The touch screen market is becoming ever more crowded. Once the preserve of a few high and PDA style business devices, more and more we see touch screen phones aimed at the consumer market. It seems that any device released these days that is touch enabled automatically draws comparisons with the Apple iPhone, as if the iPhone were somehow the be all and end all in touch technology. Whilst the iPhone is certainly pleasing to use, under the flashy UI is a pretty standard phone, all things considered.
Nokia have yet to really get into this market. Nothing unusual, Nokia are not always first with technology, but when they make their move it is usually worth waiting for. In this article we are going to look at the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music, commonly known as the ‘Tube’.
Let’s start with the main focus of the handset, music. The Music player on the phone is very well laid out, and will look familiar to anyone who has used a general MP3 device. Music is filed under Artist, Album, Genre and Composer, and there is also an option for creating your own playlists. The 5800 ships with an 8GB memory card, offering a good amount of space for 1,000’s of music tracks. As the handset has a 3.5mm audio output jack you can use your own favourite headset for comfort or sound quality, or alternatively listen wire free thanks to built in support for Bluetooth 2.0.
Inside the music menu is an option for podcasting, an FM radio player and also handset 
access to the Nokia music store. As the 5800 will be a ‘Comes with Music’ phone, you will be able to access and download unlimited tracks to the device for a period of one year. Downloading tracks to the phone on the move couldn’t be quicker or easier, thanks to the handset supporting WiFi and HSDPA Mobile Broadband for fast data downloads. The convenience of this cannot be over-stated. Whenever you are out, wherever you are, if you hear a music track you like, just login and download. Simple and easy. Or, imagine you are together with some friends. You could download the latest album from your favourite artist, and share with them, from the stereo speakers built into the phone or through a car or home stereo unit, and so on. Just connect a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable from the headphone socket of the phone to the stereo.
The 5800 also supports TV OUT. Just plug in the TV OUT cable and you can view what you see on the screen of your phone, on the TV. So you can view videos and pictures on the TV, or use the TV to see games in more detail, or even browse the web! Linked in with a Bluetooth keyboard this works very well.
And it is not only in music where the 5800 excels. There is a 3.2 megapixel camera, equipped with auto focus and Carl Zeiss lens. Picture quality is more than adequate, and within minutes your captured snaps can be uploaded to the web, thanks to the Share application on the phone. With this you can send your pictures to Flickr, OVI, even Facebook, straight from the handset. No PC required.
Being a touch screen handset, the main consideration for most people is how easy is text input? With text messaging more popular than ever, given the recent stats on network usage, data entry on any device is a top priority. The 5800 offers multiple options. You can use the onscreen version of a standard alphanumeric phone keypad, and keep with using traditional multitap or T9 predictive text. Then, there is the option for an onscreen QWERTY keyboard, or finally you can use handwriting recognition with the stylus. Nokia have given a lot of thought to the entry side of things, and icons are well spaced out for finger selection, and the same is true of the virtual keypad. So if multitap or T9 are your preference, even the largest of fingers should find no problems whatsoever. The QWERTY keyboard is best used with the stylus if you use the phone in portrait mode, however if you tip the phone onto its side the QWERTY keypad is much more comfortable for finger entry.
The accelerometer feature offers a few nice touches. Aside from allowing quick access to the QWERTY keyboard, you can set it to activate a few features on the phone. For example, if you are in a meeting, with your phone on the desk, and you have forgotten to turn the ringer off, simply flip the phone over and it activates the silent profile. In a similar way, when the alarm clock goes off in the morning, simply turn the phone over to activate the snooze, for a few more minutes in bed.
Another stand out feature on the 5800 is the inclusion of GPS. Utilised with the included Nokia Maps application, or with a third party offering such as Google Maps, you can use the 5800 as a satellite navigation device. The maps service looks very good on the phone, thanks to the large size screen.
Such a handset, with a large screen to power and some energy hungry applications such as WiFi and GPS needs a good battery to keep things working, and Nokia have not disappointed. Unlike in the past when their earlier multimedia handsets were supplied with poor quality batteries, the Nokia 5800 comes with a 1320 mAh battery. This will give you up to 35 hours of solid music playback, and quotes talk time of over 8 hours and standby time of over 400 hours. Pretty impressive figures.
Overall the 5800 is an impressive handset; with such an extensive range of features it is pleasing to know that the 5800 will most likely be free on the majority of mid range price plans on all networks where it will be available. Running on the popular S60 platform gives the 5800 a feel of familiarity, but with enough onboard to keep new and existing users interested. The S60 platform offers plenty of room for expansion, allowing end users to add additional functionality to their device via third party applications.
The 5800 is not ‘Nokia’s touch screen phone’ but rather the first in a whole range of handsets that will have a touch UI. I wonder how long it will be before the default comparison touch device will no longer be the iPhone, but the latest offering from Nokia.
The handset is now available to pre-order from selected partners with an expected release date of early February 09. Compare our Nokia 5800 Xpress Music Deals today from just £18.75 a month, and continue to check back as we will be updating all the new 5800 deals here first. Also check out our Nokia 5800 Xpress Music Reviews
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