Advice needed please

baconroll wrote: My question is I'm now seriously considering selling it and purchasing a 5800. I have trawled many sites reading reviews, peoples personal experiences with the phone (including this forum) and I'm almost ready to take the plunge. But - the only thing that puts me off about purchasing the phone is the amount of talk about the touch screen. I know and understand it's not as smooth as the iPhone's touch interface but is it really that bad? Are there any users here who have used both - and if you own a 5800 do you have any major issues texting with your fingers? Basically the reason I want one is because imo it's a decent all rounder and does the basic things like being able to accept bluetooth items which I cannot on my iPhone.

If you had owned the iPhone 3GS I would probably recommend you keep it.

However, I have owned a 5800XM for about 4 months and I think it's the best handset Nokia have ever released. I don't like sliders, so I even think it's better than the N96. The only disappointment is the 3.2MP camera, but then the iPhone camera is no better?

I can't compare Nokia's touch screen to iPhone, not having owned both, but I have no problems at all with the 5800XM and can do predictive text etc just as quickly aon touch screen as I ever did on an N95/N82 keypad.

Hopefully if you do buy a 5800XM (on eBay for @ �150UKP) you can even make a profit by selling your iPhone for more than that.

Best of luck!

Thank you Dez - that's very informative. Yes I am hoping to sell it for a profit as it is in pristine condition. I also want a sim free 5800 though and I think they are currently more than �159 on ebay but whatever I do I'll report back with my opinion of the phone! Many thanks

baconroll wrote:Thank you Dez - that's very informative. Yes I am hoping to sell it for a profit as it is in pristine condition. I also want a sim free 5800 though and I think they are currently more than �159 on ebay but whatever I do I'll report back with my opinion of the phone! Many thanks

I got mine on eBay for �150 + P&P, T-Mobile branded but BNIB & Unlocked.

I got mine for �160 locked to T-Mobile w/ P&P on eBay, and with the 8GB memory card, so it is quite good value for money.

However, you need to have a good long play with the 5800XM first. I didn't and now I'm starting to regret it. It is a great all-rounder though. In no way would I say the 5800XM camera is a let-down, the quality is great, extremely smooth video recording and great flash, as well as a front camera for video calling and taking pictures of yourself :P.

The interface is as bland as every other Nokia unfortunately, which is partly the reason I am considering getting rid of it. It's fine going to it from another Nokia or Samsung or any other simple cellphone, but going to it from an iPhone is a really bad decision IMO. It's not as if it's hard to use, but it is certainly a lot slower than using the iPhone.

The touchscreen isn't bad. It's obviously not as responsive as the iPhone, but it's not exactly a burden using it. It's somewhat similar to the BB Storm in the way that you can tap to select and not open right away, then tap a second time to open (otherwise it will open about 5 seconds later if you tap once), so I do slightly prefer that over the iPhone because of the amount of times I've just tried to switch pages on my iPod touch and ended up opening an application.

Like I said, make sure you definitely have a good, long play with the 5800XM, and when you are, have your iPhone next to you, do some simple tasks (i.e. Adding a contact, adding an appointment in the calendar, opening a video, etc etc) on both next to each other and see what is best for you 😉.

DriftNismo wrote:I got mine for �160 locked to T-Mobile w/ P&P on eBay, and with the 8GB memory card, so it is quite good value for money.

However, you need to have a good long play with the 5800XM first. I didn't and now I'm starting to regret it. It is a great all-rounder though. In no way would I say the 5800XM camera is a let-down, the quality is great, extremely smooth video recording and great flash, as well as a front camera for video calling and taking pictures of yourself :P.

The interface is as bland as every other Nokia unfortunately, which is partly the reason I am considering getting rid of it. It's fine going to it from another Nokia or Samsung or any other simple cellphone, but going to it from an iPhone is a really bad decision IMO. It's not as if it's hard to use, but it is certainly a lot slower than using the iPhone.

The touchscreen isn't bad. It's obviously not as responsive as the iPhone, but it's not exactly a burden using it. It's somewhat similar to the BB Storm in the way that you can tap to select and not open right away, then tap a second time to open (otherwise it will open about 5 seconds later if you tap once), so I do slightly prefer that over the iPhone because of the amount of times I've just tried to switch pages on my iPod touch and ended up opening an application.

Like I said, make sure you definitely have a good, long play with the 5800XM, and when you are, have your iPhone next to you, do some simple tasks (i.e. Adding a contact, adding an appointment in the calendar, opening a video, etc etc) on both next to each other and see what is best for you 😉.

Well Drift I took your advice and went to the Nokia store and had a good play with the 5800. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to type on the phone with my fingers and just couldn't believe how loud those speakers were! At first I thought the phone was creaky everytime I tapped it but I soon realized that was the vibration feedback (hope this can be turned off somewhere). I was also pleased with the size of the phone - definately pocketable and easy to use with one hand. But - there was one thing about the phone that really put me off it and that was the 'double' tapping! I can't understand it. Coming from an iPhone I knew it was going to be a bit harder to get used to the tap process but I didn't realize how much it was going to annoy me. I browsed the phone on many menus and found myself tapping, waiting, tapping again several times. I guess it is something that I would get used to but it put me off the phone although I'm still contemplating buying it lol! I'll report back soon.

