I use the phone mostly for talk, SMS and occasionally do a snap or two. On rare occasions, I do browse the web though I am not a big fan of browsing in a small screen.
When trying to upgrade from my previous Nokia phone, I hit upon three options: 6700, 5800 Xpress and N79.
6700 had almost everything I needed(3G), but then had the older version operating system(S40, 6th Edition). It also lacked Wi-Fi.
N79 was very similar(too similar) to 5800 in specs. But had a(far) better camera. It’s a wonderful phone which cost very similar to 5800, but ran a slightly older version(S60 3rd Edition).
I had N79 in mind until I entered the shop, but ended up with 5800 Xpress. Why?
a) Touch: I still consider 5800’s interface spartan and experimental before improving it in 5530 and eventually in N97. But, it’s still a touch phone.
b) Future Proof: OK! just a litt.le bit. It has 3G, Wi-Fi and I suspect by next year, S60 5th Edition would have good applications. May be a bit more(Rs. 500 more, may be) of sale value.
c) Freebies: While(a) and(b) may be Post-Purchase rationalization, this one isn’t;-) It was offered with Sennheiser PMX-60 neck band phone. Though Nokia would say this is a Rs. 2, 200/- value, it should ideally be considered half that value. Since the bundled ear phones are crap, this one actually saved the day. I also had a Reebok Glass, though I do not think too much about it.
Coming to features:
The reception clarity is good as you’d expect from Nokia.
The touch interface is not much trouble getting used to. But, be warned that this is a resistive touch screen and for most purposes, Stylus works. Finger pressurizing the screen is likely to leave lot of prints.
SMS requires lot of time initially. But, I am used to it by now. One good thing I did was to download SMS Timer from Nokia. This allows us to schedule SMS so that you can sleep peacefully at night while waking up birthday boys and girls at 12 midnight.
As a music phone, this was my first. So, my view may not be correct. But, I found it to be good overall. The irritants include lack of format support, lack of gap-less etc., which I would more than forgive because this is a phone first, music player next and not a dedicated PMP device. It has a 7-band customizable EQ with 6 presets. The volumes jump a bit. So, either it was a little loud or a little down for my taste. The speakers in most music devices are a novelty as far as music is concerned. Not much different here. But, please keep away the bundled ear phones and instead choose to use the free PMX-60(if the offer still continues.)
Coming to camera, the pictures taken Indoors were not much to talk about. In outdoors, I believe every camera can redeem itself. It offers variety of settings and I have frankly not tried all of them. But, I felt a 5MP camera in N79 was a great deal for the few hundred bucks asked in extra.
As with all modern Li-ion batteries, you need not discharge completely. The first few times(2/3 times), the discharge may happen quickly. But, subsequently it lasts long, though may not be up-to the rated hours. For me it lasts close to 5 days(since I hardly use any functions besides talk and SMS).
The Express "Button"(or sensor or whatever it is) provides quick navigation to most of the features.
The front screen can have 5 contacts. It isn’t enough for most purposes. 5530 and later improved this to more contacts. Touching the contacts gives you a log of your communications. To me this is just another way of Speed Dialing.
The Contacts search is easy.for me. I change phones every 3-4 years and skip all the enhancements in between joyfully. So, for me it was improved much over my old phone.
Overall, 5800 XpressMusic offers value for the price. If you want more features, better grab the N97 Mini.