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The 5530 XpressMusic has been a bit of a mystery. Although it’s been out there for a while now, it’s a bit elusive when it comes to being on the shelves. There are very few places that carry the handset and I don’t see why. But here's a closer look at Nokia's latest XpressMusic touchscreen device. Form Factor The 5530 is a neat looking touchscreen device. It has a certain simplicity about it and is aesthetically well balanced. The 2.9-inch touchscreen display is neither too big nor too small and makes for comfortable viewing. In direct sunlight though, display is a little hard to view. Nokia has gone with touch sensitive buttons for the call and menu keys and of course Nokia’s quick access media menu is also available from just above the display. The volume/Zoom keys, screen lock slider and camera key are located on one side and a micro USB port and 3.5mm handsfree socket are at the bottom. The MicroSD hot swap and SIM slot are placed on the other side and although it may seem like the SIM could be removed without having to remove the battery, it can’t. You’ll need to pop the battery to slide the SIM out. At 107g, the 5530 is a light weight handset and is, like I said, simple and quite well designed. Features & Performance Interface Although it’s a resistive display with the stylus coming in handy now and then, on the whole, the Symbian S60 UI (rel. 5) is easy on the fingers except for one small aspect, the double tap to access certain sub-menus is quite annoying. Handwriting recognition is also supported amongst the virtual keyboard options. The QWERTY keypad comes across as a little cramped but thanks to the responsive display, it’s very finger friendly. There’s just a slight hint of lag in the UI but not enough to raise an eyebrow. The various desktop home screens can be edited to suit your specific needs for showing email, the new Nokia contacts bar and other shortcuts. Media It’s an XpressMusic handset so naturally the media player is expected to be good and the 5530 delivers on this commitment. The customizable 8-band graphic EQ and presets ensure that you can personalize the audio to your preference. The Loudness and Stereo Widening also make a significant difference to music playback. Nokia’s Bundled handsfree is quite comfortable for in-ear designs and come with adjustable sizes to suit your ears. Audio is both loud and very clear. Nokia has preinstalled the Playlist DJ app which is really handy for segregating tracks according to the kind of genre. The interface is quite well designed and makes listening to music convenient according to the beat. Other audio features include the FM radio that was just satisfactory as reception wasn’t quite consistent in most places where I usually get good reception from other handsets. The voice recorder will allow you to keep the handset at least three feet away and still provide really decent vocal clarity for voice memos. A Podcasting app is also on board. The video center app allows you to download and view videos from the Ovi Store. 3GP and MPEG4 files play without a hitch and the aspect ratio can be adjusted to fit the whole screen if you’re not comfortable with bands. |
Tags: XpressMusic , Nokia , Touchscreen , 3 Megapixel
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