XpressMusic has been one of the most successful logos ever created by the Finnish giant, Nokia. Thus, as soon as Nokia 5310 has been rumored, fans of the XpressMusic series were thrilled about its look and features. It seems that Nokia's 5310 candy-bar might be the right answer to Sony Ericsson's growing line of Walkman series devices. Slimmer than any other music phone available on the market, Nokia 5310 Xpress Music is one of the few handsets to feature a dedicated audio chipset. Even though its price might suggest that it belongs to the mid-level class, in terms of quality Nokia 5310 handset is definitely a tier 1 device. One of the reasons is exactly the low price that you have to pay compared with its high number of good quality features.

Announced in late summer 2007 (August), Nokia 5310 XpressMusic was out on the market 2 months later, in October 2007. The handset can be acquired for about USD 280$ without any plan, but depending on the location and plan, its price can be considerably lower.



Design

Nokia 5310 XpressMusic adopts a standard candy-bar form, pretty much classic for Nokia's bar handsets. What really amazes is the slim thickness of the phone – only 9.9 mm. Without looking too flimsy or too stylish, Nokia 5310 will surely attract fans of the brand. Because of the low size thickness, almost all the important ports and keys have been moved on top of the device. Thus, on the left side of the phone, you'll find the small charger port, while the right side includes the dual volume key. Nothing else could be fit in here, so take a look on top of the phone to notice the microUSB port, the 3.5 mm jack port and the Power button.


Above the medium sized display there's the in-call speaker, but also a small light sensor that will keep the backlighting of the keys longer when in darker areas, but which should also adjust the brightness of the display in accordance with the environment. The microSD slot card might be a little hard to find, but I'll give you a hint (besides the pictures), open up the back cover and check under the SIM slot. The 3 keys that control the music player have been placed in the left side of the phone and are hard to miss. These are a little bit useless, as you need to pull out the phone from your pocket to unlock the keys and then actually use them. I think that a better idea is to include a remote control in the sale package that could easily handle the music player, so you won't be forced to pull out the phone. The 2 Megapixel camera on the back of the phone lacks autofocus and flash capabilities, so you can say goodbye to any Night pictures.


There are also three loudspeakers placed near the bottom of the back cover, which I think is a bad idea, as users can easily cover it by mistake. Otherwise, the compounds used are making the phone look stylish. The sparky keypad is simple but shines when exposed to light. Furthermore, the phone doesn't catch fingerprints and is very lightweight (71 grams including battery). The rest of its sizes (103.8 x 44.7 mm) recommends it even for the most tight pockets.



Display and Camera

Without being the smallest display on the market, I wouldn't recommend Nokia's 5310 screen for Internet navigation. Still, it does excel when it comes to quality and supports 16 Million colors and 240 x 320 pixels QVGA resolution. These traits are making it perfectly visible in any light conditions, either strong or low.


Most certainly, the same display has been embedded onto Nokia's 6500 slide handset, which is a little bit newer. Both displays scored rather low in benchmarks, but that won't lower their functionality.



The most disappointing feature that 5310 XpressMusic candy-bar possesses is the 2 Megapixel camera. I cannot understand how come that Nokia managed to screw this one. The camera mixes the colors like crazy without any clear algorithm making pictures look very strange sometime. Further, the module camera is one of the slowest on the market, changing the pleasure of taking a picture into a nightmare. It takes about 5-6 seconds till the camera is activated and about 10 seconds to save a picture. Pay attention to the time between hearing the shutter sound and the actual saving process. You need to stay still even after hearing this sound, as you'll get unclear photos if you moved your hand right before pressing the camera button. The interface settings for the camera are standard, just like the quality of the pictures. Without impressing too much, if you are a patient user, then you might endure the phone's long saving times and get some average quality pictures.


The maximum resolution for photos is the usual 1600 x 1200 pixels, while the clips can be recorded using a maximum resolution of 176 x 144 pixels. I suggest you avoid trying to take pictures of objects too close of the camera, as the module lacks autofocus or macro capabilities. You should be content with landscape pictures, or you can try keep some distance if you really wanna capture some texts or various objects. Also, as I have stated above, taking snapshots in dark areas is not an option, because the camera doesn't feature any flash. Movies can only be recorded in QCIF resolution and are limited to 3GP format. Check out some of the sample pictures I took in different light conditions and environments.



Menu and Software

Nokia 5310 XpressMusic runs on a S40 5th Edition interface, which is the latest user-interface coming from Nokia. If you wonder what happened with the 4th Edition, which should've been out right before the 3rd then look no further, as Nokia decided to drop it this one's favor. If you had a Nokia handset before that didn't have a Symbian OS, then this candy-bar will probably feel the same.


One of the most user-friendly interface on the market, the S40 seems unchanged on the surface and offers the Nokia 5310 user an excellent experience. Nothing has really changed and you'll notice the same menus, submenus and icons, even the same animation. Nokia's Series 40 5th Edition UI enables users to experience streaming videos, image rendering, mobile 3D graphics and scalable 2D Vector graphics. The Series 40 5th Edition also supports the latest version of Adobe's Flash Lite 2.1, the interoperable platform that enables the accelerated development and delivery of rich graphical mobile content, and includes audio file playback and streaming capabilities that provide audio and music enhancements to both mobile gaming and multimedia experience.


The handset also includes some useful applications such as: Yahoo! Go, Alarm clock, Calendar, To-do list, Notes, Calculator, Countdown timer, World Clock and Stopwatch. The menu is fully customizable and you can designate any MP3, MIDI or AAC file as ringtone. Nokia's integrated browser didn't change also, but you might want to use Opera Mini for faster and smoother browsing.


