| Value for Money | 9.5/10  |
|---|---|
| Reviewer Rating | 8.7/10 |
| Overall Rating | 8.7/10  |
By demiggi
on 8th Jan 2008
| Reviewers Network | T-Mobile |
|---|---|
| Time Phone Owned | Between 1 - 4 Weeks |
| Screen Quality | 8/10 |
| Battery Life | 7/10 |
| Features | 8/10 |
| Reception | 8/10 |
| Style | 9/10 |
| Value for money | 9/10 |
| Overall value | 8/10 |
 demiggi's recommendation | |
Excellent music playback quality
New "Music Slider" to access Music Player
Audio jack on top on the phone (not on the side)
Excellent and bright screen
3.2 Megapixel camera with VGA (640x480) video resolution
Good battery life
Comfortable number keys
Small and compact
Compatible with new MicroSDHD format (4GB and higher)
Flashing LEDs for missed calls/messages
Memory card slot is underneath the back cover
Very basic remote
No camera protection
Slide a bit wobbly when in "open"-position
D-Pad keys need getting used to
Back cover a bit loose at the top end
A bit heavy
The Nokia 5610 XPressMusic is marketed as a Music Device (would you have guessed it?) and therefore this Review concentrates mainly on the musical abilities it has to offer.
To say it upfront: the quality of sound output from this device is extremely good. I had several occasions where I said to myself "I didn't know this song had this or that instrument..." It is very clear and crisp. In my opinion it sounds better than the current Walkman offering from Sony Ericsson. It hasnt got the MegaBass function of the SE-devices, but you can increase the bass manually inside the Equalizer settings. It certainly sounds better than its predecessor, the Nokia 5300. Nokia claims that the music is handled by a separate chip which also makes the battery last longer when playing music on a regular basis. The external speaker is mono only, but very loud and definitely good enough for occasional use.
The Music Player can be quickly accessed by the new slider situated right underneath the screen. Slide it to the left once and the display "slides" into the Music Player Application. Slide it to the right causes it to go straight to the Radio Function. Gone are the dedicated music buttons from the 5300, instead the phones D-Pad is used to control the music. When not inside the Music Application the D-Pad acts as normal with the other phone functions. The disadvantage of this new arrangement is that you have to go to the music player first to start or stop a song. On the old 5300 you just had to press the start/stop button on the side.
The Player itself has undergone two visual changes. FINALLY (and I really have to put this into CAPITALS, because Nokia were slow to implement this) we are treated to the Album Artwork if written into the MP3 file. The other change is that you can change the appearance of the music player with pre-loaded "skins", similar to the Themes-function. The skins supplied are very similar to each other, though. I expect more skins to be available for download.
The music files are categorized under Playlists, All Songs, Artist, Album and Genre. In addition you can view Videos. The music player is capable of shuffling and/or repeating songs - nothing new here. You can create Playlists with the supplied PC Software or on the fly on the device itself. In addition there are Custom Playlists like Now Playing, Recently Added, Recent Tracks and Most Played. Depending on how many songs you have stored on your memory card it can take a while until you have scrolled down to the song you want - a search function, where you type in the first few letters of the song, would have been helpful.
A positive change compared to the 5300 is that Nokia decided to place the headset jack on the top part of the phone, and not on the side. This makes it much easier to place the device inside a protective jacket whilst having the headset plugged in. A lot of fuzz has been made about the fact that the jack is a 2.5mm one and not the standard 3.5mm. But the cable leads from the jack into a remote and this remote is fitted with the standard 3.5mm jack, so you can use any headset you like. The supplied headset is very good, but I prefer my in-ear Sony ones.
What is disappointing is that the remote only allows you to answer/end incoming calls and forward the music player to the next song. Nokia are doing more advanced remotes, which allow you to start/stop, forward, rewind and adjust the volume of a song. As this is a Music Orientated device I do not understand the reason for Nokia to supply this phone with a very basic remote. Minus points here.
Speaking about Minus points, the other major drawback of the Nokia 5610 is that the memory card is situated underneath the cover. For a music device this is very inconvenient because even though the capacity of the cards are getting bigger, you want to be able to just swap one card with another for a different music experience. Clearly, this device has not been made with this in mind. The 5610 comes with a USB-cable supplied, which now features a MICRO-USB port coming from the phone. The Nokia 5300 used a MINI-USB port, so the cable wont work on the new device. Plugging the phone into my Mac the Nokia 5610 appears as a external hard drive on my desktop. Transferring songs this way is quite slow, though. I prefer to take out the memory card and use my card-reader, but the necessity to take off the back-cover makes this very awkard.
Whenever you add or delete songs the music player automatically updates the library the next time you go into the Application. This sounds convenient, but if you only add one or two songs it still scans the whole memory card, and depending on the size of the card, this can take several minutes. Not a flaw, but annoying, still.
