A couple months ago I was contacted by The WOM World, who asked me if I was interested in testing the Nokia 5310 phone and reviewing it here at Cootiehog. Never one to turn down the opportunity to play with some new gadget, I said yes and the phone was shipped to my house. I had a couple weeks to carry it around and play before sending it back, and the overwhelming result: It’s a good little phone.
Upon opening the box my first impression was that the phone was VERY small and light – especially compared to my Scarlet (Blackberry Curve). The 5310 is only about four inches long and MAYBE 1/2 an inch thick. MAYBE. It made Scarlet look downright dowdy, too. The 5310 is sleek and shiny with a decent sized screen (2 inches) for such a small phone.
I charged up the phone battery, which didn’t take long. Upon turning on the phone I was greeted by dazzling bright colors and feature icons which were easily recognizable for the functions available on the phone. The buttons on the phone were a decent size for my fingers, but I could easily see a man being frustrated by the buttons since they aren’t stand-alone but rather one pad of slightly raised by still flush buttons.
The phone has a lot of features – camera, video, music playback. I thought the 2-megapixel camera produced decent pictures (compared to Scarlet which I’ve noticed takes barely-decent photos (or maybe it’s the photographer’s fault)) and even has the ability to take landscape pictures, which I thought was cool. I tested the video function and found I really liked the slow zoom in/out function a lot. It made me realize how much I miss having video recordation with Scarlet. This phone also has a couple quirky functions that I had never seen on a phone before. Notably, a world clock function as well as a currency converter which was fun to play with while daydreaming of exotic vacations I may never take.
Like other phones, the 5310 offered games and I was able to sample a few of them, such as poker, a “make your own story” game, bowling, and even a “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” game. I only had the demo versions of the games, but they were infinitely more enjoyable than the brick-breaker game that has been on every phone I’ve had since 1997.
The phone quality was decent on the two calls I was able to make (I had limited minutes). I had no issues with connectivity and the sound was excellent. The phone offers a wide variety of ringers and volume levels for those who don’t want to be obnoxious during meetings or long commutes on the bus when a call comes in.
As far as a battery life, I was impressed. So many of my phones die after only three days of standby time. The 5310 lasted just over a week in standby mode. While that’s less than they promise, it’s more than I’m used to.
The only thing I can’t comment on – which is the biggest feature of the phone – is the music playback quality. I could not get the two music tracks saved on the phone to play for the life of me. I tried everything in my power, but just couldn’t. I think I needed an additional code to unlock them or something. However, given the quality of the ringers (which included polyphonics), I bet the music quality would be pretty decent.
So do I recommend the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic Slimline? Sure. Judging from what I see online, the phone retails for about $50. I’d say that’s a decent price for all the options you get with this phone. I like Nokia phones – I’ve had a couple of them myself over the years. This is a good addition to the already nice stable of phones they offer.
Photo courtesy of Mobile Mania