When you regular are in circumstances having to wear gloves , like in wintertime , go for the 5800XM . When ypu like to use the device to be able to navigate , wait a little for the 5800 Navigation to come out .

😊 Regards jApi NL

baconroll wrote:Well Drift I took your advice and went to the Nokia store and had a good play with the 5800. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to type on the phone with my fingers and just couldn't believe how loud those speakers were! At first I thought the phone was creaky everytime I tapped it but I soon realized that was the vibration feedback (hope this can be turned off somewhere). I was also pleased with the size of the phone - definately pocketable and easy to use with one hand. But - there was one thing about the phone that really put me off it and that was the 'double' tapping! I can't understand it. Coming from an iPhone I knew it was going to be a bit harder to get used to the tap process but I didn't realize how much it was going to annoy me. I browsed the phone on many menus and found myself tapping, waiting, tapping again several times. I guess it is something that I would get used to but it put me off the phone although I'm still contemplating buying it lol! I'll report back soon.

Ah, good. Yes, the vibration feedback can be turned off if you don't like it, and I've noticed if you press quite hard on something you don't have to double tap, but it's still certainly no iPhone.

Well, think about it for a while, I was a bit too quick to buy mine and now I'm regretting it and soon selling it on eBay. I'm either going for a BB Curve, a T-Mobile G2 or an iPhone 3G, but it's very likely I'll go for an iPhone 3G.

The problems I had with it were just small things that I couldn't stand putting up with for such a long time. These were:

1.) The keyboards - I hated the keyboard on it. If I want to type in portrait, I have to use the Alpha-Numeric keyboard, because the Full Screen QWERTY (which is what I want to use) only works in Landscape and the Mini QWERTYs require the stylus to operate them comfortably. Not only that, but I found the response on the Full Screen QWERTY keyboard very slow - I can't comfortably type from key to key without it switching keys instead of typing 2. I know it still does it on the iPhone, but not nearly to the same degree.
2.) The touchscreen. While it's not exactly a burden, if I have the choice to switch, I'm going to take it. I don't want to have to either double tap or push hard on the screen to get something to work. While I may accidentally open apps whilst changing pages on the iPhone, it's not as bad as waiting for things to open and having to push hard or double tap on the 5800.
3.) The graphics adapter. My 5800 came with a game called 'GlobalThunder Racing' or something. Anyway, it had the same graphics that an old tennis game for my Sony Ericsson K700i (from 2005) had, but the 5800 struggles with it, and that is a factor for me, because I like to play games when I'm stuck on the tube or the bus for a long time.
4.) Freezing. The phone keeps on freezing up on me for short periods of time and turning itself off. I don't know if it's just my 5800 that does this, but either way, quitting applications can be very annoying a lot of times, and the amount of times I've got it stuck on the black screen switching a picture from portrait to landscape is unreal.
5.) Doesn't tell me I have low battery until the very last minute. It will tell me I have low battery on my last 2 minutes of using the phone, and that's just having it in my pocket doing nothing. I recently flew to Los Angeles (not long after I got the 5800) and decided to watch a film on it on the plane. Sound quality was great through the Nokia headset, the visual experience was overall a nice one, it was all going great, until I finished the film, and it decided to not tell me I had low battery once. Instead, the film ended, I exited it and it said 'Battery empty' and turned off. I was quite annoyed about that...
6.) The interface. I would have thought after over 5 years of the same basic interface Nokia would have changed by now, especially for their first touchscreen phone. Nope, same boring Nokia interface I had on my 6230i and earlier phones. Using the phone really isn't a nice visual experience in any way whatsoever, and brings no originality to the phone visually.
7.) The width (or lack of it). While it may feel nice in one hand, I find it a lacking width a bit too much. This is a problem because it means we can only have 3 applications on each row, and the icons end up looking big and bulky. This also limits us to only have a reasonable sized QWERTY keyboard on landscape mode, and not on portrait (like the HTC Diamond and iPhone and a lot of other touchscreen phones).
8.) GPS. I do like the fact it has GPS... when the thing works. I have been having so much trouble getting it to find my position, I don't know if it's just my 5800 with all these problems or not, but it's not been so great for me.

Well, those were only my problems. If you did read all of it, sorry it was so long xD.
But I still stick by the good things I said, especially the camera, the camera is very impressive.

Like I said, they were only my problems with the phone. It's still a great simple phone, but it seems more like it should have been released at the end of 2006/beginning of 2007. I don't mean to defer you from buying it, I just want to make sure you don't buy it and find all these problems afterwords like I did.

But yeah, just have a good, long thing about it 😉.