Other music related issues are as follows: the Nokia 5610 XPressMusic supports many digital music formats including MP3, AAC, AAC+ (iTunes), Midi and WAV. It is compatible with MicroSD memory cards and also supports the new MicroSDHD format. Caution, this new format is only supported by the latest devices. It comes supplied with a 1GB MicroSD in the box. I am currently using a 4GB MicroSDHD card from SanDisk which has no problems.
And here are the non-music related issues with the Nokia 5610 XPressMusic:
The one thing that stands out is the camera on this device. Nokia didnt fail to impress by equipping the 5610 with a 3.2 Megapixel camera WITH auto-focus AND flash. And I am talking about a proper flash here, not a light. Very impressive. I did not have time yet to compare the quality of the photographs taken, but the first impressions are very positive. Moreover the video recorder has a proper resolution of 640x480 pixels (VGA). I had a few Sony Ericsson phones in the past and these are very capable devices. But what really gets me is that when it comes to video resolution Sony Ericsson simply refuse to offer the customer more than the completely out of date 176x144 pixels. For me this is reason enough to stay away from these products, because it is clear to me that Sony Ericsson do this out of spite. Anyway, lets move on. The camera on the 5610 is very impressive, but it has no cover. What is more, the back-cover itself has just a hole where the camera and the flash is situated. So, protecting the lens from scratches might prove a big challenge.
The built quality is good. The sliding mechanism is sturdy. It needs a bit of effort to open and close it. When in the open position the D-Pad area feels a bit loose, but not too much to worry about. The D-Pad is slightly raised, while the menu- and call answer/end-buttons are flat, which makes it hard sometimes to hit the center of the key to make it work. Because of the material used the D-Pad area gets messed up with fingerprints in no time. The good thing about this design is that dust cannot enter through the gaps between the keys because there are none. The number keys are very comfortable to use which makes texting a joy. A funny thing is that the microphone is situated between the 4 and 7 key on the left side, which makes you wonder how it is supposed to work when the device is closed. But it DOES work. The on/off button is now incorporated into the end-call button. The place where the on/off button used to be, on top of the phone, is now occupied by a key to lift off the back cover. The back cover itself sits tight, except the top part, where the camera is situated, shows a bit of a gap. This might be big enough for dust to enter over time. I cannot say just yet.
The Nokia 5610 XPressMusic is a bit on the heavy side, but it makes holding the phone a more pleasant experience. It is small and compact and fits comfortably inside the palm of your hand. The front of the phone is black with red or blue strips on the side (depending which colour version you are going for), while the back is dark grey with a big red/blue NOKIA logo dominating the area. It supports 3G and you are able to make video calls as there is a small camera incorporated on the top just above the screen. You cannot adjust the brightness of the screen manually - this is done automatically by a small light sensor. The screen itself has a resolution of 240x320 pixels and struggles a bit when "confronted" with direct sunlight. But it is still readable. The quality of voice calls is very good, but I have to come to expect this from a company like Nokia. The 5610 is running on the latest version of the companys S40 software, which I found to be very stable and fast. I have stated several times in previous reviews of Nokia devices that I prefer the software on Nokia phones to all other offering on the market, simply because of its ease of use. I just love to customize my profiles to their fullest potential which cannot be achieved on Sony Ericsson, Samsung or Motorola phones. But having said this, it is mainly a personal issue.
The battery lasts for about 4 days with moderate use and playing music 1 hour per day. Last but not least, Nokia is more and more incorporating visual elements to tell the user that he/she has a missed call and/or a message waiting to be read. In case of the 5610 there are two LEDs situated on the left and right of the music-slide which can be made to light up. In normal standby mode they just flash very slowly. In case of a missed call/message they start flashing more rapidly. Not something to make you decide to buy this phone or not, but it surely is a nice touch and very appreciated.
Conclusion:
Being mainly a Music Device (albeit with a very good camera) the Nokia 5610 XPressMusic phone is STILL not good enough to get rid of your iPod. The sound quality is absolutely impressive, but Nokia just had to put the memory card slot underneath the cover and refused to supply the user with a state-of-the -art remote control as mentioned above. It almost looks like Nokia did this on purpose, but why? The company does not offer stand-alone music players which could see a drop in their sales?
As a phone the 5610 is more than impressive and the 3.2 Megapixel camera with auto-focus is just the icing on the cake. The brand new "Music Slide" works a treat and is a very positive step forward.
Moreover, rather than carrying around an iPod AND a mobile phone the 5610 incorporates both and throws in a good quality camera in just for good measure, and this is the main reason for going for this solution, unless the ease-of-use-aspect of the music player is essential to you.
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