Nokia 5530 Mobile TV Edition

A new member of the 5530 series of handsets, the Nokia 5530 Mobile TV Edition is more than just a rehash of the original 5530 Xpress Music. Where the 5530 Xpress Music phone was designed more in keeping with a device like the 5800, the 5530 Mobile TV Edition is a non-touchscreen, slide style device. When closed, the device measures in at 101 x 48 x 14mm, which is a good size for a phone, and the handset weighs in at just 113g. There does seem to be a lot of wasted space on the front of the device as the navigation keys do take up more space than is necessary, when the 5530 could have offered a larger display. The display itself is standard Nokia fare, a 2.4 inch 16 million colour QVGA TFT screen, so whilst it looks good, it is rather small for a Mobile TV device. The device incorporates a 3.5mm audio jack so you can listen to broadcasts and music in comfort, whilst the headset doubles up as an antenna to help ensure the very best reception. Down the left hand side of the screen are three touch sensitive music control keys, which facilitates easy track forwarding and skipping whilst using the built in music player.

The 5530 slides open to reveal a flat, etched style alphanumeric keypad, where the keys are well spaced out, so there will be no issues when composing a text message. Messaging is another important focus of this handset, with Nokia including all the latest social networking software, making it easy to keep in touch with family and friends via services such as OVI Contacts, Facebook, MySpace, and also Windows Live MSN, Google Talk, Yahoo, and AOL, plus there is support on the device for YouTube, so you can view video clips on the move.

The camera also offers further online integration options; a 3.2 megapixel camera with enhanced fixed focus, LED Flash and 4 x digital zoom, once captured images can be seamlessly uploaded to the web via OVIShare or Flickr, or you can email them straight to your blog or a friend via the built in email client.

The 5530 Mobile TV Edition offers 70MB of internal memory capacity, with support for MicroSD cards up to 16GB in size, offering ample storage space for videos, images and music. The phone is a quad band GSM device, offering coverage worldwide on all GSM networks, plus Tri Band UMTS reception. But 3G is as good as it gets on the 5530, there is no HSDPA for 3G+ download speeds, and nor is there a WiFi option. Despite the strong spec of the device so far, this is rather disappointing. Thankfully the device does offer GPS, with aGPS support, and is fully compatible with the excellent Nokia Maps application.

With a Stereo FM radio with RDS support included, the 5530 rounds off its media credentials with a media player that supports MP3, MP4, eAAC+ and WMA formats. But with the 5530, it’s all about the built in DVB-H tuner, allowing you to receive digital video broadcasts directly to the handheld device, wherever you have coverage. DVB-H is the technology approved by the EU for mobile TV services, and whilst the UK lags behind other European countries in implementing these services, due to frequency allocation issues, Nokia predict that up to 300 million people will be regularly receiving digital TV broadcasts on their phones by 2012. Interest in watching TV on a phone is only going to increase with the Word Cup due next year, and the London Olympics in 2012, sporting occasions that usually encourage people to tune in.

The battery is always a concern on devices like this, which are sure to be power hungry; although Nokia have only included a 1000 mAh Li-ion battery on the 5530, they claim that a full charge is enough for up to 26 hours of music playback, or up to 6 hours continue TV broadcasting. Given the viewing habits of people who watch TV on their phones, which usually fits around breaks at work or on the journey to/from work, this should be enough.

In conclusion, the 5530 Mobile TV Edition is a smart looking phone, with a strong feature set that should be enough for most mobile phone users. The inclusion of DVB-H is still rare enough to be a major talking point on a modern device, and four years after the release of the first device, the Nokia N92, maybe now the market is mature enough to start migrating to such services in larger numbers. We can expect to see the Nokia 5530 Mobile TV Edition to start launching to market during Q1 2010.

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