Nokia 5530 XpressMusic gets unboxed, hands-on and a mini-review

Posted on 10-08-2009

The younger sibling of Nokia’s ultra-popular 5800 XpressMusic is all set to hit UK markets in a couple of days. Ahead of the launch of the 5530 XpressMusic, phone retailer Mobiles.co.uk delivered an unboxing and hands-on video, while Gaj-It has put up its mini-review for the same on its site.

Before we go ahead, here’s a small recap of how the 5530 differs from its elder brother: a smaller 2.9-inch screen (compared to the 5800’s 3.2-inch screen), 4GB microSD card included (as compared to the 5800’s 8GB), no 3G, video recording of 220x176 pixels at 15fps (as compared to the 5800’s VGA recording at 30fps), a faster 434MHz processor (as compared to the 5800’s 369MHz processor), and a smaller 1000mAh battery (as compared to the 5800’s 1320mAh battery).

Looking at the video, the first thing that strikes you is that the 5530 XpressMusic is sleeker, slimmer and better-looking than the clunky 5800. It sports a new home screen that comes with a scrolling bar of 20 ‘favourite’ contacts, thus enabling you to go through your most-used contacts right from the main page. What’s more, you can add certain social networking elements to the contacts directly, such as their Twitter and Facebook page, giving you instant access.

The device seems to be aimed at teenagers and those in their early 20s, as the lack of 3G for browsing would only spark an interest in the crowd that wants to use their phone’s Internet for nothing more than social networking.

The Symbian S60 5th edition operating system does not seem to have gotten any more responsive, as the reviewer still had to be very precise in where and how he clicked on an icon, and had to apply a bit of pressure too. The eye-candy has been upped a bit with some cool transition effects; but really, it still seems to have a long way to go in catching up to its rivals.

The new Media Bar pops up on the home screen to give you the option of using direct messaging services such as Windows Live Messenger, and will also provide access to sharing sites including Ovi Share, Flickr and VOX. The battery can kick out 27 hours of music at a go, which should be more than enough time to play all the 12,000 tracks you can store on the 4GB card and annoy your neighbours.

As for the camera, Gaj-It says the 3.2 megapixel camera with LED flash is good for taking some fun pics of random friends to upload onto your Facebook wall, but isn’t really good for much else. Again though, for the price and the target market it’s an entirely reasonable happy snapper.

Overall, it seems like a phone that should be ideal for those wanting some multimedia, a bit of social networking and a touchscreen for a low price.

Stay tuned to Digit for our detailed review when we get our hands on it.

Sources: Mobiles.co.uk, Gaj-It

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