24 hours of highlights with the Nokia 5800
Published by Steve Litchfield at 13:00 UTC, May 29th 2009
Everyone loves a peek into someone else's life - here's 24 hours with me and my Nokia 5800 in a totally non-work scenario.
My smartphones are usually geared around helping me work - email, web, IM, and so on. But every once in a while, real life intervenes, with family visits (in this case) demanding a complete break from work activity. And yet my Nokia 5800 turned out to be a star performer in everyone's eyes rather than a geeky 'Steve's trying to work when he should be chatting' electronic toy. Somewhat surprisingly.
[Do note, by the way, that this isn't a blind fan look at the device, do remember my previous pieces: Ten Things that Nokia Did WRONG in making the 5800 XpressMusic - and my balancing (just to prove I'm objective!) Ten Things that Nokia Did Right in making the 5800 XpressMusic]
The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic's (non work) star turns throughout the 24 hours:
- Google Maps
We started by going out to a pub for dinner - while there my mum had a text from my sister, currently on a 3 week camping tour of Spain with her family. "Currently at Agular de Campoo..." the text started. My parents just had a paper map of Spain with which to follow my sister's progress, and so this one camp site reference meant nothing to them. While the rest of the message was being digested, I did a search for 'Agular de Campoo' in Google Maps. Hey presto, instant match. 30 seconds had passed.
"You mean here?" I said, showing the 5800's large screen, with the camp site shown? Jaws dropped. "But where is it?" my mum asked. I zoomed out a couple of levels, showing it in relation to the nearest town. They were impressed, I could tell. The text also mentioned swimming in a lake. Feeling the urge to show off (sorry), I turned on Google Maps' Satellite view and there was the lake, just to the west. I zoomed in a little, to show the shoreline.
"This is the spot they were just swimming", I pronounced. "Probably". Jaws hit the floor again. I was showing an aerial view of where my sister's family had been swimming an hour before. This is oldish tech to power users on AAS, but the combination of large and clear screen, touch interface, easy text input (for the Spanish place name) on the Nokia 5800 certainly made it easy to bring up exactly what was needed.
Could I have done this on any other device? Yes, this would have worked fairly well on the Apple iPhone or any other large screened device. Possibly the only other Symbian OS devices with the same display size and graphical wow would be the brand new Samsung i8910HD and the Nokia E90, though. And the N97, when released.
- Weather
As an adjunct to finding the camp site, my parents speculated on what the weather might hold for my sister for their travels over the next few days. Again, Google seemed the quickest and easiest source, though admittedly I was spoilt for choice here.
Typing "Weather Madrid" into Google instantly came up with a four day forecast. "Looks like they'll be ok for swimming tomorrow but will need to make other plans on Sunday" I pronounced. "Ooh, ok", said my mum, starting to tap this forecast into a text for my sister over in Spain (and on a dodgy, out-in-the-country data-challenged, phone region).
Could I have done this on any other device? Yes, of course, this bit would have worked with any other phone or smartphone with a data connection.
- Bright torch
Now, using most phones as a torch involves cranking up the screen brightness and holding it in front of you in a vague-glow-that-won't-stop-you-walking-into-a-ditch sort of way. By using the free PhoneTorch utility on the Nokia 5800, I had a really very usable dual LED torch that was more than sufficient to guide a group of us along an unlit country lane late in the evening. The 5800's dual LEDs may not be quite bright enough for serious night time videos (Nokia's intention) - hey, the camera sensor's certainly not up to that anyway - but it rocks for use as a proper torch. Surprisingly useful!
Not a camera flash photo - this is the actual, continuous illumination on the grass in front of me with PhoneTorch on the Nokia 5800
Could I have done this on any other device? Not really. The number of phones with built-in or add-on utilities that allow the camera flash LEDs to act as a torch are very small indeed. Definitely a plus point for the 5800 and S60 5th Edition here, I think.
