Call quality was never an issue with the 5800, as it easily lived up to our expectations of a Nokia-branded phone. Ring tones sounded quite loud and we were happy with them even in noisy environments. The vibro alter was of moderate strength.
You also can mute the 5800's notification sounds and ringtones simply by flipping it face-down.
So, first things first, when the 5800 Tube is going to arrive? On October 5th it will kick off in Russia and several other markets; however the rest of Europe won't see it until early 2009 solely because Nokia don't want to tear up their own portfolio before the Christmas season. The 5800 XpressMusic will retail for 279 Euros before subsidies and rebates on all European markets. Intestingly, while they will face some deficit early on, nobody is going to alter the phone's price tag. It's vitally important for Nokia to stick to the price point they announced several days ago to get themselves another bestselling phone.
Nokia's first touchscreen smartphone isn't a mixed bag by any means. Going for it are a stable OS, decent sales package that very few other phones have, and a wealth of multimedia features onboard. For a moment it may feel like a perfect phone, but there is no such thing, right? In fact it does have some glitches in the way of software (for example when adding the Birthday field the phone automatically closes the contact menu), but we certainly expected to see more of them in this newly designed operating system.
On balance the 5800 Tube offers pretty decent sound quality, audible stereo speakers, WiFi connectivity, and a sizable display that will remain the best on the market for a quite a while. Frankly, I can hardly find anything to criticize the 5800 for, given how little it goes for - there has never been a phone like this before and now it raises the bar to a wholly new level. Well, it's about time I wrapped it all up - no point in praising this phone any further, I suppose.
Another thing of note about the 5800 Tube is that it simply won't face any challenges on the market - the Apple iPhone is a steep, fashion-savvy offering that has been deprived of many standard features, so a comparison between these two phones would seem a little too far-fetched. It does have smoother and more eye-candy menus, similar video capabilities, but that's about it - in fact the iPhone packs in around a tenth of what the Nokia 5800 has to offer in terms of functionality. It wouldn't be right to put them in one league and then berate the iPhone for lacking so many useful feats. So let the iPhone remain the ultimate choice for all fashion-conscious users, while the Nokia 5800 will be the way to go for everyone who is after a well-rounded do-it-all solution.
The revolution is already here and its name is "Nokia 5800 XpressMusic" - there will be no other similarly geared and at the same time well-balanced phone in 2009. It sports an unparalleled price/quality ratio and changes the rules for all phone makers out there, including Nokia itself.
In the next installment of this review we will cover the 5800 Tube's OS - S60 5th edition - as well as all its features and abilities. Don't forget to check back for more!
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