Nokia 5230 Nuron excites the T-Mobile nervous system
By Thomas Ricker 
posted March 3rd 2010 3:30AM
posted March 3rd 2010 3:30AM
The US will wake up to a fine howdy do from Nokia's 5230 Nuron now that it's officially announced for T-Mobile. The device first introduced by Nokia back in August will be available to middle America "in the coming weeks" on T-Mobile's 3G network. And unlike yesterday's wee C5, Nuron features a reasonable 3.2-inch, 640 x 360 (nHD) touchscreen for your Ovi Store apps and free Ovi Maps with turn-by-turn navigation to dance upon. Hell, it even has an onscreen keyboard if you want to do something productive like tap out a few emails, enter a URL to surf the web, or update your social networking status(es). While no price or specific date was announced, we've seen rumors of a 17 March launch for $70 on contract, or $180 without. Just remember that Nuron runs S60 5th; and with the improved Symbian ^3 touchscreen UI just around the corner (and no clear upgrade path) you'd better really want this device to make the jump whenever it does launch.
Update: Nokia's own Joe Gallo has confirmed that the Nuron will sell for $69.99 on a 2-year contract at T-Mob.
Update: Nokia's own Joe Gallo has confirmed that the Nuron will sell for $69.99 on a 2-year contract at T-Mob.
Whats so great? Just looks like a 5800 in a new colour.
@zzzzbest
Dont forget, IT NOW RUNS SKYPE!
@zzzzbest
if it's the same 5230 like the one they sell in europe
then it's basically a 5800 without wlan and a pick instead of a stylus
oh and it's crazy cheap (about 170$ without contract)
@zzzzbest
What's great? It's $180 unlocked. Believe it or not, a lot of people are getting tired of phones that come with strings attached.
@zzzzbest
Its a nice phone and cheap as chips. $170 without contract.
@zzzzbest Not quite just a colour change. Wi-Fi is gone.
This phone actually has been on the market for quite some time, just that now it has the AWS band.
could make up to couple of thousand difference over a 2 yr period in tco, but that aint important, is it?
@zzzzbest It's a Nokia smartphone on a US carrier, more importantly, one running Symbian^1 aka 5th Edition. That's what's so great. And if you want to go even deeper, one that offers Nokia's own services out of the box. That's huge news, when you consider the choke hold that carriers have had in recent years regarding the features of a phone, and the software on it, especially when it comes to Nokia's.
This looks like the exact package you get when you buy it unlocked. The sales package is the same, the feature set is the same, and Ovi Maps with navigation is still there. This will be the first time Nokia has released a smartphone with a US carrier, and the phone wasn't changed. Bravo T-Mobile.
I can only imagine what AT&T would have done with this if they released it. I highly doubt they'd allow Ovi Maps to be preloaded onto it, especially with their own navigation service, and considering it's not an iphone. VZW would have probably done the same since it isn't a Droid. Remember, the Droid is the only VZW handset that uses it's own navigation software.
This is big for Nokia though. Even though it's only T-Mobile, Nokia is getting their name back out there, and getting their services out there.
How about a music phone with physical music keys so I can use it in my pocket. I hate the touchscreens just to change tracks.
@distantbody
Nokias recent (music) phones have a handy remote which you can use for changing tracks. Or if there's no remote the controls are built into the headset cord (which isn't that handy if you want to use your own headset).
Or if you prefer HW keys for music then for example 5630 has those.
@Nrde
I know about the 5630, It was their last good music smartphone, with physical playback keys. It seems that in their mad rush to clone apple they've forgotten that not everyone wants to remove the phone from their pocket just to change tracks, nor for that matter to have to try to locate tiny buttons on an in-line controller under thick clothes.
@distantbody
I forgot to mention the 5730.
@distantbody http://conversations.nokia.com/2009/09/02/nokia-x3-revealed/
This might be what ure in search 0f.
@Munk
Unfortunately the X3 is a dumbphone (Series 40).
@distantbody
use bluetooth headphones to change ur tracks and then u dont even have to touch the phone at all. even works when u bluetooth with ur car radio. js
@Robbie Hottie
Way out of the question.
