(To get the most out of this article, please watch the video above and then read the text below. If you have any comments or questions, please click on the comments link at the end.)
Nokia 5300 XpressMusic
What's it like in real life?
The 5300 has a soap bar shape with a slider form factor. The keypad buttons are pleasingly clicky and large, and the screen is extremely clear and pleasant to read thanks to its QVGA (240x320) resolution. The keypad is also very easy to read in the dark as the characters are all lit in very bright blue.
The slider mechanism clicks open and closed nicely, and is relatively solid too. The direction pad is large enough to press easily, and the soft keys and call keys are also very large. This is a very easy phone to operate.
The left side of the phone has playback controls which work with the music player and FM radio (though not the video player, curiously). Pressing play automatically starts up the music player or radio, depending on which you last used. The playback controls require some degree of force to press, and are impossible to press by accident.
The right side of the phone has volume controls and a camera button. The volume control is context-sensitive, and if you're not using the music player or radio it adjusts the call volume of the phone. The camera button automatically switches on the camera, and if pressed again it takes a picture.
One major flaw in the 5300's physical design is the way the back cover is removed, it's extremely difficult to guess how it works and always seems to come off awkwardly. In theory you just press the small button on the back, but in practice this does absolutely nothing, and you have to jam your fingernail right down between the back cover and the phone while simultaneously keeping another fingernail jammed in the button. If you don't have long fingernails this will be fairly difficult!
Compounding the problem with the back cover is the fact that the hotswap memory card slot is under this cover, so every time you want to change the card you have to take the back off. It's a silly design flaw in a music phone, and one wonders what the point is of a hotswap card slot which is so difficult to physically access.
How is it as a phone?
Calling is absolutely fine on the 5300, with clear consistent sound quality and no dropped calls. Texting is excellent as the keypad buttons are large and click nicely. The tri-band GSM frequencies mean the 5300 can be used worldwide.
The user interface on the 5300 is Series 40 3rd Edition FP2. Combined with the QVGA screen resolution, it looks almost identical to Nokia's S60 smartphone interface, with many of the same icons and a very similar active standby screen.
However, there are a number of little touches which make the 5300 even easier to use than S60. For example sending a text message automatically brings up a list of the most recently used contacts, so there's no need to trawl through the address book every time you want to text someone. Another nice touch is the direction pad control, which gives you direct access to up to four functions by just moving the direction pad in the relevant direction.
Music Player and Radio
The music player and FM radio can be activated and used simultaneously with all other phone functions. Once you start a track or playlist, you can exit the music player or radio and the music will continue playing while you do other things with the phone. The player and radio automatically stop during calls, and you can start them again afterwards.
The 5300's music player is compatible with MP3, MP4, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ and WMA audio files. There's a hotswap microSD memory card slot which takes cards up to 2 gigabytes in size, which is enough for up to 1000 music tracks.
The 5300 is A2DP and AVRCP compatible, which means you can use wireless Bluetooth stereo headphones, including ones with built-in playback controls. Some wireless headphones also include call controls and a microphone, so they can be used to answer incoming phone calls or to redial the last number.
The 5300 also has an audio jack for normal wired headphones, which is 2.5mm (the kind used by most phone headsets). The sales package contains an adaptor which lets you use standard 3.5mm (walkman-sized) headphones as well.
There's an FM radio which includes Visual Radio support, and it also lets you download all your radio presets from an internet database. You can download the appropriate presets for any city in the world. As with all phone FM radios, the wired headphones must be plugged in for it to work, as they act as the FM aerial.
Camera and Camcorder
The camera button makes it easy to activate and operate the camera, as it means you can hold the phone horizontally just like a normal camera, with the button on the top. The camera itself is 1.3 megapixels, which isn't the highest resolution nowadays, but easily good enough for any internet-related purposes.
The 5300's camcorder video resolution is 176x144, which is really too low to be of much use for anything. It looks bad on the phone's screen, and even worse on a PC screen.
There's a shiny round metal panel next to the camera which lets you line up your face for self-portraits.
Pictures and video can be stored on the memory card, so you can take potentially tens of thousands of photos.
Other Interesting Stuff
The 5300's web browser is a basic one, it can only really cope with simple websites designed for mobile devices. The EDGE connection and QVGA resolution makes it quick and easy to use on sites that work, but you shouldn't expect to see the normal web.
Nokia has finally killed off the old pop-port connector, and instead the 5300 uses a miniUSB connector cable which is identical to the kind of miniUSB cable included with digital cameras and other mobile devices. It's cheap and easy to replace if you lose it, much easier to plug into the phone, and it doesn't wobble about in the way pop-port used to.
Who would like this the most?
Anyone looking for a low-priced music phone with an easy-to-use interface, external music controls and a bright, clear screen.
Overall
This review is being written at the end of 2007, about twelve months after the 5300 came on the market. It's currently available at a very low price of about €150 sim-free including taxes. This is an excellent deal if you want a music phone mainly for calls, texts, photos and music, and all of those features work well. It's not a smartphone, but it doesn't have to be for those purposes.
The design problems with the back cover are very annoying, especially as they prevent easy access to the memory card slot, but if you don't change cards often then this isn't really significant.
The Nokia Duck Says: Quack Quack Quack Quack
Photos (click to enlarge):
Technical Details:
Year of Launch: 2006
Weight: 106g
Battery Life: 9.3 days standby, 3.2 hours talk time, 12 hours music playback
Phone: Triband GSM/EDGE 900/1800/1900 or 850/1800/1900 depending on where you buy it.
Screen: 240x320 pixels, 262,000 colours
Camera: 1.3 megapixel still, 176x144 15FPS video
Memory: 7 megabytes built-in, microSD card slot up to 2 gigabytes
Connections: Bluetooth 2.0 (including A2DP and AVRCP Bluetooth stereo), miniUSB port, 2.5mm audio, Infrared
Platform: Nokia Series 40 3rd Edition FP2
Software Compatibility: Java J2ME, Flash Lite 2.0
Notable features: External music, volume and camera controls. Compatible with A2DP and AVRCP stereo Bluetooth headphones.
Click here to see the full official 5300 XpressMusic technical specifications.
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