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Hands On
I’d feel bad for you if you recently bought a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone. Today, Nokia launched the 5530 XpressMusic phone, the cheapest touch screen music phone in their entire roster, which retails for about 200 EU. Holy cow, that’s just about, or less than, P13,000 if I’m not mistaken.
The complete hands on after the break.
What makes it so cheap? Well for one thing, though it retains WLAN connectivity, the 5530 did forgo the 3G chip and goes by 2G connectivity. And we’re fine with that. During the panel interview, Nokia did admit that they still see 3G as emerging in some countries, and it isn’t as big of a deal than other neat features like music, a touch screen and all out style.
Some of you (hello ladies!) might want to take note that although it isn’t a limited edition color, the pink version of the 5530 XpressMusic comes with a special design on the back plate that is not available with the other colors. The photo above shows it all. This isn’t a limited edition offering. It is really part of the line up.
Above are the 5530 and 5800 respectively. Here are more photo comparisons (special thanks to my hand model, Mr. William Hamilton-Whyte, Nokia Philippines Country Manager):
The 5530 comes with 4GB of memory expansion, which can be bumped up to 16GB. it has a 2.9 inch screen with a resolution of 640 x 360 and works fine on direct sunlight. Unlike the 5800 that still had front face hardware buttons, the 5530 did leave this out for a total virtual keypad experience. There are still dedicated buttons for calls and the main menu, but like I said, they are virtual keys, allowing for a full touch screen experience.
Another big difference is the addition of 20 contacts which you can follow in the Context Bar. The old 5800 allowed for 4 contacts which you can monitor via SMS, calls, feeds, etc. The same applies here, but it has been bumped up to 20 contacts, allowing you to keep track of calls made, received, SMS, as well as RSS feeds of their blogs and social networks. Cool beans!
All in all, the 5530 is going to be a sure hit in the Philippines because of its price point.it is slightly smaller than the 5800, and that is in fact, a good thing. How much lighter can you make it?? Just like the E71 and E72 upgrade, the 5530 brings forth similar portent to its predecessor by making the experience more affordable towards tech enthusiasts, style leaders and “young explorers.”
The 5530 XpressMusic phone does not have GPS. It does not have 3G. It comes with a stylus. It comes with a 3.2Mp camera with LED flash. In fact, here is a sample of camera quality, below. It will cost about 200 EU and will be shipping this July worldwide. Watch for it!
The full specs are here on PDF format:
Nokia 5530 XpressMusic Data Sheet
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