Nokia's 5800 XpressMusic goes on sale somewhere in the world
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Nov 27th 2008 9:55AM
posted Nov 27th 2008 9:55AM
[Thanks, Pdexter]
posted Nov 27th 2008 9:55AM
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How is the 5800 "disappointing"? Everyone loves the iPhone. Nokia bested that toy in every aspect, added unlimited music downloads for an extra $100, a better camera (even though a midgrade offer by Nokia's great standards...) than anything Blackberry, HTC, or Apple can offer, along with the loudest speakers on any music phone ever. Why are expectations so low for Apple, yet when someone comes along and tops them, they get zero credit. Come on, now.
THIS THING BEATS THE PANTS OFF AN IPHONE! Read the specs, recognize the power of Symbian OS, bow down, and kiss the pinky ring. Lol!
...But seriously, guys. What's so disappointing? Had it lacked MMS, video capture, multitasking, better multiformat media support, haptics, bluetooth file exchange, modem tethering, alternative third party options to default software features, true TV-out, or support for large resolution image files, I'd consider that much more disappointing, but that's just me.
It's because of the screen...I do not want to "double-click" to get to everything!! And none of that fancy multi-touch either
And....It's not that thin...for just an all screen phone, its probably one of the thickest.
That is my reasoning....no i am not a nokia hater, I personally own a N82 myself, and people are amazed at how "thick" it is...obviously thin form factor is the only way to go.
It's priced at $3988 in Hong Kong, around $500USD.
Its selling carrier free in N. America for about $1000 or more. I guess it was meant to be sold for Euro 279 in Europe but everywhere else its whatever you can charge for the suckers that want to "get it first". Hopefully it goes down in price by January 2009. So much for a "low priced" phone. This just became the next iPhone over-priced craze. Even the Xperia cost the same and they're not in the same league!
"It's because of the screen...I do not want to "double-click" to get to everything!! And none of that fancy multi-touch either
And....It's not that thin...for just an all screen phone, its probably one of the thickest.
That is my reasoning....no i am not a nokia hater, I personally own a N82 myself, and people are amazed at how "thick" it is...obviously thin form factor is the only way to go."
Nokia are the best tools out there regarding the smartphone market. Nothing right now can beat my N95-8GB (except maybe the N96 or the N85, and soon maybe the Touch HD).
No shine, no 'wow' effect ala iPhone when you see one, but for what it's designed to do there's no competition. Why ? Because its EFFICIENT to use, and have incredible possibility than an iPhone will never have. Phone, photos, videos, good music player (at least you don't have to look at the screen to use it! ...and the sound quality itself is way beyond iPhone abilities), GPS. The only dpt where the iPhone is better is webnavigation. But even there the N95 has a big advantage : you can use it with one hand only (which matters a lot as i'm in the subway 3h/day). And the 5800 will have the required wide touch high quality screen required for that. Multi-touch : fun to use but definitly not a required feature for efficiency.
Remember one thing : the 5800 isn't an high price phone, it is for mass market. So it looks like what it is : a mid-price looking phone but fuelled with killer features beating the iPhone. Imagine what the next high range Nokia will be when they'll launch it in the begin of next year. Lot of touch screen phones are coming. And there you'll find some sexy and thin looking ones.
But Nokia focuses first on fonctionnalities, which really matters to me :) I don't really care if a phone is 0,48 (iphone) deep of 0.61 (5800) seriously... I look what the phone can do. And one of those two models is week there.
Also remember that a better camera always requires more depth. I don't know if this contributes to the relative thickness of the 5800 compared to the competition, but if it does, I don't really mind it.
I'd rather have slightly thicker phone with features I can use. I do like how thin the iPhone is and how fun it is to use it, but lacking all of the essential features I want in a phone, I know I'd regret the purchase the first time I wanted to take a photo or wanted to navigate to some restaurant in a foreign city. The 5800 isn't perfect, I wish it had a better camera, even if it added a few more mm to its depth. However for under 400 eur (after tax) I think it might be the best deal for my needs.
@ Chris,
Is a double click so annoying as to give up so much functionality? The iPhone can single click because it lacks anything close to the amount of functionality of the S60-powered 5800 XM. I promise the iPhone will either add double clicking, long press, or become known as the do-less device once the mobile computing platforms like Android and Open Symbian mature. You really need more than a button and touchscreen to provide access to so many functions, and its still fast and easy to navigate between apps and menus. I find the iPhone fast for basic tasks, but slow for text entry, and task launching. And without multitasking, it can't be a proper laptop replacement. S60 is intended as a laptop alternative, and does so with grace.
