It’s been a week since I got my phone, a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, and after some real-world testing, I can, almost confidently, write a somewhat decent review about it. There’s just so much I want to write about this phone, which I shall call Bruce, in honor of the fictional multi-billionaire.

I’ve been waiting since November of 2008 to get my hands on this thing. What first piqued my curiosity is when I saw it in a movie. The movie, of course, is The Dark Knight, hence, the name Bruce. I noticed it was a Nokia, but I didn’t know what model it was, and I didn’t think Nokia would release it to the public. A few months passed when I read somewhere that it was being developed by Nokia for public release. One thing went through my mind then: I have to have it. The reason being is that it was good enough for Bats to use, and that’s all the reason I needed. Further reading and researching about it, I learned that it will not be using a keypad, thereby mimicking Apple’s iPhone. That’s a nice bonus. And knowing Nokia, it would be affordable for my measly salary bracket. Nokia didn’t fail me, as it is about half the retail price of the iPhone. Nokia also made sure that other things the iPhone didn’t offer, feature-wise or by optional add-on, would be a standard on the 5800, like 3G, GPS, video recording and night mode camera, proximity sensors, a Flash-supported web browser, among other things. And it supported video calling, which was tested and successfully tried, hence, the phone. Long story short, The Dark Knight and features the iPhone didn’t have made me want this phone, and I made sure I got one.

Two cents or less
Physically, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, or 5800, is easier to hold in one hand than the iPhone. I mean, what else do you compare it with but the iPhone? Anyway, it feels sturdy enough that you wouldn’t worry about breaking it if you hold it too tight. It is a bit thick, but it is quite comfortable to use with one hand. The screen is pressure-sensitive, meaning it is not just a touch screen, you have to apply some pressure when touching the screen. It has tactile feedback, so it vibrates ever so lightly, with the option to turn it off or make it vibrate stronger, when pressing on apps’ icons. The disadvantage of having a small screen, well, smaller than the iPhone’s, is that you have to use the tip of your fingers instead of its pads. But you can use the stylus or the plectrum, a guitar pick-shaped stylus attached to the wrist strap. As for the screen’s durability, I’m quite impressed as I have been switching from touch to stylus to plectrum every now and then, and it is still as glossy as it was first unboxed. There may be some scratches, but I don’t see any. It makes me wonder if I need to get a screen protector film of some sort.

As for its functionality, the 5800 is packed with a lot of features that a number of them would be left unused, ignored, or both. For messaging, it can send and receive text, multimedia messages, and emails, as well as forward them. It also has support for instant messaging. The GUI is quite accommodating as it lets you choose from using an Alphanumeric keypad, which is best for one-hand typing, a mini QWERTY keyboard for portrait-oriented stylus/plectrum typing, a full QWERTY keyboard for two-hand typing viewed in landscape orientation only, or by handwriting recognition software using the stylus. The handwriting recognition software reminds me of my Sony Clie PDA powered by Palm OS 5, which is gathering dust ever since smartphones became more affordable.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, it can play multimedia files such as MP3 and AAC audio files, as well as play MP4 and WMV video files. The web browser supports Flash-enabled websites and supports streaming videos other than YouTube, which means you can also watch videos from other video sites. The sound quality is awesome, as expected from an XpressMusic phone, but the video quality would depend greatly on how the video is encoded.

The 5800 is essentially a phone and, of course, it allows you to make and receive calls. It has a built-in proximity sensor that works only when on a call, and it turns off the screen when the phone is placed near your ear, thereby preventing accidental screen presses. It also allows you to place and receive video calls by using the secondary videocall camera, but you have the option to use one-way or two-way video calls. Good for those hiding from someone and telling them, in a different voice, that you left your phone and that you’re his or her roommate or whatever. The primary camera of the 5800 is a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, equipped with two-bulb LED flash, and allows you to shoot still pictures at 2048×1536 pixels and shoot video at VGA resolution. I haven’t tried shooting video, but the pictures are decent enough. A lot more decent compared to some camera phones that I’ve tried before. At least, for my standards.

