GAMES AND GADGETS

BY: Philip Silva

If you're after the iPhone for its music playing capabilities but you don't have the cash to buy one, I suggest you go for the Nokia Express Music 5300. The Nokia 5300 is not packed with all the smart phone features of an iPhone but for a music player, I think it's right up there with the music playing capabilities of the iPhone.

The Features and looks

The Nokia Express Music 5300 has a 1.2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth that supports A2DP, a mini USB (first time I've seen in a Nokia phone), and 2.5mm jack. It's a slider phone and weighs about 3.6 ounces. The Nokia 5300's form factor is a little bit bulky for me and it always seems that the top is a lot heavier than the bottom slider. The phone's screen size is about 2 inches and has a 320x240 screen resolution.

The side of the Nokia Express Music 5300 has a somewhat rubberized feel which makes it easy to grip. The easy to access music menus are also located at the left side of the phone and is also rubberized. The buttons are slightly protruded which makes it easier to find when you're not looking at the phone. The music controls allows you to pause, forward, or rewind your music, unfortunately, I still haven't found the controls that would allow you to stop the track. This has become quite troublesome for me coz every time I open up the music player, it always starts at the track I've previously paused. On the right side of the phone is the volume control and the camera button which lets you shoot pictures in landscape mode.

One thing I hated about the design is that, like previous Nokia models, the micro SD slot is located at the back of the battery. I wish they would just place it outside like what they did with the N series models.

Applications that came with this phone are a voice recorder, alarm clock, calendar, to-do list, notepad, calculator, countdown timer, and a stopwatch. The Nokia 5300 also supports Push-to-Talk but the service will depend on your carrier. Games that are included on the phone are Snake III, Pro Snowboard and my favorite, Music Guess. The object of Music Guess is to match the tunes with the song on your playlist, not particularly hard since you probably know your playlist by heart but nevertheless, it's a fun game.

What I like

Like all other Nokia models, what I really like about Nokia is their camera feature on the phone. The 1.3 megapixel camera on the Nokia 5300 delivers good quality images compared to other camera phones in the market. Unfortunately, the Nokia 5300 has no camera flash but it has a 10 second self-timer, adjustable white balance and 8x zoom. The phone also has a video recorder and saves video clips in 3ggp format, a function that is lacking on the iPhone. But this is not a camera phone, as the name suggest, the Nokia 5300 is a music phone and though I'm not a music connoisseur, its music playback capabilities is by far, the best amongst other Nokia models that I've encountered.

The music playback on the stereo speakers is really good and you won't realize that you're listening to music over the phone. The Bluetooth supports A2DP which allows you to listen to your music over Stereo Bluetooth. The music player can play MP3, WMA, AAC, and AAC+, has repeat and shuffle mode, an equalizer and can let you save tracks to use as a ring tone.

What I didn't Like

My only complaints about the phone is that the top slider is really heavy compared to the bottom which makes texting a little bit uneasy for me. I also had trouble with the soft keys on the front of the phone since I always interchange the top from the bottom. Call quality is also not that good, or maybe it's just the network that I am on. There's always some kind of static in the background and I don't know for what reason but it seems that when using the speakerphone, the voice of the person on the other end of the line is not that loud compared to music blaring from the speakers.

Bottom Line

All in all, this is a great phone if you're in the market for a phone-slash-music player. It beats having to carry around two devices; MP3 player and mobile phone.