She's arrived at last, the
5800 XpressMusic, Nokia's tardy entry into the (modern) touchscreen phone space, and we've gotten some quality face time with the device. Appropriately nicknamed the Tube, the device has a number of Nokia peculiarities that could appeal to certain sensibilities, but probably won't be taking a big bite out of existing touchphone market share -- at least in the S60-phobic United States. Let's dig in, shall we?
Hardware
Resistive touchscreen, huh Nokia? We're intrigued, but certainly wouldn't say impressed. Nokia claims the decision was made to appeal to the world market, particularly asian countries that prefer handwriting recognition to keyboards. Hence the stylus input option. It doesn't ruin everything for those of us that would rather tap with our thumbs, but means pushing that much harder on the screen, and using the tips of your fingers when you type instead of the flat -- knocking off a good 5 wpm or so in the process -- we'll talk more about software keyboards in the next section. There's also a plectrum (guitar pick) included that can hang from a wrist strap if you don't want to smudge the screen and don't feel like sliding out the stylus.
The LCD itself is certainly impressive, at 640 x 360, but colors and brightness aren't complete knockouts. Purists will enjoy the dull screen surface, which certainly cuts down on glare, but casual users often prefer glossy screens for watching movies, something this aspect ratio is very well suited to.
There's a very, very loud speaker in the back. It's not the clearest thing in the world, but if you want to share a song or something with a friend, they'll certainly hear it. There's also a 3.5mm jack up top, right where it should be.
The 3.2 megapixel camera focuses well and takes great pictures in daylight -- indoors is likely a different story, as with most cameraphones, but there's a rather powerful dual LED flash to help out with that.
All of this -- in addition to things like GPS, WiFi and a side-loading microSD slot (there's a free 8GB card included) -- are wrapped up into an elongated, chubby package, hence the Tube moniker. We'd hate to have something of its shape and thickness in a tight jeans front pocket on a regular basis, but we must admit that it's very comfortable to hold and use with a single hand, something that can't be said for all touchscreen phones.
Software It's S60, so if you were hoping for something else you'll be sorely disappointed. Nokia's done "just enough" to turn the traditional interface into a touchable one with version 5.0, sizing up icons, adding finger-friendly buttons in lieu of traditional menu items and so forth. What Nokia hasn't quite figured out is consistency, requiring double taps in some places, single taps in others. Scrolling through most lists requires dragging a scroll bar, pulling down as the list flies up, but the browser has touch and drag scrolling. Nothing's too frustrating or unreasonable, but this is no seamless experience.
What's new is a touch-sensitive button above the screen that drops down the Media Bar for access to music, movies, photos, the browser and sharing. Not life changing, but quite convenient. There's also a new home screen with a "Fav Four" of sorts across the top and little else. Tap that friend, and you can get a quick look at recent calls, messages and even related RSS feeds. Pretty neat if you're a loner, but there's no way to add more than four friends, or view similar info for your regular contacts that don't make the cut. Luckily, the traditional S60 home screen is also available.
For text input you have four options: handwriting, mini QWERTY keyboard, full screen QWERTY and alphanumeric keypad. The first two are stylus-based (that mini QWERTY is truly mini), while the other two are only available in landscape and portrait modes, respectively. Like we said in the hardware end of things, the resistive touch means using the tips of your fingers instead of the pads, which we find a tad frustrating, but the keyboard in landscape mode is truly gargantuan, and after an hour or two of learning we're guessing you could rattle off some pretty lengthly emails or Great American Novels. Luckily, if you're a T9 fan there's nothing stopping you from keeping the phone in portrait mode and rattling off text messages with the touchable alphanumeric keypad, and the phone is frankly too narrow to work well with QWERTY in portrait. The handwriting recognition looks good enough, but we revert to a 2nd grade writing level whenever we pick up a pen, so that stylus is staying firmly in its holster.
