Nokia 5300 Mobile Phone review
Design |
| Nokia was feeling left out of the music phone industry so they decided to create the XpressMusic range of phones (Nokia 5200, Nokia 3250) to compete with the popular Walkman phones made by Sony Ericsson. In fact, the design of the Nokia 5300 is very similar to the design of the Sony Ericsson W850i. The Nokia 5300 XpressMusic phone is a triband slider phone destined for a young market. The phone comes in two different colours: white framing with red trims and white framing with dark grey trims. The main part of the body is made of plastic, while the middle trim is slightly rubberised. On the front of the Nokia 5300 we have the QVGA display that measures 2 inches (320x240 pixels) and supports 262,144 colors. Beneath the screen there are two soft keys, phone answering/hang up keys and a four-way navigation key that incorporates OK key. To the left of the screen we find the all important music control keys to allow you to control the music playback without having to slide open the phone. The right side houses volume shortcut keys and also the camera button, while the left side features a 2.5 mm audio jack, compatible with the 3.5 mm adapter shipped with the handset. The 1.3 megapixel camera is located on the back of the phone, above the battery cover. The keypad on the Nokia 5300 is one of the best out there. The keys are quite large and the whole keypad is extremely ergonomic, and even the lowest row of keys is very usable, as they are not that close to the edge of the device. The half auto-open sliding mechanism works well, although the screen doesn't lock itself when open. The Nokia 5300 measures 92.4 x 48.2 x 20.7 mm and it weighs 106.5 g. |
| Features |
| The main thing Nokia 5300 is made for is music playback. The phone supports MP3, Midi, AAC, AAC+, enhanced AAC+, and WMA formats and you can store up to 1,500 songs with a 2GB memory card (not included). The Nokia 5300 also includes a built in FM radio to allow you to listen to your favourite radio stations on the move. Nokia’s developers thought it was a good idea to include a five band equalizer to control the sound quality and we agree. The built-in equalizer has 5 presets (Normal, Pop, Rock, Jazz and Classical) and two user-customizable ones. A very cool feature included in this phone is the 2.5 mm audio jack, and thanks to the 3.5 mm adaptor supplied with the handset, you can plug in your own stereo headphones. The bundled stereo-headset HS-47 houses pick up key and two bud-shaped earphones edged with rubber strings, the sales package also includes two ear bud soft cover sets (black and red). The headset makes use of 2.5 mm jack, which means it connects to the 5300 directly without using the 3.5 mm adaptor. The Nokia 5300 comes with a 1.3 megapixel camera that takes JPEG pictures in six different resolutions ranging from 1,290x960 to 160x120. You also get a variety of camera settings including three quality modes, five colour effects, a 10 second self-timer, adjustable white balance and an 8x digital zoom. The camera also shoots 3GPP videos with sound and you can choose between two resolution settings (176x144 and 129x96). Despite the music focus, the 5300 comes with a variety of business features including full Bluetooth with a stereo profile, an infrared port, a speakerphone, PC syncing, a mini-USB port and a unit/currency converter. This exciting and good looking music phone has a large 1,000 contact phone book with room in each entry for five numbers. You can organise callers into groups or pair them with a photo for caller ID purposes. Other standard offerings include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a voice recorder, e-mail and instant messaging, an alarm clock, a calendar, a to-do list, a notepad, a calculator, a countdown timer, and a stopwatch. |
| Performance |
| The Nokia 5300 performs very well as a Music player and the control keys on the exterior of the phone are quite comfortable to use. Music quality is excellent and the stereo speakers are amongst the loudest we have used, producing a sharp and clear sound. We have a small complaint though. There is no direct access to the memory card, which means that you have to remove the battery cover every time you want to remove the memory card. We think this is a huge design mistake and Nokia developers should have made the card accessible without having to remove the battery cover every time. The 1.3 megapixel camera took decent pictures, although we weren’t too impressed by the image quality. If you are looking for a music phone that is easy to use, the 5300 is the perfect match for you, but if what you are looking for is a camera phone, you may want to have a look at the Sony Ericsson K800i. The Nokia 5300 is quite capable when it comes to handling calls and contact lists. Voice quality was good and signal strength was always strong. Nokia claims a battery life of up to 3.2 hours talk time and up to 223 hours on stand by, although we only managed to squeeze just 3 hours of talk time. The battery life on music play mode is more than acceptable and it will give you up to 12 hours of music from one charge. WOW. |
| What's In The Box? |
| • Nokia 5300 XpressMusic phone • Nokia Battery BL-5B • Nokia Stereo Headset HS-47 • Universal headphone adapter • microSD card (sizes varies by region) • CD-ROM |
| Overall Opinion |
| The Nokia 5300 music phone is a good all round mobile that performs well as an MP3 player and as a mobile phone. It’s not the best music phone, and it doesn’t take breathtaking pictures, but for the price you will pay for it, we think it’s a good deal and we are sure those Nokia lovers out there will be very pleased with it. |
By Nacho Galvez |
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Pros + Music Player + Easy to use + 2.5 mm jack |
Cons - No direct access to memory card - Not the best camera |
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Overall Rating 
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By Nacho Galvez
19/12/2006 at 7:02:32pm
19/12/2006 at 7:02:32pm
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