If you’ve landed on this page because you were looking for a comparison between the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music with another phone — may it be iPhone or Samsung Omnia — then I’m afraid you will be disappointed. I haven’t had first hand experience with any other touch phones prior to this Nokia Tube (the nickname for the 5800 Xpress Music). If you’re searching for reasons whether to buy the phone then perhaps this post could help you in making that decision. After all, I was once in that position.

(Image credit: Linked from TechFresh.net, Consumer Electronics Guide)

There has been a number of articles and blog posts that refer to the Nokia Tube as the iPhone killer. To me, that means nothing at all. When I decide to get a new phone as part of my annual upgrade with Vodafone, cost is always a factor. What phone could I get without (a) changing my monthly cost and (b) paying anything in addition other than the postage. It is such a delight that a system exists here in the UK where I have access to cool phones without having to pay for it. When I began looking at the possibilities, I actually had my eye on the Samsung Omnia. But I wasn’t sure if Vodafone would give it to me for free for my upgrade. On the weekend that I could request for the upgrade, I checked their website and found the Nokia 5800. I googled it and found that many people had been comparing it to the iPhone, which, as I said before, means nothing to me. I was looking more about its features and usability. After several reads on blogs and several fora, I decided to order the Nokia 5800.

Three days later, I got my new phone (like the one in the image above) and I was well pleased with my choice.

I will not bore you with what it can generally do because you will find a lot of those on other blogs and on the Nokia site, of course. Instead I will share what I believe is really, really cool and perhaps hasn’t been mentioned anywhere else. Please bear in mind that I’ve only had the phone for less than a week so I might have a sequel to this post as I discover more things on my Nokia Tube.

Contacts Bar
Select four (4) of your contacts to ‘feature’ on your home/main page. This gives you quick access to these people either to call or send a text message. It also gives you a history of contacts with each of your BFFs. This is the modern version speed dialling with a little bit of CRM.

Note that the ‘Contacts Bar’ is one of the options of the ‘Home Screen’ themes. The other 2 are ‘Basic’ and ‘Shortcut Bar’.

Say Caller’s Name
Yes, the Nokia 5800 will tell you who is calling! So cool! The person, however, must be saved in your Contacts. Select this options under each profile (General, Silent, Meeting, etc.).

But when there is good, there is also bad. Well… either because I had the feature with my previous phones or I haven’t really sussed it out yet.

No security in unlocking the screen
When the phone goes into autolock, you only need to slide something on the right and the screen is activated again. It would be nice to have it secured with a PIN.

No divert to voicemail for the Meeting profile
With the Sony Ericsson, when you set your phone in the ‘Meeting’ profile, you have the option to automatically direct the caller to your voicemail. This is handy because not only can you silence the phone but you can also save the caller sometime by immediately diverting their call to your voicemail. Unfortunately, the Nokia Tube does not have this.

Overall, the Nokia 5800 is a great phone. This is my first Nokia since the 6310i model and I’ve had Sony Ericssons since. With this Nokia Tube, I am now looking forward to more cool things from Nokia.

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