Nokia 5320 XpressMusic - First Impressions and Q&A

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The 5320 XpressMusic has finally gone on sale in Finland, and All About Symbian has managed to get one of the first retail units. We've done some preliminary photos with annotations, which you can see by clicking here, and we can also answer questions about the phone if you post them in the thread of this news item. The 5320 is the cheapest S60 so far (in Finland the SIM-free model is 195 euros plus taxes), and potentially takes the platform even further into the mainstream. The full review is coming soon.

Read on in the full article.

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First of all, if anyone has questions about the tech specs, have a look at the Forum Nokia page for the official specifications:

http://www.forum.nokia.com/devices/5320_XpressMusic

Secondly, I'll try to add stuff to the article as the day progresses.

Thirdly... ask away, any questions are acceptable, though I can't promise to always know the answer. :-)

first of all tnx for d hands-on preview. i know dat 5320XM also runs under OS 9.3 FP2 (S60 3.2) like N78 but could u pls confirm if ds XpressMusic hav d same menu effects and transitions as d ones found on N78, particularly demoed in ds link? current reviews and video previews i've seen does not show or mention anything about it. i'd b more than contented if it does, even f d gallery, i assume, is still not d Nseries esque rotating gallery..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbYRiDchZ8o

and could also inform us if d videos on its gallery are now shown as thumbnails? previous non Nseries device only hav an inadequate video icon.. im hopin' dat d sound output thru its 'mono' speaker is in stereo (juz like my 3250). im plannin to get d blue variant.

thanks in advance

lookin forward for d updates

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could u pls confirm if ds XpressMusic hav d same menu effects and transitions as d ones found on N78, particularly demoed in ds link?

It doesn't have the transitions, but it does have all the menu themes and standby themes in that video. In fact the 5320 has one more standby theme than in that video, a theme called "Nokia Default".

allery, i assume, is still not d Nseries esque rotating gallery..

It's not the Nseries gallery, it's a series of thumbnails presented in a 4 picture by 5 picture grid.

and could also inform us if d videos on its gallery are now shown as thumbnails?

Yes they are, the video thumbnails are shown in the same 4 x 5 format as the photos.

im hopin' dat d sound output thru its 'mono' speaker is in stereo (juz like my 3250)

If you only have one external speaker, you can only produce mono sound externally. As far as I can tell, the 5320 only has one external speaker.

It's a good external speaker though, nice and loud, very crisp and clear.

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Great stuff,awaiting the review full review with anticipation.

I just want to ask,is this the smallest,most compact S60 phone with a 3,5mm jack?

I also have to ask how did Nokia managed to incorporate the massive 128mb RAM,(with 85mb Free) at this price point. It really is plentiful & will the target audience even really know the multitasking potential of this device?

And lastly how does the phone feel like in the hand,does it have this nasty plasticky feel that some people are attributing to the 6220C?

Some other owners of the phone are mentioning that the screen size is bigger than the quoted 2",its more like 2,2",whats your view?

Chepest s60? Cheapest s60 si n70

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Chepest s60? Cheapest s60 si n70

The N70 launched in 2005, and its launch price was a lot more than 200 euros plus taxes.

I just want to ask,is this the smallest,most compact S60 phone with a 3,5mm jack?

Hmm... well the 5310 is smaller but it's not S60, so you could well be right! I can't think of a smaller S60 with 3.5mm.

I also have to ask how did Nokia managed to incorporate the massive 128mb RAM,(with 85mb Free) at this price point. It really is plentiful & will the target audience even really know the multitasking potential of this device

It is a lot, isn't it! I'd forgotten that spec until you mentioned it.

I'm not an expert on manufacturing but that may just be the march of technology, RAM may not be as expensive or bulky as it used to be. Maybe this level of free RAM will start to be the norm pretty soon?

Another theory: Nokia may have included a lot of RAM partly because this is meant to be a gaming phone and RAM may help N-Gage to run more reliably, especially if other apps like the music player are also running.

They were originally supposed to include N-Gage in the firmware, but it seems the FP2 version of the application is too late for the launch. There's a lot of N-Gage stuff elsewhere on the phone though like an N-Gage video ringtone, and a link to N-Gage in the browser bookmarks.