- Replying to texts
I received several comments remarking on the speed at which I was able to reply to incoming text messages, from my sister and from others. I use the on-screen (landscape) virtual keyboard on the 5800 and have worked up a technique which gets me around 30 words per minute. Trying to go faster than this means that the finger taps overlap and mistakes creep in, I've found, but 30wpm is possible. And, as the photo below shows, having haptic feedback on each tap helps significantly:
Could I have done this on any other device? Maybe. I certainly couldn't have gotten 30wpm on a S60 phone with a numeric keypad. At least, I couldn't, despite being quite practised at predictive text. Hardware keyboards are a different matter, of course, and the E71 or HTC Touch Pro 2 or anything else with decent qwerty buttons could match this fairly easily. Still, to have the option of 30wpm qwerty on a monoblock, full-screened tablet device with no actual buttons is still impressive. And yes, I still wish Nokia would add some writing aids (e.g. auto word correction)...
- Moving map and Navigation
In the morning, we headed out to a National Trust property. I'd plugged the postcode into Nokia Maps and away we went, with full voice guidance. I know Nokia Maps has its detractors, but it's still the best mobile sat-nav for me. It's preinstalled on every S60 phone, the navigation license travels with my SIM card, the display's ultra-clear, the maps can be preinstalled if needed OR grabbed over the air, and so on.
I had several compliments over the clarity of the moving-map that showed while I drove along - again a testament to the 5800's large screen as much as the graphics used in Nokia Maps, I think. Most importantly, we were directed to our destination (and back home again) without a single wrong turn. Any complaints? Well, the fonts used for 'time to destination' were too small, trying to read those bottom of screen numbers while driving is rather tricky.
Could I have done this on any other device? Yes, all S60 devices now have Nokia Maps and it's easy to pay for an ad-hoc navigation license. There's no solution yet for the Apple iPhone (though this may change in the second half of 2009), though Windows Mobile devices have the usual third party sat-nav solutions (CoPilot, TomTom etc), some of which also work on S60, of course.
- Photos
Ah yes, the Nokia 5800's camera. 3.2 megapixels and with Carl Zeiss lens, I've featured it before as a unit which excels in bright light but which struggles horribly in dim conditions. Although overcast for some of the day, the light was always good and we had patches of hazy sun, meaning very acceptable snaps from this non-flagship camera phone. Here are some examples, taken yesterday:
(click on each to download or enlarge to full original resolution)
So a qualified thumbs-up in the ad-hoc photo-taking department. Yes, yes, if you look too closely then you'll be disappointed and will wish you had a phone with a higher-spec camera. But these are quite good enough for 'memory' snaps.
Could I have done this on any other device? Yes, there are as many S60 smartphones with superior cameras now as there are devices with inferior. The 5800 sits somewhat in the middle. It's still much better than the current iPhone's camera and that on most HTC devices though, significantly.
- Photo browser
Although only a 'concept' application, flicking through animated walls of thumbnailed photos on the touch-screen 5800 was an impressive way to show off a few of my snaps from the day, back in the car before we drove home. OK, so we' really are in 'showing off' territory here, but at least it shows that Nokia's single-chip platforms are nearly in the right ballpark when it comes to graphics, even if they're never going to match the i8910 HD or iPhone here.
A rather static screenshot, Photo Browser's main claim to fame is the way the bank of images slides and swivels...
Could I have done this on any other device? Photo browser works on older non-touch S60 devices, but it's a lot less impressive. With the touch interface (flicking and double-tapping to zoom on a point/face) and with the larger screen, it's worthwhile keeping installed as a utility in its own right. On the Apple iPhone, there's a similarly slick photo browsing interface, with rather stilted equivalents on Windows Mobile, I believe.
- BBC iPlayer
While eating our picnic in the grounds of Basildon Park, my dad mentioned that they'd missed a programme that had been shown on TV the previous night, because they'd been at our place and we'd been too busy out/chatting. What was an enthusiastic smartphone to do, when faced with such a statement? You guessed it. I popped up BBC iPlayer while everyone was talking and started streaming the very same programme live. "You mean this programme, dad?"
