'm pleased I can still use the stylus for the mini QWERTY (which is useful to view text while editing) and handwriting input.

Mind you, I wouldn't mind a D-Pad, but after 3 weeks, I no longer miss it.

Still, if it is the wrong device for you then it is the wrong device. It just seems a stretch to blame a device with a resistive screen and no D-pad for not having a capacitive screen and a D-Pad. 😉

I'm a very happy new 5800 user.

Nokia just purchased a larger amount of capacitive touch screens, most likely for a 5800 re-issue, N97 final version or future products. I agree the 5800 is a great phone and mine had the most current firmware. What I do not like is he fact that it uses outdated touch screen technology. When Apple has the technology to put out something the iPhone, Nokia can do better and that is what I am waiting for.

I understand this is the first model with the new S60 5th edition and I like it. But I am waiting for the technology to catch up a bit before I invest again into new hardware. Oh, I miss the nice resolution and the good speakers but too each his own as they say. I am hoping for some good critical analysis.

The first post says screen not sensitive enough for a real power user, well sorry, but the 5800 is not intended as a power user phone, and is priced accordingly, it's �150 cheaper than the iPhone you compare it to for example.

the 5800 should be looked at as a high spec'd low end phone rather than a low spec'd high end phone

personally, i am no power user and for me it works fine, good as a phone, good sized screen for web browsing, decent amount of memory comes with it for music etc, camera is ok enough and has wi-fi

I kinda like the fact that you have to press harder, plus you don't have to use fingers. Actually I'm a fan of the plectrum stylus that came with it - at first it seemed like a lame marketing gimmick but it's way easier to use than fingers or the pen stylus. It actually makes sense - a genius idea.

I'm put off by the camera - indoor shots are appalling.

The other thing I was grumpy about was no torch - until I found a torch app! This phone is winning me over. Now if only I could get the GPS to work...

How anyone can claim to be a "Power user" with an iPhone is to me a contradiction in terms. If you want eye candy they are fine but not really suited to business I ditched the one I was given to trial after three days, finger squiggling is for kids IMHO.

I have been using Resistive touch screens since the SEP800 and find them perfectly suited to high volume business use in particular for HW recognition.

I use my 5800 as an electronic note pad the tunable HW recognition means I do not have to look at the screen whilst writing and I get about 95% accuracy something the apple screen FAILED on.

The 5800 also allows me to cut paste & edit documents quickly and accurately another iPhone failing.

I fact the biggest fault I can find with the "5800 Express Music" is strangely enough its music player! I find the lack of bookmark feature and a sleep timer astonishing on a device claiming to be "music focused" and the fact it uses ancient iPod style technology for tagging meaning you have to convert all your tracks back to an old format if you want to view your album art is backward to say the least.

I do agree the 5800 needs either a D pad or a scroll wheel as like my SE W960 has, but it hardly impedes my work rate and I have over 900 separate contacts on my handset.

The only other dig I can make is the slow uptake by third partys of the S60V5 interface My wayfinder SW is NOT available for the 5800 neither is Audible reader but that is hardly the fault of the handset.

I am sorry you failed to get along with this device, but I can assure you the iPhone type screen is NOT the way forward and somehow I doubt you are going to see the floods of complaints about the 5800 you seem to need to reassure you that you made the right decision in ditching it.

I have just got my 5800 in the last 24 hours. Its the first S60 phone I've had in ages. I switched from an HTC Touch HD for it.

My initial thoughts are:

- It has a great spec, pretty much every feature I need is there, wi-fi, GPS, hi res screen etc..
- It is a nice size and fits easy in the pocket
- The camera is quite good compared to the 5mp on my HD (that said WM phones are notoriously bad as far as cameras go)
- It seems to run at a reasonable speed
- Full screen keyboard is great
- The spring loaded lock/unlock button is great
- LOVE the BBC iplayer app, works flawlessly
- Loved how easy it was to sync my contacts with Google contatcs

and now for the bad.............

