Nokia’s XpressMusic range of mobile handsets, has some pretty funky designs but sometimes doesn’t fully deliver on all fronts. With most handsets in this range, you’ll find the audio quality is indeed something to write home about, but the handset’s all round performance may not be all it could have been. One of the newest additions to Nokia’s music series is the 5220 XpressMusic and here’s what I have to say about it.

Form Factor
Personally I found the handset’s design a bit lopsided when I initially opened the box and set my peepers on it. However, I have to admit it did grow on me. The glossy black finish with the blue line, smart and well placed keypad along with the 5 way nav pad made for a slim (10.5mm), sleek and quite a stylish mobile. The handset has a 2-inch QVGA display sporting a 240 x 320 pixel resolution with 256k colors. In bright sunlight you just may find it a wee bit uneasy to view, especially text messages or emails, but it’s not too bad. The ambient light sensor is quite useful, depending of course on how the area is lit.

A standard 3.5mm handsfree socket is located on the top of the handset. This is a real asset as the bundled Nokia earphones are not comfortable to use for audio. They didn’t sit too well in my ears and I wasn't too thrilled with the sound quality either. In this case you’re free to use any earphones of your choice and simply use the handset’s microphone (which by the way has a great pick up) when on a call. On one side of the handsfree socket is a neatly concealed micro USB port. On the other side is a button for popping the rear panel.

Volume keys that double up for zooming in when using the camera are located on one side above a microSD card slot. The flashing (can be turned off) music keys are located on the other side just under the charging port. These three keys are handy and well placed for skipping tracks or playing and pausing. The 2 megapixel camera is located at the back of course.

Features and Performance
Interface and Navigation
Running on a Symbian OS with a series 40 UI, the 5220 is easy to navigate. Unfortunately it’s a bit sluggish if the music player or FM radio is running in the background. One of my biggest peeves with S40 handsets is this - in case your memory card is loaded with content that utilizes a substantial amount of its space, access to the card from any area can take unusually and unnecessarily long. Moving files is also a bit of task in this same regard.

Media Features
The 5220 XpressMusic really shines when it comes to the overall functioning of the music player. It’s extremely loud so you won’t have to worry about those painfully noisy train compartments. With a set of EQ presets and the option for creating your own personalized presets, you can enjoy an even better audio experience. The Stereo Widening option seems a bit redundant though since it tends to jar the wax out of your ears if the volume is near peak. I even switched the EQs off just to check and it was quite the same so my suggestion is just leave it off. The player also picks up the album art of the track, (if it’s loaded) but stretches the small image to fit the display thereby making it look quite tacky. A small thumbnail image would have been just right. It reads MP3, M4A, AAC+ and WMA file formats. You don’t necessarily need to create playlists; if you have your files stored in folders, you can play them from there without interruption.