simply very powerful devise (Posted on 26/07/10)

So I have had this phone for around 6 months now. It's a great phone I must say. The blue and white design is very sleek and sexy but the screen is prone to fingerprints if not using the stylus.

The main screen of the phone can display up to 20 contacts on scrollable bar. It also has shortcuts for up to 4 apps. The main screen can be customised through the settings to turn off these features and leave it blank.

The 3.2 MP camera with LED flash produces decent photos that are good enough for the occasional Facebook or twitter. Some people might be annoyed by the small camera button on the side. It requires quite a lot of practice to perfect the auto-focus. Other than that, it the camera includes features such as red-eye reduction, scene mode to switch between different types of shots and other customiseable features like exposure and contrast.

Apps can be downloaded from the Ovi Store via Wi-Fi or through your GSM network. One of my favourite games on the Nokia 5530 is 'Block Breaker 2 Deluxe' which can fill countless hours of fun. The included 4GB microSD is a bonus to fit even more games and applications, though this is also a negative impact since you will start to experience lag when browsing through some of the menus.

Call quality on this phone is 'Okay'. In my opinion, the speaker is just way too soft to here anything on this side of the line. The sound coming through is clear, but the volume is way too low, even if turned up to the max. There is an option for speaker phone but why would you want people listening in on your call?

Performance is not too bad. Although when turning on the phone, it starts lagging if you try to do anything other than waiting for it to load up. There are some performance issues when navigating from menu to menu, especially when turning the phone to landscape. Battery life is horrible. If you tend to listen to music while browsing through the web and constant texting, you battery would only last around 12 hours. Maybe less. On standby, the phone will last 3 days tops. By then, you would only have 1 bar left.

A problem with this phone is that the accelerometer is faulty. When using the 'Level' app (an application used to show if something is straight or not), i found that when putting the phone completely straight, it will show that it is indeed on a slope and not aligned at all. I have tested this with my uncles phone as well, both purchased at the same time.

Listening to music on this phone is wonderful. The menu is nicely displayed and kinetic scrolling is a cool feature too. Clicking on a song will play it instantly with no delay. It displays album art if possible or instead, shows a picture of a CD with a music note on the right. The music player includes a custom equaliser as well as presets such as bass booster, pop or rock. There are also options for stereo widening and loudness and also an option to balance between left and right speakers.

Messaging is easier than ever. By turning the phone sideways, it turns the traditional keys into a QWERTY keyboard. The bad thing about this is that you need to type at a steady speed. Typing too fast may result it to not input onto the screen. The keys are spaced real nicely and typos can be easily corrected. If you are not use to QWERTY keyboards, turn the phone upright and you can use the predictive text. Also known as T9 on other phones.

In summary, the Nokia 5530 Xpressmusic is a wonderful phone that has great features for any user. The battery life is very appalling but in contrast, the features are awesome. I Highly recommend you buy one. (Posted on 31/05/10)