DriftNismo wrote:The problems I had with it were just small things that I couldn't stand putting up with for such a long time. These were:

2.) The touchscreen. While it's not exactly a burden, if I have the choice to switch, I'm going to take it. I don't want to have to either double tap or push hard on the screen to get something to work. While I may accidentally open apps whilst changing pages on the iPhone, it's not as bad as waiting for things to open and having to push hard or double tap on the 5800.

4.) Freezing. The phone keeps on freezing up on me for short periods of time and turning itself off. I don't know if it's just my 5800 that does this, but either way, quitting applications can be very annoying a lot of times, and the amount of times I've got it stuck on the black screen switching a picture from portrait to landscape is unreal.

6.) The interface. I would have thought after over 5 years of the same basic interface Nokia would have changed by now, especially for their first touchscreen phone. Nope, same boring Nokia interface I had on my 6230i and earlier phones. Using the phone really isn't a nice visual experience in any way whatsoever, and brings no originality to the phone visually.

8.) GPS. I do like the fact it has GPS... when the thing works. I have been having so much trouble getting it to find my position, I don't know if it's just my 5800 with all these problems or not, but it's not been so great for me.

Just to give a counter view on Drift's problems...

2. The fact you can use the 5800XM touch screen when wearing gloves etc, is a major bonus ocer capacitive touch screens. The press-hard/double-tap to launch an app issue is entirely due to stupidity of Symbian/Nokia programmers and nothing to do with the resistive touch-screen technology. One massive bonus (for me) of resistive touch-screen technology is that the soft outer layer of the screen is much harder to scratch than the glass covered capacitive screens like iPhone and many others, and I HATE having to use 'socks', 'gloves', leather pouches etc. to protect the screen.

4. I have never experienced this freezing issue, and I have had my 5800XM for 4 months. Perhaps before you try to sell it on eBay you should have your handset serviced by Nokia?

6. I partly agree, but unless Nokia jump-shipaway from Symbian OS, they are pretty much limited to the GUI interface as is. Personally, I am a creature of habit so am used to the Nokia N-series menu & interface. That's not to say theres not always room for imptrovement tho! 😉

8. I find GPS quick to get a lock and then (usually) steady as a rock. I have a windscreen sucker-mounted phone holder (�12 from Halfords) which provides an excellent view of the sky to the handset. On occasion if the GPS lock comes and goes for no good reason during nagigation, I reboot the handset and it's then steady as a rock for weeks after. I have done GPS navigation in cities with narrow roads with high tenement style buildings and still get reliable navigation. I have used both Garmin XT (latest tyouch screen aware version) and OVI Maps 3.

In many ways, the 5800XM is better than an iPhone, and in many ways an iPhone is better than any other mobile on the planet.
However, the extortionate price of the iPhone and the complaints I hear about rubbish reception on the latest 3GS put me off ever buying one.

dez_borders wrote:Just to give a counter view on Drift's problems...

2. The fact you can use the 5800XM touch screen when wearing gloves etc, is a major bonus ocer capacitive touch screens. The press-hard/double-tap to launch an app issue is entirely due to stupidity of Symbian/Nokia programmers and nothing to do with the resistive touch-screen technology. One massive bonus (for me) of resistive touch-screen technology is that the soft outer layer of the screen is much harder to scratch than the glass covered capacitive screens like iPhone and many others, and I HATE having to use 'socks', 'gloves', leather pouches etc. to protect the screen.

4. I have never experienced this freezing issue, and I have had my 5800XM for 4 months. Perhaps before you try to sell it on eBay you should have your handset serviced by Nokia?

6. I partly agree, but unless Nokia jump-shipaway from Symbian OS, they are pretty much limited to the GUI interface as is. Personally, I am a creature of habit so am used to the Nokia N-series menu & interface. That's not to say theres not always room for imptrovement tho! 😉

8. I find GPS quick to get a lock and then (usually) steady as a rock. I have a windscreen sucker-mounted phone holder (�12 from Halfords) which provides an excellent view of the sky to the handset. On occasion if the GPS lock comes and goes for no good reason during nagigation, I reboot the handset and it's then steady as a rock for weeks after. I have done GPS navigation in cities with narrow roads with high tenement style buildings and still get reliable navigation. I have used both Garmin XT (latest tyouch screen aware version) and OVI Maps 3.

In many ways, the 5800XM is better than an iPhone, and in many ways an iPhone is better than any other mobile on the planet.
However, the extortionate price of the iPhone and the complaints I hear about rubbish reception on the latest 3GS put me off ever buying one.

Yes, I was thinking my 5800 may just be quite faulty anyway since my friend has no problems with his either. I will pop down the Nokia Store and get them to take a look at it at some point in the coming week before it goes on eBay...

And yes, I agree with you about the interface, they can't exactly quickly jump to a whole new one because part of the reason people still buy Nokia's is their ease of use because they've never really changed the interface a whole lot.

thanks again Drift (yes i did read all of it) and to Dez for both your replies. It's certainly interesting to hear both your views. I'll be making a decision in the next few days and am heading back to the shop for another look 1st. I want to be sure before buying it!