Nokia finally plays catch up to what is showing to be the start of the smartphone revolution, but it seems they were a bit late coming to the party since the revolution started a couple of years ago with the launch of Apple’s iPhone. Although there were smartphones already present in the market, their presence wasn’t felt until Apple decided to enter the fray and put their marketing muscle behind their very much anticipated offering. Only then did the public notice the smartphone.

Research In Motion (RIM), makers of the Blackberry, were more focused on providing devices for corporate executives, way before Apple launched the iPhone, but now, they started innovating and began to market their devices not to just the elite, but to professionals who can afford the lifestyle of always being connected.

The first smartphone that I ever wanted was a Sony Ericsson P910i. Now, there are a whole slew of new smartphones being released almost every week, with Samsung and LG a little bit ahead of Nokia. The number one handset maker in the world, however, decided that it’s also time for them to cater, not just to dumbphone users, but to smartphone enthusiasts, as well. This is evidenced by the upcoming releases of new touchscreen smartphones, such as the 5230, powered by Symbian S60 5th edition. This particular software that debuted with the launch of the Tube, aka 5800 XpressMusic, is far from being the perfect smartphone OS, especially when it’s compared with the iPhone OS, and the more recent Palm Pre’s webOS, but it gets things done, and that’s all that matters, especially for me.

Nokia may be late to the party, but Sony Ericsson might have come and gone already and it seems they have dropped off the race. That, or they seem to be producing devices that does not merit rumors or hype, which means people may be losing interest in the handset maker altogether. Not a good sign.

It has been a few months since I purchased Bruce, my Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone, and after a few software upgrades, I notice that performance and usability has been improved. That, or I simply got used to the user interface. So far, I’m happy with it. With the launch of the Ovi Store, Nokia’s application site, I can now further enhance and extend Bruce’s usability.

One of the apps I installed was Nokia Messaging, a free application that lets you “send and receive email automatically from up to 10 personal email accounts, each in its own easy-to-use mailbox.” When I launched it, it asked me if I wanted to connect to the network. I said Yes, and it connected via 3G. I have a WiFi network at home, and was puzzled by it not asking me how I want to connect to the network. I cancelled the configuration and put it in the back burner for a while. Until today.

So I recently configured my Ovi Mail account with Nokia Messaging. Take note that the two are entirely different services. After a few minutes, it was up and running. I was confused with the email I received when I decided to activate my Nokia Messaging account, something I wasn’t expecting to do for an app. I mean, why should I need to activate an app that is basically a simple email client? The email also mentioned that I’m currently using Nokia Messaging on a trial basis. This confused me further. An app that was listed as free in the Ovi Store now says I’m using it in a trial basis.

However, after some research, I found out that what I installed on Bruce, the Nokia Messaging App, is free, while the account that was activated was the Nokia Messaging Service, in which the latter will be offered by the Operator in the future. Here’s where my speculation starts: the Operator will handle data transfers of emails, checking the 10 personal email accounts that was set up in the Nokia Messaging site, and then pushed to the App. So essentially, this app is free, while the service of checking those emails and letting you know if there’s new email by connecting to the app, is still on trial basis and will eventually be bundled with an Operator’s subscription plan.

In my humble opinion (and know that only my opinion is humble), the Nokia Messaging service shouldn’t be bundled with subscription plans as I assume it will use push email, and a lot of S60-based Nokia phones still aren’t capable of handling this. At least, that’s how I think it works.

All in all, I’ll just enjoy this ride while it lasts.

Source: Nokia Messaging FAQ

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.

Lately, the urge for me to write something, anything, has been virtually non-existent. There are tons of topics that I can write about, but none of them seem interesting enough for me. New gadgets? Why bother? There’s Gizmodo and Engadget, to start with. Weird news? Fark and Boing Boing comes to mind. Silicon Valley news ain’t so great either. And TechCrunch and GigaOm has it covered.

Basically, I’m on “read-only” mode, obsessing on scans of comic books I wasn’t able to read before because I can’t afford to collect them, except for those that I consider most awesome. Graphic novels are mostly the extent of my comic book collection. Also, this might be caused by Heroes’ third season that began recently. And I’m sure a number of blogs are covering it. The fact of the matter is, I think I’m having some sort of writer’s block, if one can consider me a writer.

Although I have been writing my reviews and personal opinions about WordPress 2.7-hemorrhage, I can’t help but feel some sort of inadequacy. It’s been a long time since I wrote something substantial but not technology-related, if there ever was a time. A spirit walk is most likely appropriate at the moment, but I’m admittedly lazy. Nothing quite piques my interest right now. Unless, maybe, if, or when, I get a new gadget, I might have the urge to write about it. Wendy, my MSI Wind U100 netbook comes to mind.
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