Mobile phones have undeniably come into their own over the last several years. Considering that their early origins had them merely be items that took the functionality of a landline and made it mobile, the progression that they have undergone is nothing short of remarkable – incorporating text-based messaging alongside making calls, reducing phone size while increasing battery life, accessibility and coverage range, and integrating extensive multimedia functionality into mobile phone units. That last step has taken mobile phones into an all-new direction, what with the newest mobile models all sporting top-of-the-line music and video playback and storage quality alongside various other “smart” features.
Nokia’s Express Music line of phones does just that. The longtime Finnish mobile communications company has always been known for putting together quality handsets, and this new line of mobile phones seeks to continue that legacy while providing a strong mobile music package. The 5800 has received favorable reviews but may not be accessible for many due to its price, despite already being competitive for the range it is in. For users who are after a phone with great sound quality and a working if small touchscreen, Nokia has put together a less pricey alternative to its own iPhone alternative, in the Nokia Express Music 5530.
The 5800 was Nokia’s first touchscreen phone, followed by the N97. Both received favorable reviews for the responsiveness of their resistive touchscreens. Nokia has attempted to integrate a screen of similar quality into the 5530, and succeeds to some degree – while the 640×360-pixel resolution generally remains the same, the display is almost prohibitively small at 2.9 inches compared to the larger, more expensive 5800’s 3.2-inch screen. Among the other cost-cutting measures Nokia has had to implement to keep the price down on the 5530 are the removal of 3G support and all but the most rudimentary GPS support, although users can still use GPRS or Edge connectivity with the web browser, which itself still works very impressively.
The phone comes loaded with generally useful and easy-to-get-into applications, more of which are available via the Ovi store. The OS, though, has trouble working consistently well with the touchscreen, which isn’t nearly as responsive as the 5800’s – or, better yet, the capacitive touchscreens on phones like the iPhone and HTC Hero – resulting in difficulty with accurately registering finger presses. A lack of multi-touch support also slows down the experience considerably. Call quality is typical Nokia, which is a good thing, although the battery life for this particular model doesn’t very well approximate the efficiency of most other Nokia handsets.
The multimedia integration on the phone is hit-or-miss as well, but very serviceable. While the phone sports the same music player on any System 60 Nokia handset, the player does the job well and offers both easy touchscreen navigation and great sound quality befitting of something billed as a music phone. The 3.2-megapixel camera, on the other hand, suffers some without the pricier Nokia handsets’ Carl Zeiss optics; while it does come with a LED flash, shots are still less than perfect, especially in lower-light conditions that the flash cannot compensate for enough.
All told, while the 5530 is far from the ideal handset, one must remember that you get what you pay for – and compromises aside, this makes for a well-rounded and solid enough alternative to most other music smartphones for a considerable chunk of cash less.
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