In fact, the 3G bandwidth proved a little restrictive, out in the country, so it started buffering a lot, plus trying to watch anything on the touch-screened 5800 in bright outdoor conditions was very tricky, so although the proof of concept was there, the location and environment conspired against me.
Could I have done this on any other device? Well, the Nokia N85 and N96 are also officially iPlayer-compatible, plus there have been a few 'hacks' to get the iPlayer widget running on older devices. And the Apple iPhone also works, in streaming mode, at least, with iPlayer. But the number of compatible devices, overall, is fairly small. Indoors, with the TFT screen on the 5800 able to shine out, and with the 3.2" display easy on the eyes for watching videos, the Nokia 5800 and its bundled stand make for a very nice TV catchup device.
In addition to these 'turns', I was in fact doing a little 'sneaky' checking up on the world, with Gravity keeping an eye on Twitter and Gmail keeping an eye on any important emails. Just don't tell my family..... 8-)
The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic isn't the perfect smartphone - far from it. But I hope I've demonstrated that, out in the real world, it's one of very few devices that can truly be said to be smartphone all rounders.
Steve Litchfield, All About Symbian, 30th May 2009
Categories: How To, Comment, Hardware
Platforms: S60 5th Edition
Feature Discussion
alistairj
Interesting article, Steve. Touch is taking over...
re. Nokia Maps "but it's still the best mobile sat-nav for me". Better than TomTom? TomTom seem to have given up on S60 but I thought that navigation was still a lot better than Nokia Maps (in the UK at least)?
re. Nokia Maps "but it's still the best mobile sat-nav for me". Better than TomTom? TomTom seem to have given up on S60 but I thought that navigation was still a lot better than Nokia Maps (in the UK at least)?
Kip
Personally I think the best bit of Navigation Software for the S60 is NavMii - www.navmii.com - It's very similar to Tom Tom and optimised for the 5800 too. Also cheaper than Nokia Maps! I reviewed it on Nokiaaddict.com here - http://nokiaaddict.com/2009/05/25/re...-nokia-5800xm/
Kip
Kip
Level Head
The great thing about a 5800 is that it makes the bridge between a smartphone and a normal human beings phone, it's just a phone that does all the good stuff if you want, but not a social crutch like some I could mention.
rvirga
Quote:
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Originally Posted by alistairj
TomTom seem to have given up on S60
|
garbleart
Good article Steve. I rate Google Maps as well, just used it to plan a small holiday break. I'm in a similar place with the Nokia 5800, I wish the camera was better but its good for most purposes.
morpheus2702
Great feature Steve. Certainly shows what the 5800's camera can do given the right lighting conditions.
Just wondering why you didn't use Nokia Maps to search for the Spanish campsite?
Just wondering why you didn't use Nokia Maps to search for the Spanish campsite?
timsalmon
...and the future of streaming/downloading?
As for S60 devices, I've really appreciated being able to download and play-when-I-fancy iPlayer stuff on the N96 and (more recently) 5800 but the real power of this service is clearly going to be when I can actually *keep* it. I enjoyed downloading 'Survivors' and more recently 'Reggie Perrin' but once the period of time allocated has expired, it's gone. Rafe has explained in the (recent) past about the reasons for this after meeting the responsible bods from the BBC, I recall, but surely we must get past this?
I might be old fashioned (for now) but I still like 'collections' and 'owning' stuff. This is the reason I still have a Sony DVD/HDD Recorder - so that I can record/burn TV shows that I want to 'keep forever' on a DVD - which, incidentally, I have done with Reggie Perrin and now have a permanent record of it on DVD. (BTW - it's not a patch on the original, but still, it's fun!)
On iPhone, it (as Steve mentions) streams and does a good job of that (as long as one's connection is sharp - I have 1MB download at home and 8MB at work and that's a *huge* difference in streaming terms. At home I often have a 'break' in delivery).
