Yesterday I shared with you the top 5 things that I really hate about the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic. Of course, it’s not a comprehensive list, and several of you had thoughts on other things that annoy you about the 5530 XpressMusic. However, today I want to share with you the top 5 things that I really really love about this cute little phone. Keep in mind, this isn’t a full list, but only the top 5.
1. Touch-sensitive buttons. One of my biggest complaints about the 5800 XpressMusic was that using the phone is confusing, thanks to the hardware buttons along the bottom of the screen, specifically the menu button. All other features of the phone, nearly, can be accessed without *pressing* a button, aside from opening the menu. On the 5530 XpressMusic, they solved this by making the front buttons touch-sensitive. It’s not how I would like to have seen it solved, but it works nicely, nonetheless.
2. Auto-keyboard-switching. The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic finally keeps up with the rest of the touchscreen world by automatically switching from a numeric keypad to a fullscreen QWERTY keyboard when you rotate the phone, using the accelerometer. It’s such a small little feature, but it makes a world of a difference in usability and overall experience. This should be on every touchscreen Symbian phone, from now on. Also, they’ve (thankfully) done away with the small portrait QWERTY keyboard, and no one will miss it, either.
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3. Homescreen. The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic’s homescreen is what I wanted the 5800 XpressMusic’s to be. It’s a combination of both the Contact Bar (which itself has been upgraded to allow 20 contacts, as opposed to just 4) and the shortcuts bar. Even better, you get homescreen email notification in between these two, which is brilliant. This makes for a much more useful homescreen, with far less wasted space than we saw on the 5800 XpressMusic.
4. RAM and ROM. Why is it that Nokia’s low-end handsets seem to have more than enough RAM and ROM to get things done, while their flagship smartphones lag behind in both arenas? The 5530 XpressMusic boots with over 55MB of RAM and has 64MB of internal storage free – even after installing Ovi Contacts and Nokia Messaging. It’s astounding.
5. Outstanding battery life. While it’s most likely due to the fact that the 5530 XpressMusic is indefinitely bound to EDGE networks, and has a smaller display, it feels as though its 1000mAh battery does much better than the 5800 XpressMusic’s 1320mAh battery at lasting through the day. I can even have Gravity and Nokia Messaging running constantly and this thing easily makes it through a workday.
There are other things that are great about this little phone, but those are just the top 5. Out of this list and the 5 things I hated yesterday, what do you think of the 5530 XpressMusic thus far? Tomorrow we’ll have a full hardware review, looking at the build quality and other factors.
