Nokia 5610 XpressMusic review: Gotta love music

Speaking of colors, black is only used on the front of the Nokia 5610 slider. The front glossy plastic is black and it captures fingerprints very easily. The steel framing of the slider is painted red in our test model, whereas in the blue version it's dark grey. By the way, for the most part the blue Nokia 5610 is actually metallic grey... Right next to the earpiece on the front, you'll also find the ambient light sensor and the tiny secondary camera.

Clad in red and grey Nokia 5610 looks great

A thin red trimming runs along the entire body dividing the two parts of the slider. It hosts the lanyard eyelet at the bottom of the handset. On the right are the shutter key and the volume rocker.

The most interesting part of the phone however is its top side. Here you will find the charger connector and the microUSB port. The data cable is delivered with the phone, which is a good thing since the microUSB is not a widely accepted standard and data cables are really hard to find currently.

Another element is the 2.5 mm jack. Nokia 5610 ships with a 3.5 mm jack adapter, as the supplied Nokia headset uses that same type of connection. The headset mic is located on the adapter. The handsfree function remains available even if you plug in a headset of your own.

A USB cable and a stereo headset traditionally delivered in the retail package

The last element standing at the top of Nokia 5610 is a square black key, which serves as a battery cover latch. Removing the rear panel requires some effort, which will bring out a few creaks. For a moment or so I even believed I would break it.

Other than that, we haven't heard a single creak while reviewing it, which speaks highly of the handset's durability and reliability.

All slots are crowded at the top, no room for a power button there

The phone reacts weirdly to the removal of the rear cover: the player stops working awaiting manipulation with the memory card. When the rear panel is put back into place, the player starts an automatic update of the entire music library.

While the memory card is operable without removing the battery, taking the battery out is obligatory if the SIM card is to be removed. The antenna is accommodated in the bottom part of the phone.

The camera lens is only slightly imbedded into the rear plate and can be easily damaged. In fact, it has a glass protector, but it is mounted on the lens itself, not level with the rear surface. The camera is accompanied by a pair of LEDs.

SIM and memory card layout identical to 6500 slide • microSD is hot-swappable

The size of Nokia 5610 is average according to today's standards: 98.5 x 48.5 x 17 mm. Its weight (111 grams) is nothing special either. Charged once every 3 or 4 days, the 900 mAh battery will keep you going with 20 SMS and a few minutes of calling daily, and frequent MP3 or radio use. It takes about an hour and a half to charge fully.

NaviSlide: the great advantage

Let's now look at the keypad of Nokia 5610. In all fairness, it's a great example of a high-usability keypad. The alphanumeric keyboard is made of glossy black plastic, which tends to easily get dirty, but fortunately fingerprints are not so visible.

Typing is pure pleasure. Keystrokes are gentle but offer great feedback. The top row of keys is easy to reach, the slider won't stand in the way at all.

To the left, to the right: enjoy the NaviSlide

The novel feature in Nokia 5610 is its NaviSlide navigation key just below the display. The end positions of this sliding button are backlit in white. The two LEDs at the ends of the NaviSlide groove can be set up to blink to indicate missed events when the phone is inactive or create light effects for the player.

In general, the NaviSlide key is meant for easy access to the music functions. A slide to the right will launch the radio menu, while sliding it to the left will activate the music player. The NaviSlide can also get you back to the main menu.

All keys are evenly illuminated in white, including the periphery of the D-pad. Nearly all the functions of Nokia 5610 can be managed with the slider closed, but backlighting won't turn on unless the slider is open.

The keypad is susceptible to fingerprints just like the area around the display

Display: great at sunlight and made for video

One can hardly criticize Nokia when it comes to display legibility in direct sunlight. As usual Nokia 5610 makes good use of the reflexive film on its display - legibility under bright light is great.

High-quality display and even key illumination

We're dealing with an active TFT display of standard QVGA resolution (240 x 320 pixels). The screen measures 33.5 x 44.7 mm. Colors are deep, contrast is superb. Nokia 5610 views more than 16 millions colors.