27 May 2008Appearance-wise, the
Nokia 5310 is well-liked for its extreme thinness - measuring only 10mm - that ultimately translates to handiness. Its slim profile is a major breakthrough from the
Nokia 5300 which shared the 5310's Xpressmusic line. Users found the earlier Nokia creation rather bulging.
Similar to
Nokia 5300, the left side of the Nokia 5310 handset comes with an array of music buttons. Its screen is large, apparently dominating the face of the phone. The screen display flaunts a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels, which is crisp and bright. In effect, the 5310's icons and text appear very sharp.
The 5310's menu is fairly easy to navigate, with users attesting they find their way around the phone's functionalities with fewer difficulties. A carousel type of menu characterizes the 5310 handset, which offers quick and easy access to functions that are used most commonly. As standard with the phones under Series 40, the Nokia 5310's screen's active standby activates by default. In addition, the handset shows basic information, such as scheduled appointments based on the user's inputs, and the track title that currently plays on its music player.
Most people find Nokia 5310's easy-to-familiarize music player very appealing. Hence, it has become the phone's most popular feature, with its handy music playback keys located on the front part. The music player allows users to sort their list of tracks according to album, artist or track title categories for better organization. The 5310 phone is capable of storing 30 Megabytes with its built-in memory. This is, however, expandable using the 2 Gigabyte-microSD card. This provides a vast room for more tracks.
The Nokia 5310 also supports Bluetooth, which may be used to stream tunes to a wireless speaker or handset, through the A2DP profile. The mobile phone's battery life allows its users a talk time of more than 5 hours and 30 minutes, and keeps the handset working on standby for about 12 days. The quality of calls is unquestionably good, with the cell phone's microphone and speakers sounds that are clear and crisp.
Users have asserted that the Nokia 5310 is impressive with respect to its sound quality. As an add-on to its music player, the 5310 comes with the basic-type headphones, but most have opted to replace it with those that work better. Headphone replacement is easy with the headphone's 3.55mm jack located at the upper part of the handset.
Observers say that Nokia seems to be aiming at squeezing in the
W880i's features with the 5310; however, to a certain extent, the phone falls short of achieving this. Similar to the
W880i, the 5310 is a slim handset; but the phone's rather plastic feel does not compare with W880i's mirror-like appearance and sturdy appeal. According to some users, the 5310's case does not create some touch of toughness, such that users find it very fragile and prone to accidental scrapes and knocks.
While the Nokia music player works fine and comes with easy-to-follow key instructions, it is not as straightforward and easy to use as Sony Ericsson's cell phones with the Walkman application, complaints have stated.
Another downside of the Nokia 5310 is that it runs on the operating system of Series 40; hence, its system is not compatible with the game and music downloads that Nokia's new Ovi shop offers. However, downloading of music tracks from the Ovi service is possible by using the PC prior to transferring the downloaded files to the cell phone. This may be a good option, but defeats the actual direct-to-handset downloading that Ovi offers.
Moreover, the Nokia 5310 also does not run on 3G, making downloads over its HSCSD and GPRS connections painfully slow.
The Nokia 5310 has jumped into the bandwagon of multipurpose phones. Currently, the market is swarmed with a variety of music phones, of which the Nokia 5310 is part, but according to reviews, has hardly stood out. While its strength lies mainly on its slim and handy features, the 5310's gamut of other features is neither something that people have not seen before, nor exceptionally new or groundbreaking. Even so, users who prefer a decent, yet relatively affordable music cell phone will find the Nokia 5310 a delightful treat.
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