I have a great sounding pair of in-ear headphones that I don't plan to give up.
Even if there was a bt equivalent (there isn't), I don't want another battery to charge, extra power draw from the bt radio, the potential for drop-outs or the extra radiation (my ear goes warm, red and tender just from using a bt earpiece for ten minutes!)
Then there's just the general PITA that bt connections are.
@Nrde I have a 5800 and the headphone remote is a module you can put any headphones into so no one has to give up their favorite buds to use the remote.
@distantbody
Although audio over Bluetooth just seems like a horrible idea to me (Hey, let's decompress the audio, perform lossy recompression in real time with a worse codec, transmit it wirelessly and then decompress it again! ...while on battery power!) the remote control part of the specification combined with regular wired headphones looks more sensible. It doesn't matter that the player is wrapped up in a tangled mess of headphone-cable if you don't have to take it out. And sending just playback control commands over Bluetooth doesn't require much capacity.
So if you have lots of money lying around, you could consider something like this: http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/accessories/overview/mbw-150musicedition
Although I don't know how well it works with Nokia phones.
Hey Thomas! Don't forget Skype man!
so if this releases at $69. there's a good chance that the hd2 will be $200, right? i hope that tmonews chart is true.
@dr steve brule
With a 2 year contract yes, the leaked papers had that exact price on them 199.
70 bucks and free maps?
Come on, even if you buy this baby just to let inside of the car...
Since I am European (meaning that I cant be spending as much as our US brothers) I would wait for Symbian3..
@Mr w00t Skype+Ovi Maps+Ovi Messaging for 70 bucks? Damn this thing is cheap...
The only thing missing in this device is Ovi Music...
Nokia is not playing catching up anymore. Others need to catch Nokias offerings now ;)
But is it a smartphone?
@Assimilate Dunno if engadget knows what a smartphone is...
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/the-iphone-is-not-a-smartphone/
@Assimilate
It's a true smartphone with multitasking and with lot of features.
@Assimilate
as far as im concerned, s60 5th = smartphone
so yes.
Symbian ^3 new ui on this phone?!??
Really?!!
@Raffstyle
Ohh read it wrong...."s^3 around the corner". Got it now.
@Raffstyle S^3 is the same ui but with the kinks fixed.
i.e. a streamlined ui (singletap all the way. kinetic scrolling through out etc). Think of it as windows vista to s^4. Lots of under the hood changes that lay the groundwork for S^4's Q1 (MWC i'd guess) shipment (since its on track for Gold in Sep this year and the vid circulating online is a framework demo. NOT the UI. Too bad bloggers dont bother researching what they find on yt!).
@Munk
well i know bout the s^3 & s^4 but i miss read it... i thought engadget said that this phone is running s60 5th with the new improve ui s^3..... i missed the ; "around the corner part".
In Germany available for 130€ without contract. Nice one Nokia, although I'm also waiting for ^3.
But why, uh why giving it such a stupid name? why giving it a name AT ALL?! whats wrong with just plain and simple "Nokia 5230"?
I wonder what will happen to the American cellular carriers when they'll (eventually) run out of names...
question is will this have wifi I can see myself with this phone but wifi in my line of work is a must
As long as I'm somewhere with a lot of Wi-Fi presence, I think I'd trade that for the 3G. I suppose that's what the E63 is for.
@ andromeda05
No wi-fi support.
Hell who cares about no Wi-fi the fact that a service you have to pay extra for on every other carrier and in most cases have to pay for the extra voice nav is well worth the loss of other stuff. Plus you are not just getting the Ovi maps for the North America you can also download for FREE the maps for about 180 other countries. Find me a Sat Nav that does that for under $300 and you even have a pedestrian mode also.
Even though I've got the 5800xm and this is basically a physical clone with some of the internals ripped off, the 5800xm is the best bang for buck (touchscreen)phone i've seen. The industrial design of the 5530 is better but the smaller screen and (again) lack of features is, quite frankly, disturbing. Though, i see where this fits.