And lastly how does the phone feel like in the hand,does it have this nasty plasticky feel that some people are attributing to the 6220C?

I haven't yet used the 6220C so I can't compare them directly. However, here's what I can tell you:

In terms of sturdiness and reliability the casing is fine. Nothing is loose, there's no rattling, it feels completely solid. In fact comparing it to the E51 I'd say the 5320 feels a little bit more solid.

The 5320 has an entirely plastic-covered casing, there are no metal exterior panels or details. However, the colourful part of the casing has a metallic sheen so it looks a little bit classier in real life than the photos convey.

It is entirely covered in plastic though, so if you don't like the feel of plastic then it may not be for you. Personally though I love plastic, especially in bright colours... :-)

Does this phone have TV-out capabilities at all?

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Does this phone have TV-out capabilities at all?

No, it doesn't.

You might want to get the Nokia 6220 Classic instead, or the N95 or N82.

This is not first symbian phone made in hungarian factory as you said. Because I had 5700 musicexpress with s60v3 FP1 that was made in hungary.

I managed to get a hold of its sibling, the s40 series 5220 a couple of weeks back and was very impressed by the built quality. It was very solid. I assume the 5320 would have the same built characteristics? If that's the case then yeah, the photos are not doing it justice. I love the metallic sheen and choice of colours as well. This is way better than 6220c built wise. And the ram? Seems like Nokia have learned their lesson I'd say. Ram is 1 of the 1st thgs I'd look out for in any phone nowadays. Well done Nokia.

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This is not first symbian phone made in hungarian factory as you said. Because I had 5700 musicexpress with s60v3 FP1 that was made in hungary.

Aha, didn't know that. Sorry, I stand corrected! :-)

I managed to get a hold of its sibling, the s40 series 5220 a couple of weeks back and was very impressed by the built quality. It was very solid. I assume the 5320 would have the same built characteristics?

As I said before the 5320 does feel very solid indeed. The build quality is very good, it feels like a very durable phone.

If that's the case then yeah, the photos are not doing it justice. I love the metallic sheen and choice of colours as well.

It is indeed metallic, it's difficult to get that to come across on the photos though. Not even Nokia's official photos get this effect across.

What, you mean you *could* fit a 3.5mm headphone jack in a compact candybar form-factor after all? Who knew?

Seriously -- what was with Nokia's little foray into the 2.5mm I-need-a-friggin'-adaptor socket? What did it serve? How did it make Nokia any money? How did it do *anything at all* other than piss of users?

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Seriously -- what was with Nokia's little foray into the 2.5mm I-need-a-friggin'-adaptor socket? What did it serve?

I used to say the same kind of things, but according to forum folks 2.5mm and 3.5mm aren't as interchangeable as we might think.

Apparently 2.5mm headphone sockets use a significantly smaller jack inside the phone as the plugs are shorter and thinner. Using a 2.5mm jack means you can fit more hardware in the phone without making the casing bigger, or alternatively it lets you make smaller and lighter phones.

On the other hand, it's difficult to see why that should be applied to music phones, because 3.5mm would be such an important feature for music lovers.

How did it make Nokia any money? How did it do *anything at all* other than piss of users?

See above.

I used to also think this was a way of artificially separating music phones from non-music phones, but the 5200, 5300 and 5700 XpressMusic phones all had 2.5mm so that didn't really fit the theory.

However, with the 5310, 5220 and 5320 it seems Nokia's definitely now able to put 3.5mm in very small and cheap devices, so maybe music phones will be entirely 3.5mm from now on. Hopefully Nokia will bring in some internal rule that any device marketed for music must have a 3.5mm audio socket, it would be silly not to.

BTW most top manufacturers have made 2.5mm models including Samsung, Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson, Blackberry, Palm etc.

The reason is probably that most phones aren't bought as music devices, and even when they are used for music a lot of people just use the headphones that are included in the box. In that situation there isn't a huge advantage in letting people use their 3.5mm headphones, because they probably wouldn't do so.

is the sound quality comparable with the sound quality of the 5700?