My O2 SIM-card now dances regularly between the iPhone and E71/90/5800/N96 and I can't decide which is 'best' for my needs on an hourly/minutely basis!
I love the Apple 'way' with apps and super multimedia connection with iTunes - and most of it 'just works' but something in me just keeps jostling back to S60. Maybe that's just the 'SIBO/EPOC factor'?! The biggest challenge for me just now is that the iPhone works beautifully with Facebook and Twitter and Audioboo and although there's a Facebook client/link on the 5800 and a Twitter 'link' for S60 (unless you want to pay £8 for Gravity) there's no way of recording audioboo submissions on a S60 phone - unless you know better! And it's all just 'links' and not 'apps'.
Time I slept! Night!
Tim
As for S60 devices, I've really appreciated being able to download and play-when-I-fancy iPlayer stuff on the N96 and (more recently) 5800 but the real power of this service is clearly going to be when I can actually *keep* it. I enjoyed downloading 'Survivors' and more recently 'Reggie Perrin' but once the period of time allocated has expired, it's gone. Rafe has explained in the (recent) past about the reasons for this after meeting the responsible bods from the BBC, I recall, but surely we must get past this?
I might be old fashioned (for now) but I still like 'collections' and 'owning' stuff. This is the reason I still have a Sony DVD/HDD Recorder - so that I can record/burn TV shows that I want to 'keep forever' on a DVD - which, incidentally, I have done with Reggie Perrin and now have a permanent record of it on DVD. (BTW - it's not a patch on the original, but still, it's fun!)
On iPhone, it (as Steve mentions) streams and does a good job of that (as long as one's connection is sharp - I have 1MB download at home and 8MB at work and that's a *huge* difference in streaming terms. At home I often have a 'break' in delivery).
My O2 SIM-card now dances regularly between the iPhone and E71/90/5800/N96 and I can't decide which is 'best' for my needs on an hourly/minutely basis!
I love the Apple 'way' with apps and super multimedia connection with iTunes - and most of it 'just works' but something in me just keeps jostling back to S60. Maybe that's just the 'SIBO/EPOC factor'?! The biggest challenge for me just now is that the iPhone works beautifully with Facebook and Twitter and Audioboo and although there's a Facebook client/link on the 5800 and a Twitter 'link' for S60 (unless you want to pay £8 for Gravity) there's no way of recording audioboo submissions on a S60 phone - unless you know better! And it's all just 'links' and not 'apps'.
Time I slept! Night!
Tim
slitchfield
Yes, wish there was a proper Facebook client for S60 - inexplicable how noone's come up with one so far.... Maybe the N97's Facebook widget can be extended downwards?
Oh and don't baulk at Gravity's £8 cost - it really IS *that* good. Just buy it. Twitter on your phone, definitively and natively.
Oh and don't baulk at Gravity's £8 cost - it really IS *that* good. Just buy it. Twitter on your phone, definitively and natively.
malbry
Quote:
| As for S60 devices, I've really appreciated being able to download and play-when-I-fancy iPlayer stuff on the N96 and (more recently) 5800 but the real power of this service is clearly going to be when I can actually *keep* it. I enjoyed downloading 'Survivors' and more recently 'Reggie Perrin' but once the period of time allocated has expired, it's gone. Rafe has explained in the (recent) past about the reasons for this after meeting the responsible bods from the BBC, I recall, but surely we must get past this? |
Best regards,
Malcolm
Unregistered
TimSalmon, I believe that recording and keeping TV programmes is illegal in the UK, you may use your DVD recorder for time shift purposes only. If you want BBC programmes to keep forever then you need to purchase them on published media. So, buy the Reggie Perrin DVD box set when it comes out and convert it down to mobile.
Of course, everyone is legal right........ ahem.
Of course, everyone is legal right........ ahem.
