The Best of :
Prasad Naik, Nov 06, 2009 1500 hrs IST
Slim, light, full touchscreen Symbian smartphone
Slim and light design, good display quality, excellent audio quality, decent camera quality (daylight)
Clunky interface design, resistive touchscreen response not up to the mark, poor display visibility under sunlight, no 3G and GPS, no dedicated music keys
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We had previewed the Nokia 5530 a couple of months ago at the Nokia Music Store launch event in Mumbai. Our first impressions were generally positive and we liked the improved interface over the 5800 XpressMusic and the thinner and lighter form factor. Today we have the phone in our labs and we will put it through a thorough test and pass a verdict.
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What does being a touchscreen phone have anything to do with the music keys? The 5530 is a music phone and should ideally have dedicated music keys. How else is one supposed to change tracks or play pause if the device is in your pocket? You'd have to unlock the screen every time you have to do this simple task. Even low-end Nokia music phones like the 5130 have music keys. So why can't this phone which costs more than twice have them?
by Prasad Naik, Mumbai, on Nov 20, 2009 12:37 PM, Report abuse
there no point comparing this phone with the iphone 3g. especially when its around 2.5 times the price of the 5530 !!!!!
by shibtanu, kolkata, on Nov 06, 2009 05:41 PM, Report abuse Reply
by Yogesh, New Delhi, on Nov 06, 2009 05:53 PM, Report abuse
I wasn't comparing the phones themselves but just the interface. As you know the interface on the 5530 is the same as the one in the N97 or the Samsung OmniaHD, which are priced close to the iPhone, so it is quite fair to compare the UIs of the two phone. As can be seen though, the interface design on the 5530 (or the N97 and OmniaHD) are nowhere close to the overall smoothness and user friendliness of the iPhone's
by Prasad Naik, Mumbai, on Nov 06, 2009 06:35 PM, Report abuse
If you want to compare 5530 with iPhone also highlight the facts that mighty iPhone cant really multitask which is the core functionality of a smart phone and cant do something as simple as transferring a file over bluetooth even though its priced nearly 3 times the price of the 5530. HIghlight both positives and negatives and let people decide what they want.
by Yashwanth, Bangalore, on Nov 07, 2009 08:27 AM, Report abuse
We aren't reviewing the iPhone here. What is the point of mentioning the things that the iPhone cannot do in this review? As for the 5530, I think I have mentioned both the positive and negative aspects of the phone, including the multi-tasking.
by Prasad Naik, Mumbai, on Nov 07, 2009 01:04 PM, Report abuse
The comparison with iPhone is a part of the review. If you are comparing compare all aspects especially the huge price. You should compare it with LG Cookie and Samsung Star, that will be more useful.
by Yashwanth, Bangalore, on Nov 07, 2009 04:29 PM, Report abuse
I think I have already clarified that the I was only comparing the interface of the two phones.
by Prasad Naik, Mumbai, on Nov 08, 2009 04:52 PM, Report abuse
Dear Mr Prasad, please read the review from "mobile phones.uk" and the user comments. ""The 3 most popular phones on this website are currently (at the time of writing this review) the LG Cookie, Samsung Tocco Lite and the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. What makes these phones so popular? They are all affordable touchscreen phones. Judging by these facts, the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic looks set to be a stonking success! The 5530 can be regarded as a stripped-down version of the 5800. The 5530 is more compact, with a smaller screen, no 3G, no Carl Zeiss optics in the camera, and costs about £50 less than the 5800. Alternatively, you can look at the 5530 as a souped-up Cookie / Tocco Lite. The 5530 has a higher resolution screen, a flash on the camera, WiFi, a 3.5mm audio jack, and costs about £70 more than the Cookie or the Tocco Lite on Pay as you Go. You can see that the 5530 is positioned right in the middle ground, both in terms of features and price. So much for comparisons with other phones, let's take a good look at the 5530 in its own right. The first thing to say is that Nokia's implementation of a touchscreen interface is very good. You can use the 5530 either with your fingers, or with the stylus provided. Either way, it's responsive and easy to use. The display is a good size, at 2.9 inches, and has a phenomenally high resolution of 640 x 320 pixels and 16 million colours, making it easily the best screen in its class. And when you're talking touchscreen, the quality of the screen really matters! The home screen is customisable, giving one-touch access to Facebook, emails, music, etc. The new Contacts Bar is also quite fun, letting you put your 20 best friends & family on the home screen. We also need to mention that the screen auto rotates when you turn the phone on its side. In portrait mode you can enter numbers and text using a virtual alphanumeric keypad with predictive text or regular text input. In landscape mode, a full QWERTY keypad becomes available, which is ideal for people like us who like to use punctuation in their text messages! for full review in google search type"should you buy nokia 5530"
by Raymond, Riyad, on Nov 07, 2009 09:07 AM, Report abuse Reply
If you read the verdict properly, you'll realize that I am not calling the 5530 a bad phone. As it so happens both the 5530 and the 5800 are priced similarly. So if one were to make the choice between the 5530 and the 5800, my recommendation would go to the 5800, simply because it offers a lot more features at the same price.
