Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

“OK then, what we have here is two newbies in the touchscreen league. A fact's a fact, but it's not exactly the kind of newbies everyone will look down at. Market leaders Nokia and the top selling smartphone platform must be ready to take a few beatings at the start of season but will hardly settle in for a long losing streak.The competition is already in their second or third generation of touchscreen devices so the battle will be tough. Apple, WinMo, Samsung and LG have statistics in their favor. What's more, the number two manufacturer, Samsung, is also into S60 so Nokia may as well be taking due precautions against getting beaten in their own game.That said, introducing a mid-range handset to debut the touch-enabled S60 sure looks a smart move. It lowers the expectations (flaws are less of an issue) and makes sure the platform sells well so that it can build up a wider user and developer base. And once it has enough reach - and testing time - the real flagship descends to reap the benefits.For an even more effective camouflage, there goes the XpressMusic branding. And Nokia have done well to eclipse potential touch UI glitches with the best audio quality the house has pulled off to date. Not least, the Comes with Music service does get a boost too.Anyway, at the end of this review we still feel Nokia 5800 is a worthy deal. Sure you get an interface that's immature, inconsistent and quite clumsy but the package you get for that kind of cash is a bargain and even Nokia's sworn enemies admit that.The full house retail box and the highly competitive sub-300 euro price against most of the touchscreen competition should be enough of a motivation. It's also likely for third party applications to grow at a frantic rate over the next couple of months, as the market for them gets larger and larger.And you can bet that there's a bargain at the other end too. Nokia's gain is feedback on its new Touch UI. We just hope that feedback gets smartly used.”

“Would we recommend the 5800? Unless you like solving mysteries like will this operation take one or two taps and what number corresponds to F on the keypad, no, we wouldn't. Nokia's come to the table with really good, if not stellar, midrange hardware here -- but the company's lack of willingness to shed its preconceptions and leap head-first into the touch paradigm with a clear mind and a clean slate has hampered it beyond salvage. We have every confidence that Nokia (and its buddies at the Symbian Foundation) will end up getting it right, but these guys are still the biggest in the world, maybe it'll take a bit of humble pie before they realize that this needs to be addressed from an entirely different angle. Windows Mobile is learning that lesson from countless licensees re-skinning what has become Microsoft's liability of a UI, and perhaps Nokia should look at Samsung's Omnia HD -- which has reskinned S60 with TouchWiz -- as an advance warning that they're headed down the same path.”

“Given the current selection of touchscreen phones, we expected a lot from the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. Sadly, it didn't deliver the experience we'd hoped for. The 5800's screen isn't the worst we've ever used but it lacks the responsiveness of the iPhone's and, at times, requires a stylus. That said, the music experience isn't bad, so hopefully Nokia's next touchscreen phone will do it justice.”

“After along wait to officially release in Canada, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is finally available and can definitely rank up there as one of their best devices to date. Other standout devices have there place such as the Nokia E71 for an all around Smartphone, plus the Nokia N95 8GB for gaming. But the 5800 rocks for music and adds some needed touchscreen flare.”