I had got
this Phone for my friend a few weeks before, even though I read a lot of
negative reviews about this phone. Used it for a few days just to write a
detailed review.
Whether
it’s a Smartphone, music phone, or a phone with a decent camera that you’re
looking for, there are so many models out there. The Nokia 5310 XpressMusic is
just one of them and falls inline with the rest of the XpressMusic line-up.
As for the "Design"
the Phone looks more like a Cute toy and appears to be targeted towards the
younger users. The phone is black in colour but, two strips on both the sides
of the Display are coloured which has options like Red (the most common one),
blue and totally black. The Phone has a nice touch. Even though it’s made of
plastic, it has a nice feeling to it and doesn’t slide around. Though it’s
quite small I did find it a little odd to hold at times.
Firstly, its display measures only 2 inches. Still, it’s one amazing screen. Colours
were realistic and sharp, and I had absolutely no problems seeing what was on
it in even the brightest environments. So that there is no constant adjusting
of the brightness level. Just to the left of the display are the control buttons
for the media player. They’re quite small but fall perfectly within
reach when held in the upper part of the hand. They’re easy to press. Below the
display is the keypad with a very traditional layout. Messaging or
Texting is very comfortable and there is nothing to be complained about. The
Right side of the Phone has the Volume controls while the
left holds only the charger slot. The top is where we can conveniently find the
3.5mm audio jack, microUSB slot, and power button. The cover for the microUSB
slot was frustratingly hard to open. On the back, there’s only the 2.0MP camera
at the top and the loudspeaker at the bottom. It was very disappointing to find that the microSD slot is located under the
battery cover. Luckily, it is not underneath the battery itself so only the
cover needs to be removed when wanting to take out the card.
As for the "INTERFACE" of the Phone the 5310 uses only
the 3rd Edition Series 40 user interface.
An Active Standby option, which has the shortcuts and organizer information,
can be visualized on the home screen. If you are a fan of the simpler view, you
will only see the options of the soft buttons and the middle of the D-pad. By
default, the main menu is visualized as a 3x3 grid, but you also have the
option to view it as a grid with labels, a list or as tabs. In addition, the
menus can be rearranged to suit your needs best. Navigating through the menus
is easy, because the Phone reacts quickly to all commands. Besides being able
to change the way the main menu looks like, you are able to personalize the
overall appearance of the interface, by installing new themes. There are seven sound profiles available to choose from, depending on the
environment you are in. You can adjust each one’s settings, according to your
needs.
To say about it’s "CONNECTIVITY" the Phone is only a
tri-band (850/1800/1900) GSM handset with EDGE. While it’s no surprise that
it’s not a 3G model, the fact that it is not quad-band in today’s time is a
drawback. Supplied with only a WAP browser, it’s not that good to use for
surfing the web but more-so for just quick check while on the go. Simple pages
loaded fine but the more complex ones experienced a few glitches. To connect
locally, you can either use the microUSB included in the package or pair
wirelessly via Bluetooth 2.0.
As for the "CAMERA" I wouldn’t say much. It has the
standard features which all the Phones have today. If you really need good
quality photos then I guess you shouldn’t be buying a Phone. Get a Digital
Camera which would serve the purpose.
As for the "MULTIMEDIA" part of it the Phone is a
music-oriented phone, 5310 has to provide excellent music quality. From the **music
player menu**, you can see all tracks, your playlists, you can sort them
by artist, album, genre or take a look at the videos available. Naturally,
there’s an option for the player to work in the background, so you can use the
rest of the functions in the meantime.
The interface is designed to be user-friendly. In its upper part, there is an
indicator of the track number of the song currently playing. Underneath, is the
album cover or just empty space if such is not available. In the lower part of
the screen, we have the track info, including the total and the elapsed time,
accompanied by the progress bar. In addition, from the settings, you can
activate the equalizer and/or the stereo widening function, which to enhance
the sound. Besides the music player, the Phone offers a built-in FM radio with
RDS support. Before turning the radio on, you need to plug the earphones in,
because they act as an antenna. You can store a total of 20 stations. You have
the option to program all stations available, input a specific frequency or to
search for all the stations.
The loudspeaker delivers a high-level sound, but any low frequencies are not to
be heard, of course. It’s better if you use the earphones.
The interface for the video player is very similar to that of the music
player. It supports both 3GP and MP4 formats which can be viewed in full screen
as well as standard screen.
To talk about it’s "PERFOMANCE" the camera was slightly
sluggish (for me), the rest was a breeze. It took the handset a few seconds to
load the content of the memory card but this is to be expected when loading
close to 1GB of data.
Sound quality is good. Thanks to the speaker on the back, music came through
very loudly. Just in case the lowest setting is too loud, messing around with
the equalizer allows you to bring it down even lower. I’m glad to say that I
listened to music for five hours (With intervals though) straight with lots of
texting and still had enough battery life to make it through the rest of the
day without a low battery warning. I also made sure to use it extensively for
the rest of the time.
The Phone didn’t perform too great in the basement areas and tended to lose
signal easily there. Outside, it was much better and I experienced no dropped
calls.
"OVERALL" for a music handset, this is one enjoyable
little model. Its small size made it great for day-to-day use and storage
without getting in the way. The battery had more than enough power to keep it
going throughout the day without dying.
The PROS are
1) Great media player
2) Dedicated music controls
3) Long battery life
4) Good sound quality when listening to music
5) Small size
6) Brightness of the display, even in very bright environments
The CONS are
1) Outgoing sound quality
2) Photo quality
3) Only tri-band
4) Can be uncomfortable to hold at times
5) Location of microSD slot
6) MicroUSB slot is rather hard to open and keep opened
The CONS are not that bad to be really worried about though