by Prasad Naik, Mumbai, on Nov 07, 2009 01:08 PM, Report abuse
Yes U R right, 90% of user's scoring for this 5530 is 9/10,which is very rare for a touchscreen phone. for a middle class Indian the only hope is brand like Nokia,LG,Samsung,Sonyericsson,Motorola etc which all are in the same catagory and capable to compet each other in various price ranges.So when U compare a phone,please do it with same catogory brands comes near to the price tag,ie between 10k to 15k.so the readers would be able to make a good decission before going for a purchase.
by Rosche, Quilon, on Nov 07, 2009 11:57 PM, Report abuse
well 3G and GPS are not intended for this phone, so if u want GPS and 3G with wi-fi go for 5800, i am waiting for 5230 which looks great it dont have wi-fi, it doesn't bother me, i am not interested in this phone though There was nothing mwntinoned about the call quality of this one, I will be damn surprised if nokia discontinues 5800 which is the only value for money phone in the market
by krizanand, hyderabad, on Nov 07, 2009 03:12 AM, Report abuse Reply
Page 6, first paragraph: "The call quality and network reception on our handset were faultless, despite the fact that that it was a demo piece"
by Prasad Naik, Mumbai, on Nov 07, 2009 01:22 PM, Report abuse
'single-click-double-click' problem is not a problem. Does anyone feel confused about it while using a typical windows PC?? To access My Computer you can either single click on 'start' and single click on 'My Computer' or double click on 'My Computer' icon on the desktop. S60 touch UI is consistent with a PC interface though it still needs some polishing.
by Yashwanth, Bangalore, on Nov 07, 2009 08:01 AM, Report abuse Reply
The reason people are not bothered with that problem on a PC is because they have been doing it all their lives. Had people been accustomed to using PCs that required you to single click everywhere in the UI and one day were asked to use a computer which needed singe click on some applications and double click everywhere else, they would have been confused and annoyed too. Touchscreen phones have always required single clicks on items to select them. And then comes Nokia with a UI that they were either too lazy to properly adapt to a touchscreen usage or too eager to quickly come in and get a share of the rapidly growing touchscreen phone market (or both) and ended up with a half baked interface, expecting people to get used to it. And somehow you are fine with it. I'm sorry, but I am not.
by Prasad Naik, Mumbai, on Nov 07, 2009 01:20 PM, Report abuse
This fone looks to be awesome!! I just want this to become a superhit( i own a 5800) had some screen blurr issue, got it replaced within warranty. outside warranty it costs Rs3.5k( in Bangalore). Hope 5530's screen wont be havin this prblm. 5530 is gonna hurt the competition badly. Nokia shud market this fone well( sth lik they did for 5800). ppl dont know abt it much i feel.
by CHANDRUBS, BANGALORE, on Nov 07, 2009 12:13 PM, Report abuse Reply
anyone knows when will be nokia 5630 launched in india .?
by qwerty, mumbai, on Nov 07, 2009 10:20 AM, Report abuse Reply
I am quite happy with my 5800.. only disappointing fact about it is the poor camera quality Its heavily pixelated(noise)! Too bad this hasnt been improved in the new phone.
by Samuel, Bangalore, on Nov 06, 2009 06:19 PM, Report abuse Reply
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In the negative points it is mentioned that "no dedicated music keys". How many touchscreen phones are there having dedicated music keys?!!
by Anupam C, Dehradun, on Nov 13, 2009 04:24 PM, Report abuse Reply