The devil is in de tail
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Nokia's pitch at Itunes is compelling
NOKIA'S ANSWER to Apple's Iwotsit was launched with great fanfare today in London's Camden Town.
The new Xpress 5800 handset (formerly known as the Tubs) majors more on its music capabilities than its touchscreen interface.
The important bit is that this new handset will make its first global appearance in the UK and be whizzed out of independent retailer – the Carphone Warehouse- for £129.95 from October 16th.
That really does seem to be a highly competitive price considering that part of the deal is Nokia's much hyped 'Comes with Music' offering. That's all you-can-eat unlimited music downloads which you get to keep on one handset and one PC.
More to the point, the 5800 will retail for €279 without subsidies. Which makes it roughly half the price of the Iwotsit.
"The offer is too good to be true," Paolo Pescatore from CCS Insight, tumpeted, within hearing distance of the INQ. "Users will be looking for the catch. There isn't one – just unlimited downloads which they'll be able to keep for ever. How about that?"
To support the launch of the 5800, Nokia has PC-side software which it is calling Nokia Music for PC. The app looks so simple that existing Nokia owners will download it and move all their MP3s over to their musicphones.
Nokia will have an uphill battle against Itunes but it's likely that, once consumers see their mates with a Comes with Music phone, they'll defect fast.
Nokia made great play of the fact that not only has it signed up the four major music labels, it also has good local coverage. In the UK that means Ministry of Sound plus Beggars (Banquet).
As far as touchscreen phones go, Nokia is claiming the 5800's 3.2 inch VGA screen is the best there is. Plus - get this – there are no fewer than four wa ys of entering text. That's entirely necessary to send texts, for example.
This INQ hack is an old hand with Palm Pilots and the 5800 had no trouble recognising the letters that were scribbled upon it.
Nokia lured some hacks into a sound-booth to prove the 5800's speakers would blow your socks off. We just decided to believe the claim and headed for the bar.
The Xpress 5800 has put the cat amongst the pigeons in terms of mobile music. µ
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"Users will be looking for the catch. There isn't one – just unlimited downloads which they'll be able to keep for ever. How about that?"

The catch would be data charges and plan fees. That's how they'll pay off the MAFIAA. It's really good still, just not "too good to be true" good. ;)

Cheers,
John
The best feature on the thing, is that its a nokia. I am not a fanboy, i own a samsung and a sanyo. Heck if i still had my 3300b there would never be a need to buy a phone. The thing had a loud speaker, stereo headphones, acc player, fm radio, good battery life, memory card slot, full qwerty keyboard, nice color, replaceable covers and keys, and fully un-lockable. Did i mention this was like 5 years ago? Since then a lot of nokias have had some of these fearues standard (fm radio), not mention i could suft the web and install apps.