There had been much anticipation about the release of the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic ever since the date was announced. Nokia's ultimate music phone was to be the first touch screen handset the company produced as well. All of the other manufacturers had already released at least one touch screen phone so the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic had to make an impression, but does it make the right one?



Taking the appearance of the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic first, it is a simple phone in that it is sleek, black and oozes a businesslike quality that might put the regular users off. However, the design's simplicity is probably perfect for the phone given that this was Nokia's first foray into a different area of the market. Unlike some of its peers, there are no frills at all and what you see is what you get. However, there is a stylus that slots in the back of the phone for ease of storage but you might not know it to look at the promotional material. It is called a ?plectrum? and it might prove a little difficult to remove so you might not want to use it at all.

In terms of the features present in the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic, it is a comprehensive handset. You can easily locate the feature you are looking for in no time at all because the navigation buttons are easy to use and very responsive. In addition to that, the menus are well laid out so everything is ordered logically. This is one of the major advantages it has over its competition. It is a good job that the menus are so good really because there is so much packed into this handset that everything would be impossible to find otherwise.

There are some lovely technologically advanced touches incorporated into the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic. You can download podcasts, listen to Internet radio stations and much more as a result of its 3G capabilities. The sound quality of such features and the music player that is built in is excellent too. Most file formats are supported by the music player so you can enjoy your favourite tunes as and when you like complete with surround sound. There is also an excellent 3.2MP camera in addition to the Carl Zeiss optics, LED flash, 3x digital zoom and auto focus for imaging purposes as well. As such, you can listen to great tunes and take fantastic pictures as and when you like.

There are a few niggles with the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic but these may be down to the fact that it is Nokia's first foray into the touch screen phone. The first is the 81MB of memory on board. Given the level of the features it should have been much higher, although it can be supplemented by a further 8GB. The automatic orientation sensor does tend to sport a split second delay as well, which can get really irritating after a while. The talk time is also a little low at 5 hours, which is 3 hours less than Nokia says.

Given just how much is packed into the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic, it is understandable that there are one of two issues with the handset. Overall though, everything works well and the minimalist casing belies the functionality that lurks below the surface. Nokia can be proud of their handset and you might well feel the same after trying it!