Level Head
Quote:
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Originally Posted by slitchfield
Yes, wish there was a proper Facebook client for S60 - inexplicable how noone's come up with one so far.... Maybe the N97's Facebook widget can be extended downwards?
Oh and don't baulk at Gravity's £8 cost - it really IS *that* good. Just buy it. Twitter on your phone, definitively and natively. |
If the developers of Gravity could apply their talents to something useful then that would be great.
Unregistered
i dont know if this is of any help to anyone
but my mates 5800 has a facebook app installed(seems to be through the fw tmobile uk
ironically enough mine has myspace....and for the life of me i cant seem to get facebook!)
there is also a mobile widget through yahoo go! where facebook
can be added but just as a widget....its actually pretty decent....
hope this helps someone....
someone asked steve why he didnt use nokia maps to search for the address of
his sister in spain.....im not sure if this is the reason, but maybe steve didnt have
spain as one of his downloaded map data?
i do agree with what steve outlined.....the 5800 seems to
be a hybrid between a smartphone and regular phone....
i commend nokia on finding such a balance with the device...
its good enough to keep regular users happy as well as us geeks
(as we geeks cant complain when we buy it as we know its limitations)
but regular users are quite happy with this "feature packed phone"....
then throw in a price of sub £200 pounds and well weve got more sold than
mcdonalds!!!! lol
but my mates 5800 has a facebook app installed(seems to be through the fw tmobile uk
ironically enough mine has myspace....and for the life of me i cant seem to get facebook!)
there is also a mobile widget through yahoo go! where facebook
can be added but just as a widget....its actually pretty decent....
hope this helps someone....
someone asked steve why he didnt use nokia maps to search for the address of
his sister in spain.....im not sure if this is the reason, but maybe steve didnt have
spain as one of his downloaded map data?
i do agree with what steve outlined.....the 5800 seems to
be a hybrid between a smartphone and regular phone....
i commend nokia on finding such a balance with the device...
its good enough to keep regular users happy as well as us geeks
(as we geeks cant complain when we buy it as we know its limitations)
but regular users are quite happy with this "feature packed phone"....
then throw in a price of sub £200 pounds and well weve got more sold than
mcdonalds!!!! lol
timsalmon
Quote:
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Originally Posted by slitchfield
Oh and don't baulk at Gravity's £8 cost
|
But I still say that even with the luxury of a big (touch, if you like - personally I gravitate more to the N96 than 5800) S60 screen, if you want to do web-surfing for anything other than a quick-check, the iPhone can't be beaten (at the moment) so our previous combination support for both is a good idea for those who can afford it. An iPod Touch is only £150 now so it needn't be expensive to do. Incidentally, contrary to what Maemo fans say, the N810 (though technically superior) is not a patch on the iPhone/iPod Touch in terms of slick usability, speed, scrolling and zooming. Using the N810 is just a cludge for that purpose. And I haven't even started on games - as covered in your recent article!
I will say one thing further to emphasise my previous point, that the N96 gets much more SIM-time than the others and for some reason, the restrictions of not having QWERTY and no touch-screen don't seem to matter. I would prefer that the keypad had raised keys, like the N95 8GB, and I'd prefer to have the 1500mAh of the E71 (incidentally, don't bother to try getting the 1200mAh battery of the N78 and 'trim it down' as instructed in various YouTube assurances - it doesn't work - you can't close the back up) but there won't ever be a perfect device, as we keep saying to each other time and time again - until we're blue in the face!
Anyway, I drivel on... I'm sure I'll be touting device sales on twitter soon myself, too!
