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Review: Nokia 5310 XpressMusic

January 23, 2009 15:44 by author

Introduction

The Nokia 5310 is a solid mid-range release from Nokia that puts a focus on music and multimedia. I was looking to replace my older Samsung E370 recently and was quite impressed with the specs on the 5310. After having used the phone for about a month now, I feel I've made the right choice. Here are some of my thoughts.

Features

The 5310 features quite an array of attractive functions that will appeal to a number of people. Here are my favourites:

Built-in music and video player: the phone is geared towards music and doesn't disappoint. Music-lovers can easily upload their favourite music to the phone, and listen to a high-quality sound. The player also provides an equalizer, allowing you to adjust the sound to your taste. Video is also possible, if slightly more tricky to get it to play on the phone (a guide can be found here).
Integrated music navigation keys: the phone has three dedicated music keys next to the display, which can be used to control the play of music at any point. No need to go into the music player application to pause the song, or skip to the next or previous track.
Slick menu navigation: the phone has a well-designed menu system that can be customized to your liking, with a number of themes built into the phone. Additional themes can be downloaded. Animated screensavers are also available.
Standard ear-phone jack: if you don't like the ear-phones that come with the phone, you can plug in any ear-phones with the standard audio 3.5mm connector. I'm using in-ear headphones instead of the stock ear-phones, and it works great.
Data cable and software: There is a comprehensive software suite that comes with the package. Using this software, you can interact with the phone in numerous ways, while the phone is connected with the included data cable.
Games: There is a selection of 3 built-in games. Some demo versions are installed, but are very limited in terms of usability. You can easily buy and download the full versions, though. There is also a comprehensive list of other popular games to purchase.
Micro-SD card slot: The phone's built-in memory can be extended with any standard micro-SD memory card. The phone comes standard with a 2GB card, which provides a good amount of storage to start with.
Organizer: The phones organizer is quite comprehensive and allows you to add appointments, to-do lists, and notes. Reminders and alarms are also very easy to set up.
Ringtones: The Nokia 5310 comes preloaded with a diverse selection of ringtones. More can be downloaded if this selection does not satisfy your taste.
XpressMusic: This Nokia service provides you with a library of songs that are downloadable either free or at a nominal cost, depending on the deal your phone came with.
2MP camera: the camera is fine for medium-sized pictures, but doesn't excel in quality. Saving of photos is also quite slow. The camera is, in my opinion, the only sub-par feature this phone offers.

Who will like it?

If you listen to music on the go quite often, this phone is for you. It's made for music-lovers on the move. Having a combination of phone and MP3 player in one device lets you carry around fewer things. The phone is also quite light and can be handled well.

Who won't like it?

If you need more advanced, PDA functionality in your mobile, this phone is not for you. While it offers a basic set of functions (including even e-mail), it does not provide you with advanced e-mailing, spreadsheets, word processing, or similar software. If that's something that you depend on, you should rather look at getting a Blackberry or an iPhone.

Conclusion

So far I'm very impressed with this mobile phone. It has given me no major grief so far, and I'm enjoying the music-related functions it provides. Overall the phone looks stylish, is not too big, and just works for my purposes. This makes it one of my best mobile phone purchases ever.