Nokia's iPhone rival slated for 2009 UK release

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 28 Nov 2008 at 10:37

Nokia is readying its touchscreen 5800 XpressMusic smartphone for launch, with a UK release confirmed for the first quarter of 2009.

The 5800 XpressMusic will attempt to tackle 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.

Nokia is also touting its drop down Mediabar that offers one-touch access to music, video and photos, as well as a Contacts Bar that puts four favourite contacts on the home screen with a full record of your communications with them.

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."

Pricing of the 5800 Xpress Music has yet to be confirmed in the UK.