Nokia 5300 - Music to Your Ears

In 2006, the cell phone rage included more than the telephone-with-little-more style of just five years earlier. Not only are phones of 2006 full of great looks, they are packed with musical features to make them more like Walkman's than a way to phone home.


The Nokia N91 has everything except the kitchen sink, much more than most users would ever need. Nokia answered the call of the casual user that wanted integrated music features without being able to beam satalites in space when they introduced the 5300 Xpress Music phone.


When you first set your eyes upon the Nokia 5300, you won't necessarily say "WOW!" The outer design is a little more boxy and bulky than the average top-of-the-line mobile phone. The 5300 measures 3.6 by 1.9 by 0.8 inches thick, but it is lighter than it looks, weighing in at just over 3.5 ounces.


While the closed device is not terribly remarkable, try to open up the little gem and you'll find it's not the clamshell design of last year. This is a slider phone, one of the first put out by Nokia, though you wouldn't know it when you feel the ease of the slide. You won't get that baby-in-your-hand cradle feel of the clamshell but that's the nature of a slider phone.


The display is a full 2 inches and supports over 250K colors. Graphics and texts pop off the 320 x 240 pixel screen. You can adjust the font size and backlight time, though you can't adjust the brightness. Not to worry, the screen is plenty bright in the dark and shaded areas outside. Nokia took advantage of the color perfection with their eye catching, but not gaudy, menus.


Speaking of menus, Nokia really got it right on this phone. They provided clear, concise descriptions of new applications users of yesteryear aren't familiar with when you place the cursor over the menu icon.