First Nokia TouchScreen Phone

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Posted October 2, 2008 at 3:16pm by iClarified

A hands on with the first Nokia TouchScreen phone finds that it is far less accurate than the iPhone.

Gizmodo had a chance to review the 5800 XpressMusic (aka Tube). The phone is the first touchscreen Symbian S60 phone from Nokia and is positioned as a music phone. It comes packaged with their all-you-can-eat (and keep) Comes With Music service.

"For a mid-range music phone with touch, though, the 5800 is pretty well equipped: 640x360 touchscreen with haptic response, Wi-Fi, A-GPS, 3G on the 850/1900 MHz band (works with AT&T here in the States), 3.2MP camera with Zeiss lens, and an 8GB microSD card for music in the box. But while the touchscreen is sharp and bright, it's resistive rather than capacitive, which means instead of accurately picking up the light zap of electricity from your fingertips, it registers where two thin layers of the screen get pushed together under your finger.

On the prototype we played with briefly, it's much harder to get touches to register, and far less accurate than the iPhone's capacitive screens. The 5800 packs a built-in stylus for this reason—you'll be using it a lot."

Gizmodo concludes that the device needs a bit more time in the oven before it can stand with the big guys for a touchscreen-only device.

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Lyrrad - October 3, 2008 at 11:53am

One last point, Apples marketing hype helped to sell few million iPhones, but Nokia does over 100 million are smartphones each year out of over 500 million in phone sales. This is a significant threat, more so than Google/HTC or Microsoft in the Music/smartphone wars. They have significant global brand loyalty. Again, I predict a shift if Apple doesn't act quick to show dominance in this area.

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Lyrrad - October 3, 2008 at 11:15am

RG, have you actually seen and held the device? I have, and I can say with complete confidence as an iPhone 3G owner (as stated before, on my 2nd device), this is no cheap knock off. Don't get me wrong, I love the iPhone, Apple did a great job, but they have failed in delivering a number of key functions that others have had for years, the competition is taking advantage of this failing and introducing new choices to consumers. Apple left an opening and it's only a matter of time before they are out done. Companies like Nokia have enormous market share and the ability to produce hardware quicker and cheaper than Apple, with existing Global channels for distribution. If Apple is not careful they will be the ones playing catch up before too long, they need to deliver on the missing functions, before one of these competitors finds a way to market their product to the better. As for the "pain" you mentioned, once the device is within bluetooth proximity to your computer it sync's, and it has corporate email capabilities (full Exchange sync). Come on Apple, I can live without copy and paste for a while, but must I connect with a cable to sync data when the device has bluetooth and WiFi? Please, at least give me that, Wifi sync even existed in my old Palm device, it can't be that difficult.

Maxxy - October 3, 2008 at 7:45am

lol , this phone is shown in the batman movie . the dark knight

RG - October 3, 2008 at 1:19am

it is not only too bad that they are copying (following the iPhone), they are doing it soo poorly it is not worth the money or pain, yes..Nokia too is years behind iPhone..sorry dues..the bar was raised way up and this attempt is that, just another attempt to catch up, just like HTC's G1 or anyother player in the market...you have a BIG challenge ahead to be able to beat the iPhone...

Lyrrad - October 3, 2008 at 1:03am

I disagree RG. No iPhone indeed, but lets give credit where credit is due, Nokia is the McDonalds of cell phones, you wont get a gourmet meal, but you will get great value for your dollar. Look, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic has everything, including fully functional Bluetooth (music via blue tooth headset, Bluetooth data synchronization and file transfer), Video recorder, voice control, video calling (this is fantastic and works unlike some other implementations Ive seen), SD card slot, MMS, Wifi, GPS, native support for multiple file formats including WMA without having to convert (you just drag it to the folder on the device), web browser (that does not just shut down on you), and works and feels like a Nokia (rugged, can take a beating, Im on my 2nd iPhone). I think they hit this one out the park; it has all the things we had hoped Apple would have delivered. Yes, its no iPhone, but what does that mean? The only failing here is the touch screen technology, its like the Verizon devices, not as sensitive but it works great. My only wish is that they include HD radio like the 5310 in the next version of this phone. Oh, and did I mention 16 days on standby, 1.5 days of music play. I just came back from a business trip, there is nothing worse than running out of juice after 2hrs. As cool as the iPhone is, this phone is real competition and will take significant market share from Apple. RIM, Google, Microsoft, HTC, and now Nokia, I think were gonna have fun this winter, even if the economy is down the tubes, this is one tube Id love to own. Decide for yourself, take a look at the specs - http://www.nokiausa.com/A41271075

RG - October 3, 2008 at 12:39am

it is not only too bad that they are copying (following the iPhone), they are doing it soo poorly it is not worth the money or pain, yes..Nokia too is years behind iPhone..sorry dues..the bar was raise way up and this attempt is that, just another attempt to catch up, just like HTC's G1 or anyother player in the market...you have a BIG challenge ahead to be able to beat the iPhone...