The battery of the 5800 is, also, decent. Standby and talk times are long enough for my taste. As for PC connectivity, it can use Bluetooth or a USB cable. I mainly use the USB cable to connect it to my desktop as it is more dummy-friendly. That, and I don’t have Bluetooth on my desktop. The 5800 is also the only Nokia phone that I use with the Nokia PC suite extensively, simply because PC suite is needed to easily and properly manage the phone and its contents. I now have a routine to backup my phone and its contents almost every other day. It only makes sense. And it complements the phone’s features and capabilities, allowing you to add Music, Images, Videos, and Maps. Through the PC suite, you can also use the phone as a 3G modem so you can still connect to the Internet when your broadband connection goes down. Just pray that your carrier doesn’t go down too. And since I’m on a pay-as-you-go data plan, it’s a very economical backup connection.

The GUI isn’t as useful and intuitive as the iPhone. It’s pretty much as vanilla as it can get. Apps aren’t displayed upfront on the home screen, which is counter-productive in my opinion. You would have to dig down in the menu screen to find the app you want to use. The 5800 uses Symbian’s S60 version 5, or S60v5, and as its first OS in Touch technology, I think, it has a lot of room for improvement. A lot.

As announced before, Nokia opened an app store where you can get apps to further extend the capabilities of your phone. However, most of the apps that provide basic functionality are NOT free. AND those paid apps are NOT cheap. This is a total bummer for S60 users. There are a number of Java apps that are free, but I’m not a big fan of Java apps. To make the GUI of my 5800, Bruce, more productive and intuitive, I looked for apps that made it so. There were apps that made the home screen look more like the iPhone, but it doesn’t make sense to use it as it is a Nokia. If I wanted it to look like an iPhone, I would’ve instead bought the real thing. To each his own, I guess. And then I found Handy Shell from Epocware, and it does make the GUI more intuitive and productive. It does extend the 5800’s capability. Unfortunately, it comes with a $44.95 price tag bundled with Handy Weather. Not really a bank-breaker, but it does make me cringe. Good thing about it is that you can try most of the paid apps for a limited time before deciding if you want to buy it or uninstall it, which is what I’m doing.

All in all, I’m very satisfied with the 5800. It’s packed with features that rivals my previous E90, is a lot cooler than any Nokia phone, IMHO, and a lot cheaper than the iPhone. That, and it is good enough for Batman.

Now that a week has passed since the new year has begun, it has only been now that I start thinking of what has happened in the past year and what I will do with this new one. It may be a little late to do a recap of what has transpired since, but who’s checking anyway? A previous conversation with Death, the Righteous Babe, sorted me out. That’s what I’d like to think.

And should I even start making a list of what I want to accomplish this year, even if I know that I won’t even remember less than half of it, and even less of it I’ll be able to accomplish, deliberately or accidentally? I can feel my shoulders start rising in anticipation of a big shrug. What the heck, right? Anyway…

The past year has been kind to me. I was given a chance to help out in the development of WordPress 2.7, testing-wise. And because of this, in some small way, I am a WordPress developer, I like to think, at least for a fleeting moment. As for blogging, I would like to think I have helped, in some way, WordPress users trying to integrate the new threaded comments feature thru a post I wrote based on somebody else’s work and on my experiences trying to do so with mine. I believe I amused a lot of people by posting a couple of puzzles that I was able to solve. Not a big feat, but at least it provided some entertainment while waiting for my downloads to finish.

My professional life has been pretty stable, to say the least, and I couldn’t want anything more than where I am today, except for a bigger paycheck, which is considered by most to be a pipe dream, but dream, I shall continue.

I have nothing but kind words and praises for my webhost, 1&1 Internet Hosting, as they have been an excellent host and I’m proud to say that after about two years with them (I lost count after the first 6 months), I’ve had no problems whatsoever. Well, nothing I couldn’t fix on my own.

