Nokia 5310 XpressMusic

Right now Nokia 5310 XpressMusic is the series' most affordable offer, its price is RM200 lower than 5610, but at the same time the musical capabilities retain the same level, no compromise on this front at all. That effectively means an audio quality no lower than that of Nokia 6500 Classic (and maybe even higher), a maximized mp3 playback cycle when it comes to battery life and comfortable player controls. Effectively the model is a musical incarnation of Nokia 6500 classic, sporting more ergonomics and balance between the functionality and the price.

Thus sporting characteristics like that (and combined with a price quite affordable to the target audience) Nokia 5310 makes one of the best solutions available in this segment. A perfect balance between the price and the functionality is achieved, the handset is very slim, compact-sized and brightly coloured, the controls are very usable and the audio quality is unbelievably high for such a price - an evident bestseller.

Design and ergonomics.
The model makes use of the candy bar form factor, the thickness is mere 9.9 mm. The dimensions are very compact and so is the weight, once you put it into the pocket you can hardly feel it resting there. That's just the way a perfect music phone should be - small and light, easily carriable even in the smallest pocket.

The design of Nokia 5310 is more on the neutral side than flashy. The bright small pieces of red or blue color are still harmonical with the rest of the elements; these insertions are made from painted aluminium, the paint is strong enough to have endured a few weeks of testing without even the slightest scratch or worn spot appearing over the course of tests.

The build quality is rather high, there's no play between the parts and the body doesn't screech even if squeezed hard. The quality of the plastic is quite sufficient, the most part of the phone's surface sports a matte texture resistant to fingerprints. The back panel is made of durable dark grey plastic with a dotted texture and a subtle relief which help to conceal the scratches and worn spots, and also gives the device some intriguing and original looks. The back panel hosts the camera lens (2 Mp), there are neither a flash nor a lens guard. The camera module is quite cheap, the same is used in Nokia 6300, 6500 Classic, 7500 Prism and a number of other Nokia handsets not focused on the imaging aspect. The back surface is also the home to the polyphonic speaker. The company claims some stereo capability for these model, though in reality it's hardly perceptible and in a way muffled, soundling much like mono.

The side edges of the handset, the top edge to be more precise, are more abundant in details. The 3.5 mm standard headset jack is located there, you can use almost any headset with this phone. This standartization is only to the benefit of any music phone since the customer isn't limited to using only the headset that came in the box. The location of the jack is also quite well-thought, due to it you experience no discomfort when carriyng the phone in the pocket with the headset plugged in. A certain question arises, what on earth makes other companies move the headset jack to one of the side edges where it can pose certain discomfort? As compared to SonyEricsson W880i and the rest of the recent SE phones, Nokia 5310 seems to be far more useable and ergonomically trouble-free. Of course, ergonomics is quite a subjective factor, but placing the headset jack on the side is something that is reported to be a really bad idea by a large number of buyers, leading to certain inconveniences while the handset is carried in the pocket. In addition to the headset jack, the top edge hosts the microUSB port protected with a plastic flap, it's fully analogous to the same element of 6500 Classic. The profile switch button is found right nearby.

The bottom edge is completely deprived of any control elements or slots, the right edge hosts the volume rocker (with a wristband holder nearby), the left edge is the base to the slim charger slot. The memory card slot is hidden beneath the battery cover, hot swapping is possible. The device supports card capacities up to 4 Gb, and the common sales package includes a 2 Gb memory card.

The keyboard is quite traditional, made from smooth black plastic. The buttons are big and easy to press, the keystroke is firm and the feedback is accurate, the backlighting is of a white color. The navigation button uses the same material, it's also easy to operate and poses no problems at all. In addition to the traditional set of buttons, to the left of the screen the three dedicated player control buttons reside, those are made of plastic unlike what we observed with the 5300 models, they're quite comfortable to operate too. The dedicated controls retain their functionality regardless of the currently launched application, i.e. even if you're typing an SMS message or browsing through menus these buttons still work as they're supposed to in the player mode, it's possible to switch the tracks anytime. In the standby mode, the player is launched by pressing the central Play/Pause button.

Screen
The screen is of a standart type common for the latest generation of Nokia phones, effectively being a two-inch QVGA matrix powered by the TFT technology, with a pallete of up to 16M colors. The matrix quality is very high, being one of the best found in its class. Comparing the screen to that of SonyEricsson W880i, it becomes evident that both feature almost the same high level of quality, but the advantage (because of a larger diagonal) still belongs to 5310. The brightness levels are automatically adjusted by the integrated luminance sensor (located near the speaker), this element is increasingly becoming a common feature of all the Nokia casual phones (earlier found mainly with smartphones, but things seem to have changed). The mirror backing of the screen matrix eliminates the inconveniences potentially posed by the direct sunlight, the latest Nokia phones are the evident leaders in this aspect. Even while exposed to direct sunlight, the screen remains perfectly legible no matter how hard the light is.

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