Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Review - Part
2
26th January 2009
Media playback
This is an XpressMusic phone, so perhaps
it makes sense to look at the 5800's music playback
features.
The music player is straightforward
to use, and the interface works either in landscape
or portrait modes. The multifunction 3.5mm socket means
that you can plug a variety of headphones into it, so
you're not limited to the set in the box. Playback on
headphones is clear and can be very loud, so there are
no problems with sound reproduction here. There is one
major drawback though - if you try listening to music
on the 5800's loudspeaker, then it is very tinny and
certainly not as good as other similar phones we have
used.
Videos and stills images can all be
viewed in the gallery, again this is very easy to use
and it works in both landscape and portrait modes. Video
playback quality is excellent on the 3.2" internal
display, or it can be sent to a TV with the supplied
cable.
The wide screen ratio of the 5800 XpressMusic
is an ideal format for TV playback, but the quality
of the graphics doesn't scale too well to a large screen.
It is very impressive for a mobile phone though. Pretty
much everything that you see on the screen can be sent
to a TV, including movie clips, web pages, audio tracks and
games.
GPS
The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is a GPS
enabled device, and it comes with Nokia
Maps. The fix time with Nokia Maps is
very quick, but annoyingly this is one
of those applications that only works
in portrait "tall" mode, and
not "wide" mode which you
would normally use a dedicated satellite
navigation system in.
Google
Maps is also available, and downloads
and runs just fine despite a warning
that the application isn't compatible
with the 5800. This version of Google
maps supports the touchscreen and it's
very easy to use, and it works
in both wide and tall orientations.
However, there's a catch.. when using
the 5800 in wide mode, the GPS antenna
is actually at the bottom and it gets
a poor view of the satellites. This
meant that it took a long time to get
an accurate fix when used in this orientation.
Despite these limitations,
the 5800 makes a much better GPS device
than other Nokias because of the large
touchscreen display.
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