Multitouch is ok, but one handed operation is better for productivity, which is a smartphone's first intended purpose. Were I an iPhone user, a lack of multitasking would be more glaring than the 5800's lack of multitouch. The 5800 does the same things and more with a different input method. You can still zoom in on images, just with one hand. ;)
As for thickness, I think the iPhone, at 12.3mm, and the 5800 XM, at 15.5mm, are comparable in size. The 5800's sides are flatter, compared to the tapered iPhone edges that give it an appearance of an even thinner profile than it actually has. It's just 3mm thicker, and that was so you could have a high quality camera with flash, professional grade Carl Zeiss optics, DVD quality video capture, and the best loudspeakers on the market. I call that a more than fair trade!
@ Ispiratica,
Its not selling in North America yet except gray market. Just some Eastern European and Asian countries officially have it. I believe Austrailia has it too. It was priced high in Russia only. Everywhere else, its been around $339, or $449 with the all-you-can-eat Comes With Music download service, both SIM free prices. YOU COULD BUY TWO OF THESE FOR THE PRICE OF AN IPHONE 3G!! This device could come under $99 on contract in America if at&t or T-MobileUSA subsidized it, or $339 unlocked!
@ Pit,
The N96 nor N85 can match the power of my N95 8gb. Why do you think the latest port of Quake III Arena won't run on either of those devices, but smokes on the N95 8gb, N95 NAM, N82, and E90? Because those 4 devices have better processors and dedicated GPU's. And the Touch HD will be ok for media consumption, but suck for media creation, both fortes of the N95 8gb.
Web navigation is NOT better on an iPhone. It doesn't show any Flash content, so most of the web is missing or static. The 5800 has a full desktop web browser, and does all processing on the device. You can watch YouTube videos OR MANY OTHERS ON OTHER SITES, plus use web based apps like image and video uploaders on MySpace, etc. The iPhone browser is an Opera Mini clone with added support for an external video player, only Opera Mini on the 5800 opens RealPlayer, and the iPhone has a custom app. That's it! The default browser is yards ahead of anything OEM out there.
Yes, I am fairly convinced that this phone is awesome...but knowing nokia, a touch nseries is not far off, so i'll be waiting for that if it can be a suitable upgrade for my N82.
the phone is weak! I love nokia but every phone beats the iphone in specs! Apple's strong point is there dedication to their products whether it questions and replacement( actual apple store), or loading it up (itunes) they have you covered. Regardless if you like it or not, you have to respect their ability hustle the mindset of the consumer. I dislike Apple, but watching one of there iphone commercials can almost get you stupefied enough to think you need one. If your doing comparisons you would have to reasonably compare to the Htc's and Samsungs. As far as im concerned The Htc HD and Samsung Omnia blows this phone out on so many levels, especially text input! Oh and i just seen the n97 aka Nokia high end touch screen. They got some work to do before i invest another $700 dollars with them. Thats too bad to cuz my n95-4 and iphone 3g are boring me, and i was really looking for Nokia to have that 1 great phone to replace the two.
The N97 will be the first N-Series touch phone, and is expected in the middle of summer 2009. Besides a touch screen, it also has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Very impressive, but will be extremely expensive (around the £600 mark in the UK).
I'm really surprised at the notion that Apple have its users well covered, particularly with regards replacements. I'm aware of more than one person who has dropped their iPhone and shattered the glass screen, only to find that they had to buy a new iPhone because (i) the screen isn't covered by warranty, and (ii) it is also irreplaceable.
When I sent my Nokia N95 bouncing down the road and dented the casing and scratched the screen, I took it to my nearest Nokia carepoint and they replaced the casing and screen while I was there -- for free. (I think they should have charged because it was my fault, but maybe they were feeling kind that day. ;))
There has been criticism about the toughened plastic casing (with underlying metal frame) & screen of the 5800 XM, but at the end of the day, it's survived a seriously impressive crash test (go Google 5800+crash+test), and the screen isn't going to shatter as easily as the iPhone's if it ever hits the pavement. And let's face it, who hasn't dropped their mobile phone from time to time, despite doing their best to look after it?