Flashback: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic - the little touchscreen that couldn't

14 July 2019
The phone was commercially successful and reasonably well-liked by fans, but it was a herald of the end of Nokia as a smartphone maker.

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • kpb
  • 14 Jul 2019

I bought one when they first came out mostly for the music. Still have it in the phone graveyard drawer. Haven't turned it on in ages. Replaced it with an N8 which I still use on almost a daily basis for my audio books. I did a camera comparison not long ago with the N8 a 950xl and an LG v30. Other then the camera app for the N8, I was really surprised how well the N8 did.

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    • Harsha ponnam
    • vJt
    • 14 Jul 2019

    This was my fist phone, had a nifty stylus and amazing dual stereo speakers. Nice 3.2 mp camera with zeiss optics and duel flash. I got 8gb memory card which is a lot in those days🤪. Dropped it many time and once i broke the top panel where power button is and the screen was still fine. After an year or so i broke the screen finally😂. But remember the cost was just 10 dollars 😂😂. Typing this on my note8's broken screen that costs 250 dollars. Eagerly waiting for note x pro nxt month.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • 3Yb
      • 14 Jul 2019

      Anonymous, 14 Jul 2019Samsung does NOT have"pathertic build today". It is as prem... moreAgree with that removable battery it’s not an option anymore.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • 7tV
        • 14 Jul 2019

        Alee, 14 Jul 2019Don't know other things, but believe me, the Nokia phones a... moreSamsung does NOT have"pathertic build today". It is as premium as any glass sandwitch phone can be.

        Samsung's quality improved drastically S5 onwards. Some people hate that too, because we lost the option of a removable battery.

          • J
          • JTatufo
          • iCt
          • 14 Jul 2019

          Great phone i was rocking this for 3-4 years
          Nokia back then was really good

            • C
            • Carol
            • mgK
            • 14 Jul 2019

            Anonymous, 14 Jul 2019Nokia's downfall isn't solely based on Symbian, it's the pr... moreMost of the android devices were made with 90€ per slab, in.China, hack even.iphones. while Nokia devices were build in Europe, there is a huge difference from quality to what you pay to a werker. Not to mention Nokia were among the only ones actually investing bilions in research, the only time the "cheapper" brands you are talking about, invested so much money in something, was ... never. So do not compare a brand with Fabrics and Headquarters in.Europe with a knockoff brand. You are right, the fault was not only in what GSMarena wrote, it was also the people at the end, that mostly were just some ignorants that want cheap.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • Su8
              • 14 Jul 2019

              Tonnie, 14 Jul 2019My Android dont allow me to install apps in microSD without... moreSome android phones can actually wake up from power-down. Though usually not the big name brands. I have a Honor 8 which can but since you need to enter a pin-code to fully startup the device it's kinda useless.

              Other features mostly overlooked is the fact that Symbian apps are tiny (compared to their Android behemoths) and that the OS has full multitasking (like a computer) without some stupid governor killing background apps. You could literally boot the phone, start all the apps you would want after start up and have them active ALL THE TIME and then instantly swap between then... always!

              And another vastly neglected feature is that every Symbian phone has build in full two way call recording coupled with excellent mics and loud speakers makes for a fantastic secretary ;-) They solved the "legality" by simply issuing a tiny beep every 30 secs or so to notify all the parties of a call being recorded, pretty neat. Especially in this day and age when using phones while driving is prohibited and punished with ridiculously large fines!

              I loved my 808pureview. Especially with the Belle upgrade. A small little brick with outstanding audio and fantastic photographic quality. Super loud speaker (made ridiculously loud with a small patch) and full multitasking with full call-recording. And you could sync the device with e.g. outlook etc... The only downside was the slow but very competent webbrowser. Of course the question remains was the browser the slow part or was the sinlge core 512MB RAM device just not good enough for browsing? A similar problem came apparent with the first 512MB Raspberry Pi years later.

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                • AngryLithuanian
                • myq
                • 14 Jul 2019

                BTG, 14 Jul 2019It would be nice if they bring back the XpressMusic with Hi... moreI second that!

                The real comeback for Nokia could be just reviving the classics with new hardware and clean Android. They did that with Nokia 3310 and that bananana phone at least.

                  • H
                  • Hmm
                  • nEs
                  • 14 Jul 2019

                  iabhi, 14 Jul 2019Great article summarising the touch screen era. I owned No... moreAh the N900 now we are talking, still got mine, but keyboard is a little worn now..
                  If only they developed it more in stead of dropping it for a slab phone boring!! :D
                  I still have many Nokia's that i have bought over the years hanging around lol.

                    • H
                    • Hmm
                    • nEs
                    • 14 Jul 2019

                    memoplus, 14 Jul 2019I don't know if my memory is correct but I remember nokia a... moreNo that was Samsung lol

                      • F
                      • Fayth
                      • tEZ
                      • 14 Jul 2019

                      Alee, 14 Jul 2019Don't know other things, but believe me, the Nokia phones a... moreyes, even the carrying case itself is a premium well-tought beauty

                        • P
                        • Parion
                        • XME
                        • 14 Jul 2019

                        This makes me sad. I owned this phone and rooted for Nokia. Later i went with HTC, i rooted HTC as well. It is just sad.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • kxg
                          • 14 Jul 2019

                          Tonnie, 14 Jul 2019My Android dont allow me to install apps in microSD without... moreIt was needed back then when internal memory of most phones were 4-8Gb. Today's androids don't need that feature because even a budget android has 64Gb of internal storage. I can't find any condition to fill the whole 50+Gb with apps and games only.
                          You should not miss symbian touch phones because these phones are the worst touch screen phones ever produced. I had N97 and It hangs a lot. Worst phone ever.

                            • F
                            • Fayth
                            • tEZ
                            • 14 Jul 2019

                            I have this one, Nokia was very generous with the accessories inside the box

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • gJt
                              • 14 Jul 2019

                              Symbian Series 60 was full of bugs , a few phone I had froze and were generally unreliable.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • gJt
                                • 14 Jul 2019

                                Ui was stuck in 2001 , froze and was generally unreliable.

                                  • i
                                  • ithehappy
                                  • gwB
                                  • 14 Jul 2019

                                  This was an epic phone, period. Sound quality, call quality, build quality, overall display quality, even the camera, all were fantastic for its time. Don't compare these Nokias with anything else. These were memories; still is.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • HJD
                                    • 14 Jul 2019

                                    I had this phone and it was terrible :)

                                      I used to dream on this phone when I was still a teenage school boy. That stylus definitely won me.

                                        • J
                                        • JP
                                        • XGa
                                        • 14 Jul 2019

                                        It's true to say that at that time the iPhone was much more on march towards the future however the match between the two was equal since Nokia never give up the pace to Apple but its sad that years later due to bad decisions Nokia end up being a simple regular brand and it almost disappeared but since this market is always on evolution I think one day Nokia will once again conquer the market as during the last years the company has produced very good quality phones which can hardly compete with a Samsung or an iPhone nevertheless it's good enough to turn me back to Nokias side and made me buy their phone

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