- It feels quite cheap and plasticy (if that's even a word)
- What the hell were Nokia thinking with that case?? I'm worried about the case causing damage to the handset trying to squeeze it in between two solid pieces of plastic, surely a nice SOFT cloth bag or something would have been better and it would have been easier to get it out to answer it etc...
- The stylus is plain rubbish, its very thin and sharp and is very difficult to get in and out, god I miss the stylus on the HD gliding in and out of its magnetic compartment.
- The OS is REALLY badly thought out, whats with double tapping???? Why???? and perhaps even more annoying, why are some things a double tap and others a single tap???? Is it just to keep you on your toes?
- Why can't you rotate the Home screen??? and why can you only rotate in one direction???
- When I hit reply to a text message why do I have to then double tap the screen to get to the typing screen, obviously I want to type something, hence hitting reply, lets just go straight to that screen and cut out 'the middle man' (or annoying pointless double tap) When I've finished typing I just hit the send key and......hang on no! I have to hit the tick to go back to the other screen and then hit send, why????
- Why is there no decent, fully featured file browser
- In general the O/S doesn't look that great, infact no better than the last Nokia I had (an N82) which had a much lower res screen, they really should have done more work here on making it look the part
- I appear to have a stuck pixel, not good on a new phone (will probably look to exchange on the weekend), a Google search shows this is more common that it should be.

O.k I thinks that about it, this is my honest assessment after 24 hours. Of course with a bit more usage I may get used to some of the niggles and I know there are regular software updates etc.. so lets see what happens.

I can't remember the last phone I kept for more than 7-9 months, at the moment I'm not sure it will last that long.

Cheers

Kurt

The whole capacitive/resistive touch screen debate will go on and on.

If you're in a country that has extremely cold/bad weather, you'll have problems with the iPhone - you'd have to take your gloves off to use it ....

Each has its own advantages/disadvantages. Not particularly a case of one being "better" than the other.

HTC touch HD is a much more expensive phone than the 5800 so it's another bad phone to compare it to, also the touch HD despite the snazzy touchflow isbased on crappy windows mobile, and falls back to windows screens for certain functions, which is much more annoting than double tapping(which isn't that bad, to me it just saves wrongly pressing things)

biggruss wrote:HTC touch HD is a much more expensive phone than the 5800 so it's another bad phone to compare it to, also the touch HD despite the snazzy touchflow isbased on crappy windows mobile, and falls back to windows screens for certain functions, which is much more annoting than double tapping(which isn't that bad, to me it just saves wrongly pressing things)

I think windows mobile is pretty good, and wm 6.5 has improved a lot in terms of finger usage etc..

Its much easier to use and customise thats for sure, maybe its because I've been using it for a while and gotten use to it.

The thing is you can get the touch HD free on contract (�35 per month on Orange) the same as the 5800 so sim free price isn't that important.

I love phones which is why I try a lot of different handsets, but I have to say that at the moment S60 5th edition needs some work from my point of view. I'm getting used to it now and starting to work a few things out and its a lot nicer to carry in my pocket.

Just need to find a decent case now......................

kurtfhouse wrote:
My initial thoughts are:

Blah blah

and now for the bad.............

When I've finished typing I just hit the send key and......hang on no! I have to hit the tick to go back to the other screen and then hit send, why????

Cheers

Kurt

You don't have to hit the tick to go back - Just hit the Green call key, and the message will be send 😊

bobby68 wrote:You don't have to hit the tick to go back - Just hit the Green call key, and the message will be send 😊

Thanks, nice tip😊

A few weeks on from my previous message, I'm now starting to get used to the handset and as I thought might happen, a lot of the issues are starting to 'fade'.

My main gripe at the moment is having to re-encode my avi movies to watch on it which takes an age, but I just set the PC up to do it overnight.

Niktrek wrote:I would like to hear some real critical assessments of the 5800. I apologise if this post seems like a rant but I had to get this out there.

After 3 days use, I think the 5800 is the BEST handset Nokia have released. (I previously owned N70, N80, N95, N82 and even - briefly - N96.)

