At the time, in a world where not too many people had mobile phones, I was absolutely dumfounded by its features. The fancy little flashing green light at the top to alert you of a call or a text, the extending aerial and the impressive three lines of text you could fit on it's 'giant' screen. Let's see how it stacks up to modern phones:
Camera: No
T9 Predictive Text: No
GPS: No
GPRS: No
HSCSD: No
EDGE: No
3G: No
WiFi: No
Bluetooth: No
Infrared port: No
USB: No
Hmm, 'No', then. Conversely, a phone which answers 'Yes' to all of those bullet points and many more is the Nokia 5800 ExpressMusic:
Now, that's become a reality and you could be miles away from home or a WiFi connection and still order your ASDA shopping or upload your latest photos to Facebook. Some of the 5800's main features are:
- 3.2 inch touchscreen display with response feedback
- 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and dual flash
- Integrated GPS and Nokia Maps application
- 8GB memory (via upgradable MicroSD card)
- Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPRS, EDGE, HSCSD etc
- An accelerometer which tilts the screen depending on which way up you hold the phone.
- Nokia's 'ExpressMusic' feature which gives you an impressive one year's unlimited music downloads (you even get to keep the stuff you've downloaded after the year is up!)
I won't write about its specifications in a huge amount of detail, since loads of others have reviewed it. I just wanted to record my thoughts on it so far.
The 5800 is a lot smaller than I thought it'd be. It's actually a very neat little phone which isn't embarrasingly large, and won't make you look like a twit when you whip it out to see where the nearest pub is when you're lost. It comes with a decent protector which you slide the phone in and out of, which is good because if you left the phone in your pocket or bags with keys or coins, you'd have to make a claim on your insurance. There's a stylus clipped into the back of the phone, but for those who don't like to be seen using them, you can prod at the screen with your fingers (I found it's not really all that responsive to touch, particularly on small web page links etc), or attach the little 'plectrum' which comes with it and use that instead.
The operating system is Symbian OS (all Nokias are, as far as I know), and this is where I was a bit disappointed. I was hoping to see a completely revamped system which would be able to compete with the iPhone in terms of usability and design. But it's just a scaled up version of what you find on smaller Nokia phones, with extra features added to support the larger screen and touch response. I'd rather they'd pulled out all the stops to make the animations and transitions as sleek and smooth as the iPhone, since for me that's one of the iPhone's greatest selling points. But unfortunately, they've just done enough to make it acceptable and I don't think the menus or navigation are particularly intuitive or user friendly.
The screen also looks a little bit grainy and dull to me, and doesn't seem to glow as brightly as other phones (even the meagre 6300 has a brighter, clearer screen). I think it would've been better to bump the price up slightly, and use an OLED screen instead, like in the N85.
However, it's a very nice phone and Nokia have done a lot to convince people to choose the 5800 over the iPhone. And avoiding an exclusivity deal with one of the UK networks was a good idea, since many who were considering switching to O2 to get an iPhone will be convinced to take a 5800 instead, to save the hassle of switching providers and phone numbers. The one year's unlimited music download feature is absolutely brilliant, and sploshes Apple into a big yellow, steaming puddle of shame for charging their ridiculous prices.
But even though the 5800 is pretty excellent, I'm still holding out for an iPhone when I can wriggle my way out of my Orange contract.
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