Nokia 5310 XpressMusic review

Nokia’s been a the forefront of the mobile phone market, well, for as long as there have been mobile phones. The Nokia 5310 looks like a classic low-rent PAYG special for the hard-up, but, like a young man destined to star in adult films, this is hiding a big secret in its trousers…


Pros
At first glance, this very slim and light, 2G phone doesn’t exactly give us the thrills, but it has a remarkable trick up its sleeve: Comes With Music. Buy the handset for about 80 quid and you can download tunes from Nokia’s library for no further charge. The library is huge and growing all the time, with everything from the complete works of Dylan and Bowie to groovy pop hits from the likes of Lady GaGa for today’s thrusting young people to pretty obscure indie, electronic and metal stuff. The meaty sound quality and 3.5mm headphone jack on the 5310 are exemplary too.

Cons
Nokia’s copy protection means tunes can only be played back from the handset and your PC, and there’s a raft of other daft restrictions, plus music management software that’s frankly not up to scratch. Everything else about the handset will make you think it’s 2001 all over again, with slow, impenetrable menus and a low-res joke of a camera. The 4GB maximum memory is a tad stingy too, especially as you’ll inevitably download far more music than that in no time, due to the whole not-having-to-pay-for-it thing.

In summary then…
Comes With Music is the deal of the century, but you might be better off waiting for it to become available on the 5800 (please, Nokia) or forthcoming N97. It’s also available now on the N95, although poor battery life is a bit of a killer there. The 5310 is very much a specialist device. For music fans, it’s a superb little gadget, despite its clonkiness in certain areas and lack of extra features. If you’re not into music, you’d be loopy to consider it.

Camera

Music player

Video

Style

Overall

Like the sound of this mobile phone? Get chatting about the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic on the PriceRunner forums.

Related Articles:

1. Nokia 5800 XpressMusic review While we’re patiently waiting for the arrival of Nokia’s super-phone, the N97, we’ll have to make do with the company’s first foray into the world of touchscreen mobile phones – the 5800 XpressMusic. It’s a pretty snazzy offering from the Finnish phone maestros, but can it match up to more celebrated touchy handsets? Hmm? [...]...
2. Nokia 5630 XpressMusic officially unveiledIs there a harder working mobile phone company out there than Nokia? It’s debatable. The Finnish company has just announced the Nokia 5630 Xpress Music phone, and it’s a real treat for a number of reasons: size, features and price. Oh yes, this is one awesome affordo-smartphone! So, let’s get straight to the point. How much [...]...
3. Nokia 6216 Classic gets NFC tech!Say hello to the Nokia 6216 Classic. Doesn’t look much different from every other mobile phone that comes off the Finnish company’s production line. But, just like Clark Kent, this handset is hiding some pretty nifty special powers under its suit: namely NFC technology! For those of you that don’t know, NFC stands for Near Field [...]...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Rate this article