The 5800 XpressMusic deserved took its place at the top of the music phone tree, a low cost antidote to the iPhone, appealing to the younger generation with a cool candy bar form factor and a bargain price point.

Where it succeeded in cost, it faltered on function with an inconsistent interface, highlighting the 5800 as Nokia’s tentative steps into the touch phone game.

With the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, the handset retains the touch screen charm of its bigger brother but has nips and tucks in a few key areas to come in even cheaper than the 5800.

Will this be the bargain multimedia device to get your feet tapping? Read on to find out!

Design and specs

The 5530XM is a carbon copy of the Nokia 5800 in terms of form factor, the plastic body of the former replaced with a metallic finish, but retaining the coloured accenting around the frame, the off-screen quick access media buttons and quirky placement of the headphone jack at the bottom of the phone.

The concessions are subtle but significant as the 5530 shaves .3 of an inch on the touchscreen to go down to 2.9”, says goodbye to a secondary videocalling camera and loses the 3G connectivity to only support GSM networks.

Nevertheless, the 5530 XpressMusic retains Wi-Fi connectivity as well as a stereo FM radio and customisable home screen to bring contacts and favourite sites to the fore. The 5530 XpressMusic also manages to be a little cuter than the 5800, being about the same width, yet shorter.

Social networking sites and mail are well supported, with FaceBook accessible directly from the homepage and all manner of apps available from the Ovi Store to make tweeting and poking a breeze.

The unfortunate situation is that many of the problems we levelled at the original device are still very much apparent, with the interface feeling inconsistent between one and two presses to select items, and use of a scroll bar to navigate.

However, these are both issues to level at the S60 software the machine runs on, rather than a fault to level at the handset itself.

The screen is still slightly recessed, causing a little ring of dust to collect around it, although the stylus supplied can be hidden away thanks to a recess for storage on the bottom left of the device.

However, these are both issues to level at the S60 software the machine runs on, rather than a fault of the handset itself.

The multimedia functionality is your standard layout familiar to those with personal media players, music can easily be selected by album, artist and playlist. The output through both headphones and the stereo speakers proves impressive.

Video is not quite the rich degree of support we are used to on the Korean contingent of phones, so no .avi file playback and the like, but there are always third party downloadable solutions for these things, so it isn’t a major setback.

The 3.2 megapixel camera on the 5530 XpressMusic is decidedly functional, losing the Carl Zeiss lens from the 5800XM, and compromising a little on quality and clarity as a result. Video recording is the same, perfectly usable in everyday situations, but shows signs of weakness in low light or attempting to capture fast moving footage.

Calling and connectivity

Not having 3G connectivity hurts those that surf the net as the 5530 behaves as though it was built for the web, with e-mail options, web links and the Ovi Store functionality all working fine…but more than a little slowly.

Pages took an age to load, and downloading even the smallest of files from the Ovi Store was a trial of patience. With new features like the Vid Store allowing streaming movies straight to your mobile, the lack of 3G support leaves the 5530 languishing unless it relies on the Wi-Fi as a connectivity crutch.

The lack of 3G means that GPS is out as a consequence, a shame is it begins to become a requisite on most phones, albeit not those in the 5530’s price bracket.

The calling and texting side of things is vintage Nokia, but the touch aspect of things is much improved thanks to the addition of easier scrolling on contacts, and an easy to use touch screen keyboard, despite the phone’s diminutive size.

A 12 button traditional mobile keypad, full-QWERTY and handwriting recognition are all present, and work well with a bit of practice of how hard the screen needs to be pressed.

E-mail is a breeze to set up, whether POP, IMAP or Microsoft Exchange. A username and password and a few other details meant that our work and personal accounts were up and running remarkably quick. The speed with new messages are pulled over 2G was acceptable, but attachments took so long they became nigh-on impossible to view...

Verdict

Those looking for a cheap touchscreen phone will have no qualms whatsoever with the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic.

The features that it lacks, from the GPS to the 3G connectivity, may not bother those who just want a cool touch phone to lug music around and keep in touch with mates. It offers a decent user experience for those familiar with Nokia phones, and the music playback is more than should be expected from a phone at this level.

The obvious comparisons will be drawn with the LG Cookie and the Samsung Tocco Lite, and the 5530 XpressMusic holds its own against these platinum-selling handset. The interface might be a little nicer on the competition, but the social networking features are top notch.

With 3G and a slightly more dependable camera, this would have been our top pick in the low-end touch phone market, as it is we can solidly recommend it for those used to grooving to the Nokia beat, who want a great bargain blower!