The phonebook can store up to 2000 contacts, each one can be filled with up to 5 different phone numbers. The fonts can be customized, and you can also assign images or videos to any of the contacts. There's also a nice Wallpaper creator application that lets you make your own wallpapers.


Communications

Only the basic data transfer standards have been included into Nokia 5310 handset. Even if it lacks 3G technology, the user can still take advantage of the GPRS (Class 32) or EDGE (Class 32, up to 177 kbps). Data transfer tests revealed above average results when using the EDGE technology: 136 Kbit/s download and 57 Kbit/s upload. The phone also features Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support for those that intend to use a wireless headset to listen music. Synchronization with PC is possible through the proprietary microUSB port, but don't forget to install the software that comes with the phone before.


In terms of messaging, the phone accepts standard text messages, MMS, flash and sound messages, as well as emails. The message client works with POP3, SMTP, and IMAP4 protocols and supports more than one email accounts. Yahoo!Go is also present, so you can check your email box, or you can take advantage of some of the cool features that the service made available by Yahoo! has to offer.


The triband (GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900) network compatible bar has a mediocre GSM signal reception. The sound is very good in quality at both ends, and pretty loud. Nevertheless, the vibration is somewhat mediocre in intensity and cannot be set to higher levels. That will surely make you miss a lot of calls if you set the phone on Silent.



Processor and Memory

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find out what kind of CPU powers Nokia 5310 XpressMusic handset. The CPU emulator couldn't give me any result, but seeing the results of various benchmarks I believe it's the same ARM9 170 Mhz processor that has been embedded into Nokia's 6500 classic and slide handsets. Overall the phone is pretty fast and Java applications can be run without any problems. I haven't experienced any lags or lockups.


The handset embeds 30 MB user free internal memory, but that can easily be expanded through the microSD slot card. The latter reveals itself after you remove the plastic cover on the back of the phone and check right under the SIM slot. It is hot-swappable, but the fact that you must remove the back cover everytime you need to pull out the memory card can become annoying. Anyway, the phone comes with a 2 GB memory card in the sale package, but that can be replaced with a 4GB one (successfully tested).



Multimedia

The whole XpressMusic line-up has been intriguing in terms of audio quality. Questions like: 'Is this XpressMusic handset better than a Sony Ericsson Walkman series phone?' or 'Does it sound better and louder than a SE?'. There hasn't been a real truce between the two handset makers fans, Nokia and Sony Ericsson, and most certainly it never will. Still, competition is good, especially for the customers, but only a radical change will make a Nokia fan buy a Sony Ericsson device and vice-versa. So, I believe it's better not to compare Nokia's 5310 XpressMusic phone with any of the Walkman series handset. Anyway, before talking about sound quality let's take a quick look at the music player's interface.


This is a completely new and redesigned interface and offers a better entertainment experience. Also the external music dedicated keys are making the phone very easy to handle when music player or FM radio are used. The integrated Video player can play 3GP and MP4 files and features the Fullscreen mode for a better experience. The music player is compatible with MP3, MIDI, AAC, AAC+, and WMA file formats. For a better music experience you can take advantage of the Equalizer, that features 8 presets, but it's not limited to those. The 3.5 mm jack port enables you to easily swap the default headset (Nokia HS-45) with another one of your choosing. The FM radio can store up to 20 base stations and has the RDS function.


In terms of audio quality, Nokia 5310 XpressMusic qualifies as very good. Users that want a higher sound quality should definitely change the headset that comes in the sales package. Also, radio reception is excellent and audio quality even better. The loudspeakers are not making a good job (even if they're 3), so you will get a low sound, which lacks any bass traces. The dedicated audio chipset included does its job and puts Nokia 5310 cellphone in top 3 XpressMusic series in terms of sound quality.



Battery

The 860 mAh Li-Ion battery has an officially stated life expectancy of 300 hours in standby and about 5 hours in talk time mode. What we got was 4 days of use: 20 minutes calls per day, 10 minutes Internet navigation everyday. Those that intend to use the phone more as an MP3 player will be happy to find that the battery offers about 15 hours of autonomy when used for this purpose. These numbers are more than acceptable, especially since we have such a small capacity battery.



Impressions

Without impressing too much through its design, Nokia 5310 XpressMusic will surely please the eye of any user through its sizes and simplicity. It is pretty clear that the candy-bar targets youngsters who are looking for a music phone. Easy handling, the size of a dedicated MP3 player and simplicity will undoubtedly make Nokia 5310 handset a serious competitor on the music phones market.


The Good

Nokia S40 5th Edition proves to be the best user-friendly interface, which makes the 5310 XpressMusic handset very easy to use. Its stylish look and above average features such as: sound quality, battery life and dedicated audio chipset, recommend this phone as one of the best music phone made by Nokia. There's no doubt - you'll be enjoying every moment of use.


The Bad

Nokia 5310 would've been much better with if it didn't had a camera. Instead of putting in such a low quality module camera, Nokia should've forgotten about it. The 2 Megapixels camera is simply to slow and crappy to be used. Also, it would've been nice to have 3G, but we can't have all we want for such a low price.

Sales package

Nokia 5310 XpressMusic handset
Nokia Battery BL-4CT (Li-Ion 860mAh)
Nokia Travel Charger AC-3 charger
Short user guide
Nokia Stereo Headset HS-45 with AD57
Nokia Micro USB Cable CA-101
Nokia MicroSD 2 GB memory card (MU-37), country dependent
CD ROM
Music flyer


Photo: Tudor Raiciu for Softpedia.com