Nokia 5500 Sport Review
| Design |
| The Nokia 5500 has been designed to last. The handset itself is entirely made of metal, while the sides are made from rubber, making this smart phone one of the most hardwearing phones on the market. The phone comes in 2 colours, silver with yellow framings and black with white ones. Who said that smart phones have to be bulky and very heavy? Nokia has managed to pack all the features of a smart phone into a very small casing (107x45x18 mm) that weighs only 103 grams, making the Nokia 5500 the smallest smart phone out there. The keypad is made of rubber and it feels very solid and responsive. On the right side of the phone we can find the infrared port and a function key to switch between modes (music player, sport and phone), while on the left side it holds the volume key and a Push To Talk dedicated button. The power button is located on the top rim of the phone and can be used to switch between different profiles. Next to the power button, Nokia has installed a very handy flashlight that can be activated by pressing the * key. The back of the Nokia 5500 holds a 2 Mega Pixel camera and the battery cover, made of thick plastic, that screws into the main body of the phone. |
| Features |
| The main feature of the Nokia 5500 is its durability and the fact that it’s shock, dust and water resistant, allowing you to take it with you everywhere regardless of the weather conditions and if you drop the phone, don’t worry, it will not break into pieces like the majority of smart phones in the market. The Nokia 5500 is powered by S60, well known for its integrity. The handset comes with a 208 x 208 pixels display, capable of reflecting up to 262K colours. It is not a huge screen (31x31 mm), but Nokia’s justification for the small screen size is that the screen is the most fragile part of a mobile phone and if they had included a bigger screen, they would have compromised the durability and toughness of the phone. Fair enough… The phone has three operation modes (phone, sport and music) and you can easily switch between them using the function button located on the left side of the phone. In Sports mode, the phone monitors and displays training data, speed and distance, steps taken and calories burnt. In Music mode, you can listen to MP3 songs or the FM radio, which includes Visual Radio support, allowing you to find out which song is playing, who sings it and other artist information. There is plenty of memory for storing MP3 songs on the expandable 64 MB microSD memory card (although you can always buy a bigger microSD card). There is no doubt that this phone has been designed for sports fans and proof of this is the inclusion of a very cool 3D sensor that responds to taps. The sensor controls different functions depending on the mode the phone is on. In music mode you can tap the phone to control MP3 playback (pause, play, skip next song, etc…). In Sports mode, the phone gives you voice (yes, VOICE) feedback on sports tracking data and in Phone mode, you can tap the phone and it will read out SMS messages (thanks to the Text To Speech feature), so you can listen to your messages while you exercise without having to stop exercising to read your messages. How cool is that? It not only reads the SMS messages content, but it will also read out the name of the person that has sent you the message. The Nokia 5500 operates with an 860 mAh battery that provides the phone with up to 4 hours of talk time and up to 270 hours in standby mode (according to the manufacturer). |
| Performance |
| The first time you hold the Nokia 5500 you will be amazed by its built quality. The phone feels very comfortable to use due to its bean-shaped form. The screen is very bright and we were able to use the phone under direct sun light without any problems. Some people may find the screen too small for a smart phone, but remember that this handset is designed to be taken with you while you exercise and a bigger screen would increase the size and weight of the phone. We were very impressed with the built in 3D sensor and to be honest, we were not expecting it to work as well as it did. In Sport mode, you can tap the phone and it will give you information regarding your current exercise (distance, calories burnt, etc…) and in Music mode, you can tap twice the front of the phone to pause/resume a track while it’s playing. You can also tap the side of the phone if you want to skip to the next track. In Phone mode, when you receive a SMS message, just tap the phone and it will read the message for you. It will read anything that says on the message, although it does not recognize abbreviations, so it will spell them out letter by letter and this can be a bit annoying sometimes. The menus in the Nokia 5500 are simple and very easy to use and it will not take you long to get used to them. The battery life is not as generous as the manufacturer claims, but we managed to get just over 3 hours of talk time and this is not bad at all for a smart phone. |
| What's In The Box? |
| • Nokia 5500 handset • Battery BL5B 860 mAh Li-Ion • Charger • Sport stereo headset • 64 Mb Micro SD memory card • CD-ROM with PC Suite and Nokia Sport Manager Software • User’s guide • USB Cable • Wrist band • Clip and carrying bag |
| Overall Opinion |
The Nokia 5500 is a shock and water resistant mobile phone, that is small enough to fit in your jogging shorts, and that reads out text messages just by tapping the phone at the same time that plays MP3's. If you like exercising, the Nokia 5500 is the phone for you, and it attempts to make your hectic life a bit easier. We truly recommend this fantastic and useful handset. |
By Nacho Galvez |
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Pros + 3D Sensor + Water and Shock resistant + Text To Speech (TTS) + 2 Megapixel Camera |
Cons |
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Overall Rating 
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By Nacho Galvez
11/12/2006 at 7:23:22pm
11/12/2006 at 7:23:22pm
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