At first glance, the Nokia 5300 looks like a sports version of 6111. From the color to the material used, you can tell that this device is targeted at the youth market. Looking almost exactly like its lesser-featured brother, the 5200, and even measuring up with the exact same dimensions (though it weighs in a touch heavier), Nokia has announced the 5300 slider-style music handset from Open Studio in New York today.



The Nokia 5300 XpressMusic is an exciting new phone for several reasons. Firstly, it is the first XpressMusic device to come up under the non-smartphone S40 user interface of the Finnish brand. Secondly, the slider form factor leaves it with no direct competitors in the Walkman camp in the respective price range. And finally, it offers features such as stereo Bluetooth support and 3.5 mm audio jack adapter. In fact, there is not even one Walkman mobile to have a standard mini-USB port. That practically makes the Nokia 5300 a leading offering in the midrange music class and it's up to us to see how it copes with the challenge.

It contains a variety of multi media feature as you can visualize the radio station, there is much more to this as you can even find out who sings the song the movie name, and lots more stuff like that. You can also manage and compose the music to your wish. The memory functions is also another interesting aspect in this feature which got a combination of memory with 34 MB of flash memory and 18 RAM and there is also a slot for the SD memory card which can be expandable up to 2 GB. Our only real design complaint concerns the placement of the Micro SD card slot. You must remove the battery cover to access it, so make sure you sharpen your nails. Though you don't have to remove the battery as well, it's still a bit annoying. Nokia, the leading name in has launched this product keeping in mind the requirements of a normal businessman or a person who is at managerial position.

Overall the Nokia 5300 music phone is a mixed bag, as a phone it is a bit chunky and the styling will not be to all tastes. As a music player it works well but is let down by limited storage provided on microSD and the failure (yet again) to house a native 3.5mm stereo jack on the phone, instead relying on extra adaptors. A shame really as the crown of the "ultimate walkman phone" is still up for grabs.