Nokia 5530 XpressMusic Nokia’s touchscreen user interface has not had many outings. We’ve seen it before in the original Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and in the much more highbrow, Qwerty keyboard toting N97. Now we have a third appearance in the shape of another XpressMusic handset, the 5530, currently an exclusive offering from Carphone Warehouse from £ …
Got this as a replacement for my mp3 player (stolen) and my mobile phone (very old). For the price, I'd say it's hard to get better value.
Delivers very nice sound, nice screen (tho as the review mentions, it doesn't perform well outside), and a fairly good interface. I'd say there will be firmware updates too, which improve things even further.
Regarding the battery life - I definitely get more than 6 hours music out of it, so I wouldn't let that part of the review put you off.
Small gripes - micro usb port but no micro usb charging. W.T.F nokia!
Ovi maps - can't seem to put any maps on the 5530 to make ovi maps work in offline mode.
This is far too kind a review! Issues for me include:
Phone back flimsy and rattles. I have secured mine with blutack.
The touch screen is very flexible and seems vunerable to damage. The sensitivity seems to vary across the screen.
The menu and phone buttons are far too close to the bottom of the phone for comfy use by my thumbs.
The phone is slow to switch between landscape and portrait and sometimes needs a joggle to make it change.
You loose the wifi signal if you hold it in your left hand in landscape.
S60 interfaceis not ergonomic in all sorts of ways. A simple example is that there is no simple way that I can see of setting a reminder a week in advance in Calender: you have to input the date. I cannot scroll text in this comment easily.
The browser is impressive but crashes from time to time.
The less said about Carphone Warehouse, who currently sell it exclusively, the better...
Go for the 5800, get it from play.com for under £160, bigger screen, GPS, 3G.
I have to say, the 5800 is almost the perfect phone for me after trying the iPhone, LG Renoir, Samsung Toco, its small, light and good functions.
I got the 5800 after seeing the 5530, after reading reviews, I decided I will get one, then noticed that its big brother 5800 were on sale at play.com for under £160, with GPS, 3G and a bigger screen. so far I have to say it may not be perfect on functions (iPhone by far has the best interface and feel), but for that price, no one should complaint.
"The phone is slow to switch between landscape and portrait and sometimes needs a joggle to make it change.
You loose the wifi signal if you hold it in your left hand in landscape."
I definitely don't have either of these problems. I think your handset might be defective.
"A simple example is that there is no simple way that I can see of setting a reminder a week in advance in Calender"
As for the calendar, there is a view where you can all the days of the entire month. Just click on the date and create a meeting with alarm or a to-do note with alarm.
Hi,
I purchased the 5530 a week back. Black/Red model. Used it vigorously and let me assure you that it is a "fantastic device", a charm to interact with AND definitely an IPhone KILLER! Here's my user opinion of it:
PROs:
-Slim & trim
-Good Looking [head turner]
-Great memory [16 Gb]
-Quality shooting (pics & vids) [3.2 Mp cam]
-Lovely music [+good online store]
-Easy user interface
-Easy messaging [nice virtual QWERTY pad]
-WiFi
-Value-for-money [low priced]
CONs:
-None, for this quality & price.
INTER-COMPARISON:
-Vis-a-vis Nokia 5800, this is a better phone. More sleek & faster. And cheaper too.
-It doesn't have 3G & GPS. But I didn't feel the need of both since the time I used phones.
-It has Wi-Fi; and that suffices for internet.
-Due to no GPS & 3G, the Nokia 5530 got to lose weight & size. And that's what drew me to it.
-5530 is definitely better than Samsung-Star (Tocco lite).
MY REVIEW:
Besides having all the bells & whistles (the specs. are available in every site, so technicalities avoided here & speaking of ground realities) it's a thriller phone, which is capable of doing everything that we need / look-for in today's mobile phones. It's thrills are in: a) Super-Slim body, b) deadly user interface, c) great shooting capability (both pics & vids), d) top-of-the-line music quality, e) No 3G (its's a boon, it made the phone slimmer & most of us do not need 3G, WiFi being enough) AND e) Amorous Price Tag.
Dear IPhonites, my Nokia 5530 beats you guys all the way thru (I do own an IPhone and am done with it). Why shell-out that dough? The 5530 is better (cheaper) having all it's functions and upscaled! (16Gb card, 3.2Mp camera, good stocked nokia music store that is cheaper than ITunes ...etc.
LAPTOP INTERFACE:
A nice factor of the 5530 is it's ease at managing thru the laptop. There is a cool USB Cable (in box) that connects it with the laptop and thru the OVI Suite (DvD in box) I have downloaded / uploaded all the files (pics, vids, music, contacts, messages and touched every part of the phone, arranged them, modified them without any qualms at all. And the Vids shot looked good too, contrary to what others say.
Overall, I am deeply satisfied with this lovely product. It's getting rave reviews too from my pals & colleagues. And my wife adores it. What more do we need?
So much so that I have put-up my Black IPhone 2G 8 Gb for sale / Gift, rather than getting the new 3G model. Mainly because I never needed 2G / 3G capability during my 1 yr. of usage (Wi-Fi being enough) and I do not wish to shell-out further (and huge) amount just to get more memory. Note, IPhone doesn't have secondary storage capability (Micro SD cards, like the 5530). And then IPhone's cam (2 Mp) is also well beaten by 5530 (3.2 Mp).
PHOTOS:
I say, "the 5530 cam is good enough". The pics are absolutely stunning. Though low light is a bit wanting, so does all camphones. And IPhone was poorer. The pics shot with my 5530 were flawless even when blown-out in my 42" LCD TV. Thus, I do not see the requirement of 5 MP & more cams in the other models. Vids were good too, for a phone shot. Better than lots of other smart / camphones. And then, for a dedicated movie shoot I do not see the usage of a phone. We would rather use our camcorders, no? I do so with my JVC HD-7 (another great FHD camcorder, whatever the websites say, it beats all. -No, I am not dwelling on it here further).
END NOTE:
I find the 5530 a wholesome package, fully loaded smartphone, too good for its price tag. And well above the requirement of any other present models, including the other Nokias. It is beyond value-for-money. Actually, the Nokia pricing is a surprise, they could have easily priced it higher.
COMPARISONS:
I have, as you see above, compared the 5530 basically with the IPhone. As that seemed to be the most "wanted phone" by everyone. I have also compared the 5530 on ground with Nokia 5800 (which is good, but bulkier and not as smart looking as the 5530). This phone [Nokia 5530] is "Classy". And again compared it with similar models of LG, Samsung, HTC and Palm, while doing my market research for an IPhone replacement. I found all the others were "very similar" to the Nokia 5530, Albeit at a "heftier price", which to my opinion, is a pure farce. If Nokia could do it, sure can others. That prompted me to assert that the other brands are "not selling right". Which is why, I definitely advocate the Nokia 5530. It is the Best in the market.
FINAL SAY:
Thus, my friends, I say, "Go for it... now", before the 5530 is sold out of the market; or Nokia re-thinks on it, takes-it of the shelf and brings-out a modified 5530 with another name (model no.) & higher price tag.
I HOPE THE ENTHUSIASTS GET MY POINT.
***HAPPY 5530ing, Friends***
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