Tim
timsalmon
Quote:
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Originally Posted by malbry
I have a 5800 and don't bother with the in-built iPlayer for the reason you describe. Instead, I download onto my PC or Linux netbook using iplayer-dl (Google for it) to save a local copy without DRM.
|
Tim
timsalmon
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
I believe that recording and keeping TV programmes is illegal in the UK, you may use your DVD recorder for time shift purposes only.
|
Tim
timsalmon
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
my mates 5800 has a facebook app installed(seems to be through the fw tmobile uk ironically enough mine has myspace....and for the life of me i cant seem to get facebook!) there is also a mobile widget through yahoo go! where facebook can be added but just as a widget....its actually pretty decent....
hope this helps someone.... |
You're right about the Yahoo app though - I'd forgotten about that one - it does seem to tick all the right boxes and may be the way to go.
Tim
Unregistered
Quote:
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Originally Posted by timsalmon
With the greatest respect, how can that possibly be true? Surely as long as I'm using for my own purpose I can shuffle stuff around my devices and burn what I like? How would Sony (in my case) be allowed to sell a HDD DVDRecorder which it shows it's audience in the handbook how to burn stuff from it's HDD to it's built-in DVD drive if it were illegal? I really can't see how your belief has any substance.
Tim |
The law on fair deal recordings:
Acts that are allowed
Fair dealing is a term used to describe acts which are permitted to a certain degree without infringing the work, these acts are:
* Private and research study purposes.
* Performance, copies or lending for educational purposes.
* Criticism and news reporting.
* Incidental inclusion.
* Copies and lending by librarians.
* Acts for the purposes of royal commissions, statutory enquiries, judicial proceedings and parliamentary purposes.
* Recording of broadcasts for the purposes of listening to or viewing at a more convenient time, this is known as time shifting.
* Producing a back up copy for personal use of a computer program.
* Playing sound recording for a non profit making organisation, club or society.
The exception that allows your Sony HDD DVD doodah is time-shifting defined as:
The time shifting exception allows the legal copying of a TV broadcast of a film or TV programme (e.g. onto a DVD or on to a computer hard drive) only if:
* you make the copy in your own home; and
* you copy from the original broadcast; and
* your only reason for copying is to view the broadcast at a more convenient time.
This time shifting exception does not apply if you then share this copy with others by sending it to them or uploading it for download by them.
http://copyrightservice.co.uk/copyri..._copyright_law
Number 8 in the above link.
Unregistered
As a proud 5800 user, very good article: for me even a 5/8mp camera phone can't rival a separate camera because of sensor size, flash etc. and for everyday photos for memories, facebook etc. the 5800 is fine.
Quick question, is that The Vyne in the photos? Lot of memories there!
Quick question, is that The Vyne in the photos? Lot of memories there!
slitchfield
No, but right area (Berkshire). Basildon Park!
timsalmon
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
why would any car manufacturer be allowed to sell a car in the UK if the car can travel more than 70 mph if doing so is illegal?
your only reason for copying is to view the broadcast at a more convenient time. |
Tim
Unregistered
Quote:
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Originally Posted by timsalmon
I guess to reply to your car example, Unregistered, it would be very difficult to govern all cars to not go more than 70mph in this country at point of import and there would need to be different adaptations made to all cars for all different countries. I think that the simile is maybe not such a fair one where the *sole purpose* of the DVD recorder is to record onto DVDs. Anyway, I'm not going to get into an argument over that, just to say that the points you rise are very interesting and if it's all accurate (I'm no legal bod) obviously not only individuals but companies clearly facilitate the breaching of such regulations. I guess, however, that I could argue that I'm only recording programmes onto disk to view at a more convenient time, so think I get away with it! I certainly don't share. loan, hire or sell to others - they sit in my lounge!
Tim |
This is why iPlayer downloads have time limited DRM. Because with a clean slate technology and BBC only content and a BBC software player, it can more easily be done. To do it on a general recorder would mean the agreement of standards across all the different organisations involved...BBC....ITV....SKY.....CH4....etc....and all the recorder manufacturers would be difficult and probably counter productive. (sound familiar? different standards for different countries....point of import....). Sound simile I believe.
Basically, the BBC and other broadcasters protect their copyrights so that DVD sales are protected.
There are many rules are routinely breached. No big deal. Common sense.