Nokia reveals iPhone rival

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 3 Oct 2008 at 08:48

Nokia has finally taken the covers off its iPhone rival, the touchscreen 5800 XpressMusic smartphone.

The device, codenamed "tube" before release, looks set to take on Apple's digital music hegemony by bundling its Comes with Music feature out of the box from the beginning of next year.

Above three physical buttons that give access to the talk, end call and menu functions there's a 3.2in 640 x 360 screen that supports finger and stylus input, with haptic response that vibrates gently when you touch it.

Specifications elsewhere are also impressive with the phone boasting a 3.2 megapixel camera, Carl Zeiss lens, GPS, 8GB of internal memory and a microSD slot with support for 16GB cards.

There's also the now fairly standard array of Wi-Fi, HSDPA and Bluetooth connection options, as well as a browser which supports Flash. A feature still not available on the iPhone and one Nokia took a gentle pop at by claiming the 5800 XpressMusic will allow "individuals to surf the entire web, not just pieces of it."

The 5800 Xpress Music will go on sale in the UK on October 16 and cost £129.95.