We're not convinced the touchable browser is a step up over existing WebKit implementations on Nokia's other handsets, since the tap to zoom function is slow and unreliable -- and no, you can't select text from web pages to copy and paste. Panning around the page is also jittery, perhaps a tad worse than the G1 -- nobody has managed to pull off iPhone smooth yet in this department. We were using a slightly early software build, so some of these problems might be fixed in the final version, but it wasn't encouraging. Still, there's no denying the advantages of viewing the web on a 640 x 360 LCD.
We tested out an accelerometer-based driving game, but it was overly sensitive and no-fun-at-all -- though we're guessing that wouldn't be a hard fix. The graphics looked pretty good, though. Movies are potentially this phone's killer app, but you'll have to do the conversion just right to get smooth playback at full resolution. We did see some video shot with the phone (that Sea World shot in the gallery) and it looked pretty good.
Conclusion If you haven't picked it up by now, Nokia isn't going after the power users here. The phone will be marketed under Nokia's "Live" banner, and really concentrates on the most basic communications -- calling and texting -- with a whole bunch of multimedia piled on top. Nokia's Comes With Music helps on that end of things, and the screen certainly helps with video, but this is no iPhone when it comes to to solid media integration or full-featured media player apps. On the communication side, we're sad to see Nokia almost burying some of its S60 advantages. Everything's still there, but Nokia didn't put the gruntwork in necessary to really take advantage a next-gen interface as it relates to keeping track of emails, social networking, IM and the correspondences of more than four people. All that said, Nokia isn't claiming that the 5800 is the be all end all, is releasing it with a very aggressive price point (€279 unlocked), and promises more where this came from.
The phone ships this fall in Europe, and will show up next year in the States without a carrier, though hopefully it picks up one soon -- a $50 subsidised price tag could turn this thing into a hit if the US carriers don't sit on it too long.
posted Oct 2nd 2008 12:31PM
iPhanboy calling it a clone in 3... 2... 1...
I think you've set the tone to deter any icomments, but I just set one to be defied. Now there will be iPhone comments...
Clone!
That's not a clone...it's a fat short and ugly device.
That's not a clone...it's a fat short and ugly device.
That's not a clone...it's a fat short and ugly device.
That's not a clone...it's a fat short and ugly device.
If u wanted proof that apple fans cant think for themselves look above
Its a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone...
This is disappointing! Why in the heck didn't Nokia really go after the iPhone with this?? The hardware is fine, at least the shape and screen is, I don't know about the processor and graphics chip. But what they really need to do is focus on the interface.
No matter what an iphone fan boy like you say I'm ditching my iphone and buy this for obvious reasons. look at the specs and it's capabilities at a low price. i can do more with this device. iphone is already boring ...watching only junk youtube videos and could not even watch cnn news on the web? it's useless and i still have to use my pc. I'll buy this phone to liberate me from my pc anywhere. with my iphone i can't do that! sometimes i like to throw it!
if i see this phone i soooooooooooo dont wanna use it. IPHONE rocks. So love it to control i tunes via WIFI. how cool is that. and all the tools after jailbreaking making it even more worth the money. All the others can try. maybe in 2 years they come up to the level of IPHONE . haha maybe.
this is so ugly mobile! I am so dissappointed on Nokia. And I think that the user interface is not very userfriendly.
Few days ago I thought that I am going to buy this mobile, but hell no anymore. Shame on you Nokia!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP3YNcSOMlg
275 Euros unlocked.... this will be so mine.
Thanks for the video. S60 Touch is even slower than most people expected. Typical S60.
it's not an apple commercial where everything happen in reality distortion field time.
So, who decided to bring an iPhone and take three shots of the 5800 and iPhone on top of each other but no shots of them side by side whatsoever? Seriously, guys...
Really Impressed by Nokia's touch screen 5800. I think the fact that it comes with 8G and the slot is awesome. 3.2 Camera rocks and the home screen looks great. WiFi and GPS at the price there selling it for rocks. And Might I say UNLOCKED!!!! Oh MAN.
Sweeeeeeeat !!! I love Symbian OS S60.
an up for that!
totally agree, Nokia did a nice job on the interface, and the Nokia that I know will keep putting updates for it improving every performance aspect possible, making this -possibly- the best touch interface in the near future.
