Tonight at an event in London, Nokia finally officially announced the 5800 XpressMusic, also known commonly as the ‘Tube’. This is truly a landmark device, as it’s the first device to use the new S60v5 user interface, which brings a junkload of new features and abilities. Most importantly, the 5800 XpressMusic is the first touchscreen S60 phone ever.
The feature set is mostly the same as the Nokia N78 – you’ve got WiFi, quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz) and dual-band UMTS (900/2100MHz or 850/1900MHz) with HSDPA support. A standard 3.5mm audio port doubles as the TV-Out, and a built-in GPS receiver offers mapping and native photo geotagging. The camera is a 3.2 megapixel shooter with autofocus and Carl Zeiss optics. Video recording is 640×360 (widescreen) at up to 30 frames per second, and should be a great experience.
The 5800 XpressMusic will ship with an 8GB microSD card (glad to see Nokia opting for an inbox memory card instead of built-in memory) and a neat little fold-up desktop stand. The stylus fits along the edge of the phone, and early reports say that 90% of the time, you won’t need it for navigating the UI. Given that the 5800 XpressMusic is a music-centric device, Nokia has also included a guitar pick (aka ’stylus plectrum’) in the box, conveniently attached to the wrist strap. The overall phone is black, but there is a colored strip through the middle, which will be available in grey, red, or blue. I like the grey, personally.
As this is the first touchscreen S60v5-powered smartphone, I was interested to see the various text input methods. The 5800 XpressMusic does come with a stylus, but that’s not the only way to enter text. There is a fullscreen, finger-friendly QWERTY keyboard that is available in *any* application, as well as a popup numeric keypad, if you prefer to use T9. The phone also supports handwriting recognition, which is where the stylus comes in handy.
There are 2 new aspects to the 5800 XpressMusic, as well – the Contacts Bar and the Media Bar. The Contacts Bar is a new way to view the homescreen that offers shortcuts to your favorite contacts, with custom ‘feeds’ showing you the latest activity from that contact, including text messages, blog updates, and call logs.
The Media Bar is a drop-down list of your favorite media, including pictures, videos, music, and web links. This is rather similar to the Nseries menu found on newer S60v3 devices such as the N96 and N85.
The Tube is set to launch in Q4 2008, priced incredibly attractively at EUR279 (USD$390) before taxes and subsidies. There will be a version of the 5800 XpressMusic available with Comes With Music support, as well, though pricing details for this model are unavailable.
| Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Technical Specs | |
| Operating System | S60 5th Edition |
| Band | GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz, WCDMA 900/2100MHz or 850/1900MHz |
| Data | GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA/WiFi |
| Size | 111mm x 51.7mm x 15.5mm (4.4″ x 2″ x .6″) |
| Weight | 109g (3.8oz) |
| Battery Life | |
| 1320mAh capacity | |
| Estimated 17 days standby time / Estimated 9/5 hours talk time (GSM/UMTS) | |
| Display | 3.2″ 16 million color nHD, 640×360 pixel resolution |
| Camera | 3.2 megapixel autofocus with Carl Zeiss optics and dual-LED flash |
| Video | VGA resolution 640×360 record at up to 30 frames per second |
| Bluetooth | 2.0 with A2DP |
| Memory | 81MB internal, microSD memory card slot with 8GB card included |
| Other | Built-in GPS receiver, TV-Out, 3.5mm audio port, Accelerometer |
| Availability | Planned Q4 2008 |
| Pricing | EUR279 (US$390) before taxes and subsidies |
| Download the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic’s Data Sheet | |
