Topics: Mobile

Tiny Nokia Phone Makes Big Splash At T-Mobile Party

Posted by Eric Zeman, May 21, 2008 05:06 PM

Last night at the Edison Ballroom in NYC, T-Mobile hosted a bunch of journalists to kick off its newest handset, the Nokia XpressMusic 5310. This handset is about the size of an iPod Nano, and manages to squeeze some solid features into a teeny-tiny phone.

True to form, T-Mobile didn't let anyone in until 20 minutes after the event was supposed to start. "Sound check," they told us. At least the rain had stopped. The Edison Ballroom has been completely remodeled. It looks fantastic. A great space for small concerts and gatherings.

The eats were a mish-mash of breakfast items (crepes), school lunch food (tater tots and mini hamburgers), and dessert (who can deny the chocolate fountain?). A veritable army of black leather-clad models were walking around showing off Nokia's latest addition to T-Mobile's feature phone lineup.

The 5310 is a small, svelte little thing. It will go with you practically anywhere. As its name suggests, the XpressMusic is focused on offering a solid music experience. It has a dedicated sound processor chip that enhances the quality of music playback. It also has exterior dedicated music controls, similar to a standalone MP3 player, and lets you connect both regular and stereo Bluetooth headsets. A 1 GB microSD card comes in the box with the phone.

For such a small device, the display is generously proportioned, and offers brilliant QVGA resolution. With the 2-megapixel camera on the back, you're ready to rock the town in style.

It runs Nokia's Series 40 operating system, which is decent enough for a midrange device, and can access most of T-Mobile's T-Zones services. No Wi-Fi, no GPS, and no 3G on this phone, though. With space at a premium, you have to give up something. Nokia figured you weren't interested in this phone for its connectivity options, rather its portability and good music capabilities instead.

Speaking of music, the party featured a DJ, a hip-hop artist and (no offense, Jackson), one of the worst bands I've ever heard. All three acts offered up ear-splitting performances.

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