The Nokia 5800 is a smartphone and portable entertainment device by Nokia. Code-named the “Tube,” it is the first touchscreen-equipped S60 device by Nokia. It’s part of the XpressMusic series of phones, which emphasizes music and multimedia playback. The touchscreen features tactile feedback (though it doesn’t utilize Nokia’s upcoming Haptikos technology).

The 5800 has a compatibility mode for Java applications that are not touchscreen-aware. It works by using part of the screen for displaying the essential buttons required by the program.

On January 23rd 2009, Nokia announced it had shipped the millionth 5800 XpressMusic device, even though it still had not been fully released worldwide. In Nokia’s Q1 report released on April 16th, 2009 it was announced they had shipped 2.6 million units during the quarter, with cumulative shipments of more than 3 million units since the smartphone’s launch in late November 2008. Q2 results released July 16, 2009 reports 3.7 million units shipped during the quarter and more than 6.8 million units total have shipped since the release.

After firmware V20, the 5800 Xpress Music have got a higher CPU speed from 369MHz to 434MHz to match Nokia 5530 and N97 specification. However, huge improved overall performance can be observed at firmware V30.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is not the first touchscreen device in Nokia’s range. In 2004, the Nokia 7700 was announced, a Nokia Series 90 device that was cancelled before it reached the market. This was followed by the Nokia 7710 which was an upgraded version of the 7700, which became available during 2005. Nokia also produced the UIQ-based Nokia 6708 phone in 2005, but this was not an in-house development and was bought in from Taiwanese manufacturer BenQ. Nokia have also produced a range of Maemo-based Internet Tablets which have a touchscreen interface, however these are not mobile phones. The 5800 is, however, Nokia’s first Symbian S60 touchscreen device.

The 5800 idle screen

The 2007 launch of the rival Apple iPhone demonstrated that at the time, Nokia did not only not have any current touchscreen mobile phones, but since the cancellation of the Symbian Series 90 operating system, it also lacked any sort of suitable platform for developing such a device. Although Nokia asserted with some justification that the Nokia N95 was a comparable or better device, most other manufacturers responded with their own touchscreen devices.

The launch of the 5800 XpressMusic in October 2008 was followed-up with the announcement of the Nokia N97 in December 2008, followed by the Series 40 based Nokia 6208c in January 2009.

In late February of 2009 the website Mobile-Review.com, which was initially very enthusiastic about the handset, published its research and concluded that the Nokia 5800 had a design flaw. Specifically, when phones were used on a daily basis, their earpieces, produced for Nokia under contract by a third party, would cease to function in very short time. Repairs performed under warranty would only temporarily fix the problem. The defect was found to be in the earpiece design. Nokia’s public relations department had admitted that the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic contained a design defect. According to Nokia, they switched to another earpiece manufacturer, so all 5800’s produced during February 2009 or later should be free from defect, with previously produced earpieces eligible for free warranty repair. New earpiece parts have also been supplied to Nokia service centers and future phone repairs should permanently fix the defect.

On April 17, 2009 DigiTimes reported that Nokia plans to release the Nokia 5800 with an induction display instead of a resistive one, which is used in the original model. According to Mobile-Review.com, the induction display is believed to be more fit for thumb operation when a stylus is not used. The upgraded model is expected to ship in May or June of 2009. In mid-May 2009, DigiTimes has written that new induction sensor screen components for Nokia are about to be produced by Synaptics. On 24 April 2009, This rumor was put to rest by Nokia; “we’re not changing the hardware of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic” says Nokia.

Navigation Edition

On 21 August 2009 Nokia has announced a new variant named Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition. In addition to the normal Nokia 5800 it has the latest version of Ovi Maps preinstalled, loaded with a lifetime license of drive and walk navigation (which otherwise requires subscription on the non-navigation edition 5800). It also comes with car-charger and car-kit inside the box, and is slated for a Q3 2009 release.

