Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Targets Touch-Screen Music Lovers

Nokia on Thursday turned the volume up on the battle of multimedia touch screen devices with its release of the 5800 XpressMusic, a music-centric 3G smartphone that takes elements from the Apple iPhone and T-Mobile G1, but focuses more on the tunes than anything else.

The device, which could be perceived as a potential iPhone killer, has the music enthusiast in mind. It's among the first devices to support Nokia's "Comes With Music," a digital music service announced this month that gives users one year of unlimited access to the Finnish device-maker's music store catalog.

The Comes With Music integrates the device with the Nokia Music Store and integration with Nokia Music PC software lets users drag, drop and transfer tunes and manage music.

The 5800 XpressMusic comes as more device makers make music a strong focus of their handsets. Apple's iPhone syncs with iTunes, while the T-Mobile G1 links to Amazon's MP3 Store.



The device, which along with 3G supports HSDPA and Wi-Fi, features a high-resolution 3.2-inch widescreen touch display (640 x 360). With the touch screen, Nokia added a "Media Bar" to the 5800 XpressMusic. The Media Bar is a drop-down menu that offers direct access to music and entertainment, like favorite tracks, videos and photos. It also offers a direct link to the Web and to online sharing.

Along with the Media Bar, the 5800 XpressMusic also adds a "Contacts Bar," which lets users highlight four favorite contacts on their home screen and with a single tap track a digital history of recent text messages, emails, phone logs, photos and blog updates. Nokia called the Contacts Bar feature a "digital RSS feed on your life."



The screen also offers shortcuts from the home screen to menu items like calendar, profiles and clocks.



The 5800 XpressMusic measures 4.4 inches by 2 inches by 0.61 inches and weighs 3.84 ounces. It offers up to 35 hours of music playback, between five and nine hours of talk time and up to 17 days of standby time.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, which will be available worldwide in the fourth quarter and with Comes With Music early next year, also includes a 3.2 megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens.





The touch screen display enables images and videos to be shared with a single tap through online communities like Share on Ovi, Flickr and Facebook. Music playlists and song titles can also be shared through Bluetooth, MMS and online sharing.

Because it's a touch screen, the 5800 XpressMusic offers several input methods including a virtual alphanumeric keypad, a virtual QWERTY keyboard, a pen stylist and a plectrum.



The 5800 XpressMusic also supports Flash, unlocking the Web. The device also features a graphic equalizer, 8 GB of memory for up to 6,000 songs and support for all main digital music formats. The handheld also embeds a 3.5 mm headphone jack and surround sound stereo speakers. Nokia said support for 16 GB of memory will be available soon.