Looks like quiet an epic fail on Nokia's part, I mean seriously it took an outrageous amount of time to get to this finished product, and the fact that Nokia wont even slap on their N series title.
Wow... didn't a class assignment was that big of a deal. I think it's a great phone. Great phones are great with or without a prestigious label.
Lol tell me about it. I find it just more intresting that this isn't even high end device and with a dirt cheap price for what it does and what it got.
I mean what kind of device will the N or E series TS flagship be at the start of next year?
Not anything exciting, but it's a touch screen XpressMusic phone with very good specs at a great price so I wouldn't say it's a fail.
I think that's probably because Nokia always stated it was going to be mid-range, not an N-series.
Just a thought.
WOW! This phone really makes the iPhone look the polished turd it is.
...look LIKE the...
But the iPhone is amazing. :)
The idiots that buy that ugly fruit are amazing.
Well, since it was always going to be a resistive touchscreen - which is the preference in Europe and Asia - rather than a capacitive touchscreen I'm not sure how that's a surprise.
Looks like a pretty solid mid-range unit. I suspect Nokia will use this first device to iron out any bugs and then roll out an improved N-Series that's all singing, all dancing. I like the fact you can select your keyboard and although the browser may be a bit iffy you can always install Opera 9.5 I suppose. Plus hot swapping FTW!
Finaly, as anyone who's bought a Nokia smartphone will know, Nokia's launch firmware is always shite although they do release upgrades pretty quickly.
(preparing to get Low Ranked)
It's super slow.
Has a super old UI.
And is super clunky.
The funniest part was when the accelerometer took 4 seconds to realize the photo needs to be rotated, only to show a 1) Blank screen, followed by a 2) "Loading icon", followed by a 3) Rotated photo at last.
Nokia, I wish I could welcome you to next-gen mobile UIs with this phone.
But a typical Nokia build quality though.
Well, yeah. Like I said, Nokia's prototype - and generally first issue - firmware is shite. The N95 was slow as treacle when it launched but speeded up hugely when patches were released.
This is a prototype remember.
Seriously though, they've had long enough to get this thing out of the prototype phase. Everyone has known they've been working on a competitor to the iPhone since it launched. I'd hardly say they can use that as an excuse at this point...
Nokias generally have good build quality in my experience.
ANd, yeah, its just a pre-release unit.
I don't think Nokia has ever tried to make a direct competitor to the iPhone, given how their N-series is wildly more populat than the iPhone is.
I see this more as a first attempt by Nokia to make a touchscreen phone, of which there are a lot of, and there was a few of before iPhone, and given how they're putting it in the mid-range category, I don't see how it could be seriously called an attempt at taking the iPhone head on.
If you really want to get into it, Apple is technically trying to make a Nokia killer ;)
@TrueDis
Well maybe, but remember we only saw Apple's immediate pre-release version of the iPhone after they'd been working on it for three years so they had that long to iron out all the bugs.
If I buy one of these - and I'm sorely tempted - it'll be six weeks or so after launch when they bring revised firmware out.
@ Mark
I guess that says little about the G1 witch took about as long to develop and didn't seem to roll out as polished as the original iPhone or the tube for that matter. I'm sorry to say. I still cant grasp how HTC and Google fucked that up. Then again Android is in Beta as oppose to Symbian evolving over the past few years. I guess I'm just a little let down. The one thing I guess we can all agree on is that Winmo SUCKS.
With the under $400 price tag (unlocked/unbranded), it's a very decent phone with great specs (3G, WiFi, aGPS, 3.2MP camera with AF/Flash, great screen).
Really liking that media shortcut on the upper part of the device. Well i'm 100% that this phone can't fail at least in Nokia's markets, but will it totally blow up the bank... we will see.
I'm really suprised about the device and UI looks better than expected and thinking how much you can change the looks and what not for your likings. Price especially is cheaper than anybody even dreamed.
I find some of these Engadget Iphone vs 5800Xm comments kind of funny thought :D C'mon Engadget you are based in USA, but haven't seen any other blog talking 5800 like you are.