The menu system is just so much quicker, easier and intuitive to navigate via touch.

The only downside so far is the 3.2MP camera - why not 5MP Nokia???

dez_borders wrote:After 3 days use, I think the 5800 is the BEST handset Nokia have released. (I previously owned N70, N80, N95, N82 and even - briefly - N96.)

The menu system is just so much quicker, easier and intuitive to navigate via touch.

The only downside so far is the 3.2MP camera - why not 5MP Nokia???

'cause they saved that for the higher end touch screen nokias (n97, 5900?)

i love the tube..

been using mine for almost a month now and lets just say that the only gripe that i have is with the camera. can't say much about 3rd party software support coz they probably need time to catch up on the compatibility issues.

the fullscreen keyboard needs some getting used to. my e90 was still the best when it comes to full size keyboards.

if u need a business phone than maybe it would be best to look for other alternatives eh.

but the tube is one fun phone!

I think the phone is simply amazing considering the price.

You are getting a very well featured phone that works in all areas.

The camera is good. Granted, it's not up to 5mp standard, but you compare it with non nokia 3.2mp camera phones. It's very likely the best out there. I compared it directly with the new andriod phone (magic), without shots that needed flash - as the magic doesn't have one - and the 5800 was way ahead.

The music aspect is very good. Not perfect, but certainly better than average.

The phone is responsive and quick. And for me, reliable.

The GPS works flawlessly. I use Garmin and viewranger on it, as well as a few glances at google maps.

The screen is perfectly usable. Many complain about it not being capacitve, but I for one seem to be one of the very unconductive types. Which means that no matter how hard/light I push on it, results are inconsistant and very annoying. I have used both the iphone and HTC magic, and have the same problems with both.

So I am definatly dispairing about the fact that capacitive screens will become in the 'in' thing, even for future Nokias 😞

For the money, you really cannot expect anything more from the 5800. I think it's one of the best phones out last/this year. If not the best.

Either way, it will remain the best seller, since nothing else will get near it's features for the price.

What I would pay an extra �150 for though, is an upgraded model.

E series quality design. Something akin to the style of the E71 and E66. E series are also vastly superiour in build quality.

A magnometer. Basically an inbuilt compass so GPS knows which way it's facing even when still. They already have them in the second navigator and upcoming N97.

A better cam. Obviously. A good 5mp, or good8mp with at least dual flash (or ideally xenon) would be lovely.

Such is my wishlist.

With the N97 just around corner and websites selling it for as little as $600, it is worth saving my money and getting that when it comes out.

I very much like my E71, the form factor is nearly perfect and now with the Ovi icon themes available you can have the FP2 look. I just wish it had a higher resolution screen like the 5800 and upcoming N97. I need the hardware keyboard, I do not like the on-screen keyboards.

to be honest for the price of the handset you cant grumble

i took my 1st 5800 back as i didnt find it as good as my n96 and found it slower to use with a poorer cam , it just generally didnt feel as complete as the n96

however recently ive been looking for a new mp3/mp4 player with a good battery life , around 25-30 hours playback time for mp3s , to take the strain off my n96 battery when iam on the milk round and in and out of the van

i checked out quite a few with 16gb of memory , the zen range , ipod range , archos range , sony range and found prices ranging from around 100 pounds to over 200 pounds

in the end i decided on the 5800 , it has a massive screen , will get around 30 hours playback in offline mode , has wifi , a2dp support , phone ,loud speaker , accelemeter , regulaur updates , s60 operating system , camera , nice screen , vid recording , contact storage , im support , to sum it up quickly a hell of alot more then other mp3/mp4 players for simillar price 😊

i think we all forget that this handset is not meant to be king of the hill that title is saved for the n97 , it is a music phone and when you look at it in that respect it is a cracking piece of hardware for the price of it

ok it might not be main phone material for alot of people , maybe me included , i thought it was overated as a handset to be honest , but at the price its at it can be compared to high end mp3/mp4 players it is that cheap

last night i bought one as my main mp3/mp4 player and back up handset 😊