I learned and re-learned a great deal also when I switched to Ubuntu as my main operating system. I have not yet switched my computing entirely to Linux as the iPhone prevented me to do so. And no, the iPhone wasn’t mine, but my wife’s. It’s hers and I can not complain about it. I do play with it sometimes. So does my two-year-old son, whom finished a level of Labyrinth in 2.232 seconds. Accidentally, of course, but he was able to repeat it in 2.365 seconds. Go figure. And I admit, I sometimes miss the old Redmond beast that is XP. At least I’m using the lesser of two evils.

A quick look at a previous post listing my resolutions for 2008 made me realize I accomplished 3 out of 6 goals, with another one pegged as debatable. I was able to buy a flash, a lens, and a camera bag for Cap, my Canon EOS 350D, which spawned a very neglected photoblog.The debatable goal was the last: me being a better provider for my family. I was able to hold down a couple of regular moonlighting gigs, but stress took its toll and I opted out in return for some quality time with and without my family. But as the new year looms, I have been considering, for quite some time now, if I should sell all, and I mean ALL my camera gear. Anyway.

The past year also gave me the chance to go out and admire Mother Nature again, as I was able to go hiking and do some mountaineering. It made me appreciate what the earth has been providing us, and guilty at the same time at how much waste we throw back. The goal for this year is to be green, to conserve more, to recycle more, to do everything BUT waste more. And that would be one of my resolutions for this year. Which means I would have to revive my other resolution to quit smoking, which is my Kryptonite whenever I feel stressed.

And since I started off my list with being green, I’m going to have to cut back in my lifestyle. What does this entail? Well, let’s see.

Reduce the number of sticks of cigarette I smoke, if I can not quit smoking. And be aware of it.

Avoid unnecessary purchases, and have the wisdom to know which is and which isn’t. And also be aware of it.

Reward myself, frequently if it’s a very, very cheap (read: free) thrill, or one big reward for the whole year. Life will surely suck if I don’t get a chance to enjoy it.

Remember always to find simpler ways to do things, and make sure it doesn’t complicate anything. The new motto: measure twice, cut once.

I will not cross my fingers, but instead, brace for impact. This way, I’m prepared for the worst, and then be surprised, and gladly, if it turns out for the best. It’s better if you lower your expectations.

A day before the new year started, I had the weirdest, and the only memorable dream. There she was, perched atop my headboard, staring at me while I was in between the dreaming and the waking world. I instantly recognized her face. The pale white skin, the darker than black, unkempt hair, the blackest of lipstick on her sweet little lips, the Ankh lazily hanging from around her neck, she could have only been one person that I remember seeing on graphic novels. Death was watching over me, and she was indeed a righteous babe. I asked her simply if I am dead, but before she can answer, I realized, I didn’t care if I was. I knew my family will be taken cared of, by my family or my wife’s. So I changed my question, asking if it is even worth waking up to the new year. She stared back at me and smiled. All she said was, “What do you think?”

“I don’t know. Financial freedom? Good health? World Peace?”

“What for? I’ll still be collecting you sooner or later, anyway,” she said with a joyful smile. “It’s not like you can do something about it.”

Then I started thinking of who I’m going to leave behind. Then it dawned on me why I needed to wake up and do something. It’s true I can’t do anything about me dying. It’s a cycle, no matter how vicious it is. But it’s what I do in between birth and death that counts. At least, that’s how the cliche goes.

“I would like to see how it all goes down until you come for me. Or what you will let me be witness of.”

All she did was smile back at me, up there on the headboard where she perched.

And I knew then that I should be waking up, that if I ever was down, I’d be back up again, and more appreciative of it. And that if there ever was a problem, I know I’ll find a way to overcome it. And that if there’s a problem bigger than me, there’s always someone I can depend on to get through it. But what really excited me in waking up is the slew of new technologies about to dawn on this coming new year. And it was enough.

The haze is gone. I am awake. Back to the grind.

Death is a righteous babe.

Happy New Year.