Nokia Announces 5800 XpressMusic Touch Phone

Today is the day Nokia is announcing a hotly anticipated touch phone to their lineup. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic takes advantage of the benefits of touch to help consumers connect with their music. Featuring a “Media Bar”, the XpressMusic gives users fast access to on-board music and the Nokia Music Store.

Nokia is stressing that the new device is centered around music. Combined with the Nokia Music Player, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. The on-board music player has a graphic equalizer, standard headphone jack, and “high-quality” speakers. Also, they say battery life will allow for a day and a half of music playing time.

The phone features a 16:9 wide screen and will also include Nokia Maps and A-GPS. With the widescreen format, Maps will be incredibly useful when trying to navigate your way around town. Other onboard harsware include a 3.2 megapizel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and flash. The widescreen will also enhance the video playback while you are on-the-go.

Also, the new 5800 XpressMusic is powered by S60 5th Edition, the latest to come from Nokia. S60 5th Edition makes it possible for the UI to accept a touch interface and enables the widescreen mode. The press release from Nokia indicates that touch will notably enhance web browsing by enabling scrolling and interacting with links and other rich media options that Flash Lite 3 assist with.

My Thoughts:

This phone is an interesting development in the touch phone market. So far the competitors such as LG, Samsung, and others have been chasing the iPhone and have all come up short. The XpressMusic is not an iPhone wannabe…Nokia is not positioning it to be. The company is pitching the XpressMusic as a mid-level Nokia handset that features a touch screen. Unlike what some think, the 5800 XpressMusic is NOT intended or aimed at being an “iPhone Killer”.

We all know Apple’s iPhone has caused a shift in the market, and now we’re starting to see more fallout with these developments. Without the iPhone, would we be seeing touch interfaces so quickly?

3 comments on “Nokia Announces 5800 XpressMusic Touch Phone

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