In Brazil, $ 384 (R$ 699) without contract.
http://www.extra.com.br/DetalheProduto.aspx?codProduto=4063063
Lol...this and all the other Symbian handsets will NOT be updated to S^3 (nokia and symbian foundation people have said this on the SF blog and Nokia forums). They said existing base systems can not and will not be upgraded to newer base systems.
This is a garbage phone...compare this to even cheapo android handsets like the droid -- there's no competition whatsoever.
@DoctarPeppar
Meh. Those things don't have Ovi Maps and its free navigation. And to be honest, HVGA screens are garbage. I mean... WTF? 480x320? Low-res much.
It seems like they forgot to mention that the 5800 is one of the best sounding music players out there. I just don't know if it holds true for the 5230.
You expect too much when "competing" Android phones go WELL OVER the 5230's price point. *cough*$200unlocked*cough* Just because something else is (supposedly) better, doesn't mean that it's garbage. The 5230's feature set is beyond its price point if you consider everyone else's offering. 3.5G, 640x360 screen, 3.5 mm jack, up to 16 GB microSD, 2 MP cam with VGA recording, integrated GPS with Ovi Maps + navigation, etc. Hell, the rest of the phones at this price point are either QVGA or WQVGA, which is crap. Bloody fuck I was even surprised at my mate's 5800. He was watching YouTube videos via the desktop YouTube version on his browser. I was seriously "WTF?!". I didn't know it could run Flash that well.
In any case, I'm looking forward to the Nokia N900's successor. I'm still with you though on the Symbian^3 being unavailable to soon-to-be legacy devices. S60 5th just looks bad when beside newer mobile OSes. But it doesn't mean it's terrible in itself.
@DoctarPeppar
Have you used it yet? How do you know it's garbage?
I used the 5800XM last year and I liked it. However I sold it so I can get an AWS smartphone (TP2). I probably buy this at MSRP ($180) and save my upgrade for the HD2.
@bachviet
I'm currently own 3rd gen iTouch and I've had the HTC Magic as my phone for half a year. I never said that Android was garbage. I said the 480x320 (aka HVGA) screens are, particularly when side-by-side with WVGA/VGA screens. I'm currently using an HTC Touch HD which has a WVGA screen, and it's a huge upgrade. The resolution difference is particularly evident when web browsing.
The only selling point for me with HVGA devices such as the iPhone and Android phones is their software support. Especially on the iPhone, and the iTouch as well. The Apple App Store won't be beat anytime soon, IMO.
Crap. I hate not having an edit button. I didn't read the fine print.
For this price, I think nobody can beat Nokia. Free turn-by-turn navigation (forever) alone is worth of at least $100.
While I think the criticisms of the HTC HD2 and it's probable inability to upgrade to WP7 are a little ridiculous in my opinion, I think the criticisms of the Nuron are warranted. While the HD2 is still a top of the line phone in just about ever aspect, the Nuron is a very mid to low range phone. On the software side, while S60 5th is a very open platform, WinMo 6.5.3 is much more touch friendly (though that's not saying much for either platform to be totally honest), and with HTC Sense tacked on is much more user friendly.
Though for those who are going off contract like myself and just want a passable smartphone without having to deal with bullshit like Moto Blur, this is actually a pretty decent value at $180. Just disappointing that you wont be able to get the upgrade to S^3 or S^4.
I've waiting for a great Android phone to come to TMO -- but at $180 this is cheap enough that (provided it's a good phone for the price) I wouldn't feel bad about picking it up and using for a year or so, seeing what else comes around by then. Don't know anything about Symbian, but if Google Sync works well and the browser's decent...
@mpv Just download Opera Mini for Symbian and you get the fastest browser in the market (much faster than iPhone browser). Nokia's built-in Webkit browser is ok, but no need to use it except you need Flash. There are half a dozen other good browsers for Symbian too.
Are you sure its T-Mobile?
On NokiaUSA.com, the Nuron/5230 is listed as GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100, which looks more like this unit is only going to work on AT&T's 3G network and not on T-Mo's 1700 3G band.