Good phone!. Review on Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

The Nokia 5800 is a good phone but I will be glad when my contract is up for renewal and I get a new one as it is becoming a little temperamental.

Lets start with the general look of the phone. Mine is black with a silver trim but you can get a red trim also. I won't go into too much detail as you can see the phone in the picture above but the overall look is sleek and modern if a little bulky.

The call quality of the phone is generally good however I have had connection problems where I try to call someone and the phone beeps and tells me there is a connection problem. I have had to send the phone back for a replacement due to this problem and even with the replacement the problem still occurs from time to time.

Texting is fine. You have the options of the usual predictive or non predictive text, a mini QWERTY keyboard or a full size one or handwriting, which is where you use the stylus to hand write what you would like to appear on the screen. I choose to use the standard predictive text option as I find this the easiest. I have tried both other methods though. Both QWERTY keyboards are fine, however, I find the mini one quite fiddly and you definitely need to use the stylus for this whereas I generally just use my thumb when using the phone. The handwriting one is fairly accurate but you have to write one character and wait for the phone to process that before writing the next one which can become a bit tedious. A novel idea but not one that I think you could really use if you were a regular texter like me.

The music player is brilliant. I haven't really tapped into the full potential of this as I primarily used my phone to listen to music on the bus on the way to and from work but was made redundant in April so didn't get long to really explore the options properly. It is very simple to use though and the phone comes with headphones complete with mini adjuster so that you can adjust the track you are listening to or volume without having to get your phone out again. There is also a touch key at the top of the phone that gives you the option to go straight to the music player (along with email, pictures, videos or internet) so you don't have to navigate the phone's menus to get to the music player.

Unsurprisingly the phone incorporates a camera. It is 3.2 megapixel and has a Carl Zeiss lense. The pictures are of a reasonable quality, the quality you would expect from a 3.2 megapixel camera to be honest. There is also a camcorder function which allows you to take quite long videos (provided you have the memory room) of a reasonable image and sound quality. There is a quick key on the side of the phone which takes you straight to this function as well as the zoom in and out button which is also on the side of the phone.

Internet browsing is easy on the phone but the connection is a bit hit and miss, however, this could be due to the coverage in my area so I wouldn't suggest you take this as a negative aspect of the phone. There are lots of applications that you can download, my favorite is one that utilizes the flash on the camera as a torch which can be controlled with a button on the touch screen. The applications are downloaded through the Ovi Store. Again I have found connection to this to be a bit hit and miss, however, again, this could be down the coverage in my area.

The touch screen itself is easy to use and I find that I very rarely need to use the stylus as my thumb or fingers work sufficiently. I have quite slender fingers though and my partner who has larger fingers does need to use the stylus to use the touch screen accurately. I have had a few issues with the touch screen not working over the months that I have had the phone but these always seem to right themselves after a couple of seconds. The screen does get fairly grubby with thumb prints and smudges but I am sure this is true of any touch screen device and a wipe over with a cloth and maybe a smudge of furniture polish always makes it gleam again. I do have a few scratches on the screen which is actually from where I have dropped it rather than from use of the screen itself but this has not impaired my use of the phone.

All in all it is a good phone, it is my first touch screen phone and I was unsure as to how I would get on with touch screen technology but I love it and would hate to go back. I would recommend it to anyone even if you are slightly unsure of touch screen as I was as it is a lot easier to use than you may imagine. The only downside is that it does get a little temperamental after a number of months.