I think its pretty cool - its not an iphone but its a lot cheaper - plus the comes with music is really going to add a hell of a lot to it. Unlimited songs for download that you get to keep. - ok you can only play them on nokia phones/devices and pc's but since all my music in the lounge is streamed from a PC I don't care!
wait this thing has wifi and gps too??!! wow, i am having a hard time now deciding between this and the g1 now. especially since HTC really screwed themselves by not putting a normal headphone jack on that phone. i like the form factor on the 5800 one way better.
I'm goign to bet that some S60 programmer cracks that protection and releases an app which, since, Nokia can't veto it centrally means we'll all be able to use it.
The beauty of a non-Draconian app policy, methinks.
Uh, I'm all for hating on the App Store, but really? You just described a jailbroken iPhone.
I did. The difference is you don't have to void your warranty this way.
Not to mention that Nokia doesn't try to brick your phone every time you 'crack' it.
"Panning around the page is also jittery, perhaps a tad worse than the G1 -- nobody has managed to pull off iPhone smooth yet in this department."
Has anyone used the Opera Mobile (not the Mini) Browser? I use it on WinMo. They also have it for S60. It is an awesome browser that is a step up above Safari for iPhone. Older versions have flash. The new beta will have it, but it is currently disabled until the final release.
So the built in browser is crappy. Internet Explorer mobile is crap too. Opera has made a much better one that can work on this phone. They'll probably have an Android version too.
14.5 mm thick. Not crazy fat. But fat enough that you don't want your friends to see.
Am I the only one who thinks all the positive comments HAVE to have been paid by Nokia? That software is the uttermost garbage I've seen in a long while. They have miles to go to match the iPhone or any other touch phone for that sake (well the G1 seemed quite beta as well).
Lol in Engadget? You mean this USA based blog that got Mac adds time to time? Sure.
Got a say that Engadget again did pick the best parts of the UI to the front screen again....
Yes you are although most people in here now think that you are a douchebag if it's any consolation.
the digital keypad looks so cheesy, i prefer using the physical number pads
no GPS?
oops, scratch that, there is GPS. I guess my question is: did you guys check out the gps functions?
I'm absolutely getting this phone -- unlocked for less than $350, it's beyond my dreams. Nokia, great job, guys. There's a rumor, though, that Nokia will be announcing a high-end touchscreen device early next year, looking forward to it, too. I'm really glad they'll start shipping this fall -- do it fast, Nokia, while hype still lasts.
Typical Nokia, more functionality goodness, sucky design and UI.
Heh i find it funny how people just don't get most of the Nokia devices in here.
Just read how Times writes about Nokias TS device and how USA based Engadget talks about it. I guess Nokia will be always for everybody else controlling the market exept in NA.
What a porker!
Cool!
I'll be buying that, on a network it will be a very decent price indeed, and Christmas is coming up!
You guys in the US can enjoy waiting until 2009 to buy it! :D
I don't mind waiting until 3009.
Since its a prototype, I am encouraged by this. It appears to be an alright phone if they polish it a bit more and take care of the software problems. Seems to me that people are really looking to hate this phone before the final build is around to be discussed.
The S60 touch interface seems to be better than I thought. That doesn't say much though, because previous demo made me thought it'd be the old S60 with just some touch features.
It was all good until I saw that stylus come out...come on Nokia...
That stylus is for handwriting recognition and for the mini keyboard. It has been known all along that S60 5th will be optimized for finger usage. This is not an iPhone competitor people, ever since nokia discontinued Series90, they have been working on merging it with S60.
Just read it supports Flash... is that true and if so why did engadget not mention it?
Yeah - most recent Nokia smartphones support Flash. This way, you're not limited to just YouTube ;)
Nokia fan here. And to think that Nokia CEO, Mr. Pekka, had such a negative thing to say today about the Android is an embarrassment for him by allowing something with such an underdeveloped interface to be released. I'd suggest for him to keep his comments to himself. S60 is a mature OS and with the first implementation of Touch UI, Nokia stepped back by millenniums.
sorry to say that (Really... I love my N95) but this is just a disgrace.