Marketing

A prototype of this handset was seen in the 2008 Batman movie, The Dark Knight, Christina Aguilera’s “Keeps Gettin’ Better” as well as in “Womanizer” by Britney Spears. The handset was also seen in Flo Rida’s “Right Round”, The Pussycat Dolls’ “Jai Ho!” and Hush Hush and Katy Perry’s “Waking Up In Vegas” and Cobra Starship’s Good Girls Gone Bad music videos. The phone has received generally positive reviews, with UK phone magazine Mobile Choice awarding it a full 5 stars in its Feb 8th issue.

Availability

Nokia announced the 5800 XpressMusic in London on October 2, 2008. The suggested retail price was €279 before taxes and network subsidies. The phone was made available Q4 2008 in Finland and other markets, specifically in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine and United Arab Emirates. The phone missed the Christmas sales in more matured markets. Nokia has only commented that it needs time to customize the phone’s software for operators in other markets. Analysts speculated the delay as a business maneuver not to butcher its existing product portfolio sales for Christmas as the phone is very competitively priced. The phone hit the rest of Europe in early 2009. An Asia-Pacific release date has yet to be announced. The European version was available for United States customers on December 14th, an North American version was released on February 26th and was briefly pulled soon after due to customers reporting 3G reception issues. It was put back on sale on March 14th after the firmware was updated to fix the issue. It was released in Australia on the 20th of March 2009.

The phone made its worldwide debut in Hong Kong on November 29, 2008 for a retail price of HK$3988 by Nokia Hong Kong. The final pricing of the Nokia 5800 caused outrage amongst Nokia fans on several Internet forums, as it was a 33% increase from the original estimated retail price of €279 (due to the fact that Hong Kong does not have VAT as of 2008, and that the mobile phone doesn’t come with Nokia’s Comes With Music Service since it hasn’t been launched in Hong Kong yet). This however changed on a wider launch a couple days later, when it started going for US$350. Nokia 5800 finally made its debut in Malaysia on Friday, 9th January 2009 after it was first announced in October 2008. The device retails for MYR 1499. Nokia threw a party at Pavilion to officiate the release. The phone is already available in India, released on 8th January 2009 by brand ambassador Priyanka Chopra for a retail price of (inclusive of all taxes + VAT) Rs. 19,999. Its available in the Philippines last January 10 for Php.19,990 (now 15,990). The official release date in Sweden is February 16. It’s available in Vietnam as of January 5 for VND.6.700.000, about 385 USD, one of the lowest prices. The phone will be available in Thailand on February 28, 2009 for Thb. 13,520. The United Kingdom launch was January 23, 2009 and the price was £249.99. The 5800 was announced by Nokia in South Africa during early February 2009. It had an initial price of R5,559.00, or approximately US$570 on the Vodacom network, according to their February 2009 brochure, making it one of the highest priced in the world. It was released in Bangladesh on the 27th of January. It is rumored to be released on Rogers Communications in Canada in June 2009.

Specifications

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic has the following specifications:

* 3.2-inch 16.7M touchscreen (resistive), 360 x 640 pixels resolution (16:9 display ratio).
* Dimensions 111 x 51.7 x 15.5 mm, 83 cc
* Weight 109 g
* S60 5th edition OS with touch input running Symbian OS v9.4
* Quad band GSM / GPRS / EDGE: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
* Dual band UMTS / HSDPA: UMTS 900 / 2100 (5800-1) or UMTS 850 / 1900 (5800-2 Latin America and Brazil variant)
* Integrated hands-free speakerphone
* Vibrating alert
* Accelerometer for auto screen rotation.
* 3.2 MP AF Carl Zeiss lens, dual LED flash, 3x digital zoom and geotagging support.
* GPS with A-GPS function
* FM Radio 87.5-108 MHz with RDS (max. 20 stations).
* 3.5mm headphone/video-out jack and Nokia video-out cable CA-75U.
* MicroSDHC card slot (up to 16 GB) and 8GB card included in box.
* Micro-USB 2.0 connector, Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR/A2DP/AVRCP) and Wireless LAN.

Keys and input method

* Stylus, plectrum and finger touch support for text input and user interface control (alphanumeric keypad, full and mini qwerty keyboard, handwriting recognition)
* Dedicated Media Bar touch key for access to music, gallery, share on-line, Video Centre and web browser
* Voice commands
* Physical keys for application launch key (menu key), send & end, power, camera, lock, volume up & down.

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