It's funny how Nokia calls this a Mid-range phone when there's a lot of High-end phones that lack these features. I personally am not impressed with the design of the handset and UI, but Nokia likes to pack it's phones with lots of features. I can't wait to see what they have in store in terms of high end touch phones. I'm sure the 5800 will be a great success for them, they're number one for a reason.
the price is what made this phone mid-ranges.
their next TS phone will emerge early Feb. and this time it will be a premium device.
love the specs, love the price, hate the speed. Doubt I could live with the sluggishness this day and age but for a first step not bad at all - and again love the price!
I dunno why there is so much negative here, from the little youtube video posted by pops it looks pretty darn good. It is lacking some of the UI transitions and fluff from the iphone but it looks to offer a pretty good experience. I look forward to getting one or it's successor when my N82 is due for a replacement.
It has the features I need :) Ability to download it's own Podcasts of wifi (
iPhone rules
You suck.
yeah stick with your iphone .. the phone with limited functionality... only 2 megapixel no flash support no video crappy apps from apple store... app crashes.... dust magnet design.... too slippery back design...... all about fashion but mediocre hardware.... the only that is good is the os but it's still at par with symbian.... ok i get iy your an iphone fanboy... through thick in thin will support apple... what a fan!
Cool and love it!!!
I can't wait to have one!!
Nokia, please take this idea to another level, like Nseries!!
After a N95 and an N95 8Gb I thought about divorcing Nokia (and its ridicolous and buggy PC suite) for a SE Experia, a HTC HD, an Omnia , or the LG cantremeber thename; but if this one actually gets distributed before alle these models that have been presented ages ago but nobody has ever seen, I may give Nokia another chance.
But don't get me wrong: I still quite like S60 and even my N95 8gb, I'm just bored of it.
This is definitely an iphone killer even nokia doesn't admit it. look at the features! 3.2 megapixel camera iphone has only 2megapixel. It can record video at vga which is very clear to watch on tv iphone can't do that on it's walmart 2 megapixel camera. It can browse the web with all it's flash content just like a pc iphone can't do that. it's unlocked and very cheap iphone is overpriced. you don't need to go to just one store to buy apps which means a lot of choices and options iphone has a store majority are crappy apps. it's thick which means morebattery power juice to offer iphone has battery issues. It's a no brainer! I'm ditching my iphone and buy one of these!
And another thing it has drive direction software included. Apple won't allow even tomtom software to run in iphone!
A lot of demonstration videos of Nokia 5800 can be found here:
http://mivadika.com/forum/communications/2376-nokia-5800-xpressmusic-tube-nokia-s-first-s60-touch-device-announced.html
well, admittedly this is less than perfect, espeically when it comes to text input and general navigation. BUT, it's also a 1st-generation device, and the fact is, if this is the first, the second third and beyond are going to be fantastic.
As for input, if it's a Nokia phone, it's probably going to have support for bluetooth keyboards, text input problem solved, for the most part.
I likes,,,,,,but I will wait for a better improved product to replace my N95-4.
c'mon folks... this is not nokia's high end touch screen phone that will face the iphone. nokia is just testing the market for this phone. nokia will release a high end device that will eventually face the iphone and others in the near future.
as for me i will never ever get an iphone. it still has a lot of issues and i never liked apple products in the first place. the non-user replaceable battery kept me off which really sucked big time.
Well, after my 7710 was replaced earlier this year, i was waiting around for their next touch UI phone. Yes, its S60 - which people may obviously not like (Nokia E90 comes into mind here), but credit has to be given to them for adapting the phone to a touch UI.
It may be buggy at first (much like my 7710 was), but i can wait for the "premium" version next year, which by then i can replace my N82.
Final words? Its nice to see Nokia come back with a touchscreen phone, and i think it'll do okay for them here in the UK.
Fantastic phone. I am definitely buying it. Nokia rocks!!!
iphone is still just a toy for american boys. This Nokia phone will be toy for boys and girls of way bigger audience in the world. I will wait for next eseries version hopefully including qwerty and touchscreen and slim form factor.
You can see the reasons why nokia 5800 is better than iPhone 3G. It compares both the phones features and gives 11 reason why nokia is better with their new phone.
http://nzmobiles.com/phones/34-nokia/59-11-reason-why-nokia-5800-is-better-than-iphone-3g.html
A typical US based review. Where you see no flaw in teh iphone. Which doesnt have cut & paste. Doesnt have front camera (a standard in Sony Ericsson Smart phones like P1i), doesnt even have MMS (Multimedia Messenging), and still you compare this phone with Iphone! Applications! Symbian with over 60% market share surely doesnt need to compete with iphone in applications.
So guys, review things, but dont do so with biased glasses on. Iphone is a brilliant touch screen device,with a great interface. But not the final word in smart phones. It has enough flaws, or lack of features to be compared with many bad Nokia phones.
Good informative post
Here is another link
Nokia 5800
it is really a nice phone. Can I get Nokia 5800 cell phone now?
Where can I get this Nokia 5800 now?! Anyone know if its for sale yet?
i think Nokia's Got its first Musical touch phone....wow! itz gr8 news guyz over dere
I need a phone that makes my life easy, keeps me occupied , makes a call and sends a SMS ,
iPhone does none of them , I am afraid, whats the fuss all about.
grow and wake up u iPhan kids.(Jazzy UI is kool, u saw that already, now move on...)
cant swap memory, cant swap batteries cant even change the operator.
kidding me!!!
I wonder if it is as slow and buggy as my N series.
we r creating customer wawo..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Ho Ho... c'mon IPHONE lovers (or slaves!) this time even you have to be honest with yourselves... this Nokia is so so so peerrrfect. I have touched it, felt it, used it a bit and i am just about to buy it... to beat this one.. apple will have to be reborn..
god you people are pathertic why cant people just see a device for what it is, ive been a nokia fan for years and i brought an iphone this year i love it BUT i love nokias just as much 1 device will always be better than one AT SOMETHING whereas the other will better at something else
its called happy medium its about time you stupid fanboys got a life
guys do u know what can support nokia 5800 application, .sis or .sisx ?????? please help me
"I would only buy it for that awosome stereo audio headphone jack at the top"
This is nokia's perfect innovation on the Xpress music phones in my opinion.
I already used this phone it's very handy and high quality besides the High resolution 640*360 touchscreen.
The touchscreen is very sensitive and accurate even if you have thick fingers.
If a want to add something about the phone i should never forget the 8gb of momery included with this phone, i don't have to delete some of my favourite old songs everytime i want to add a new song or whateva...
I think this phone needs a cover because you don't want your nHD screen to be scratched or something.
Being an Xpress Music Device with all these refined functions and specifications makes it an ideal phone to have.
You can find more info.about this phone at http://europe.nokia.com/A41271008
Wow... I didn't know you guys hadn't already had a hands on. They're available to buy over here in Hong Kong
china mobile wholesale at http://www.chinawholesaleonline.org
i think this smart phone has a long way to go...
it is well equipped with features as compared to iphone 3g which is f****ing costly here in my country (for 16 gb 756$ approx. unlocked)
u can even share songs wid ur frnz compared to iphone u cant. U can send MMS also.
And most important u can REMOVE BATTERY if like, 3.2 megapix. cam wid led and front cam also there where as iphone has none of that...
A lot of S60 softwares are available (lot of them are free & useful also) compared to APP STORE...
A lot of other features are also there...
So my vote is going to this phone (9/10)
i definitely going to buy this soon (here it costs 490$ approx unlocked)
Okey... am ain't a Apple fan boy but I own a N70 Music Ed., a Moto Q and a Apple iTouch
Bottom line, Apple isn't fair with the pricing but hellooo, does anyone bother how much Ferrari costs?
Technology wise, iPhone/iTouch is way way way superior, and with all the world of patients, guess it will take time for others to have a product which can truly compete with Apple (from a technology product point of view)... No Offense :p