Nokia X5-01 disadvantages

Introduction

On occasion Nokia will experiment with form factor and shape. The Nokia X5-01 is the kind of phone that might just leave you wondering. Is it having a bad slider day or a great square day? No, the Nokia X5 is better than that. It’s a neat and chubby Symbian smartie with a QWERTY keyboard and a 5MP camera.

The struggle to provide a better system of text input while keeping the size down is still ongoing. Touchscreen provides an answer of sorts, but nothing yet really beats an old-fashioned hardware QWERTY keyboard.

The full four-row keyboard on the Nokia X5 has a long list of applications – from SMS and email, to IM and social networking. The Nokia X5-01 sports a dedicated media key too – it’s no square when it comes to having fun.

The 5MP camera is a constant source of photos to share with friends and you can do it over Wi-Fi, no need for a data plan. The Nokia X5-01 is a full-blown smartphone too – 600MHz and 256MB RAM put it within a stone’s throw of the Nokia N8 performance. And the Ovi Store is steadily growing with new and useful apps.

We were a little disappointed to find the X5-01 doesn’t have a GPS receiver. Check out our list of pros and cons to see what made the cut and what didn’t.

Key features

·                 Full QWERTY slider form factor

·                 Quad-band GSM/EDGE, tri-band 3G with HSDPA and HSUPA

·                 Symbian S60 UI, 3rd edition FP2

·                 600MHz processor, 256MB RAM; 200MB user-accessible storage

·                 2.36" 256K-color QVGA display 

·                 5 megapixel fixed-focus camera, LED flash, VGA@15fps video recording

·                 Standard microUSB port (charging)

·                 microSD card slot (32GB supported, 2GB included)

·                 Wi-Fi b/g; DLNA and UPnP support

·                 Bluetooth (with A2DP) 

·                 Accelerometer-based controls

·                 Dedicated media key

·                 Stereo FM radio with RDS, Internet radio

·                 3.5mm audio jack

·                 Excellent audio quality

·                 Comes With Music bundle in select markets

·                 Good email and social networking support

·                 Office document viewer; ZIP file support

·                 Quick Business and Personal homescreen toggle

Main disadvantages

·                 No GPS receiver

·                 No office document editing

·                 Small, low-resolution screen

·                 Non-hot-swappable microSD card under the battery

·                 Fixed focus camera

·                 Poor video recording 

·                 No camera lens protection

·                 No DivX or XviD video support out-of-the-box

·                 No smart dialing

So, some things were left out, but Nokia managed to fit a lot of features in a small package. The last square-shaped QWERTY messenger we reviewed was the Motorola Flipout, which had its own set of pros and cons. For one thing, the Nokia X5-01 is a cheaper entry into the world of smart messengers. And it’s an entry with a bang.

It’s clearly not a phone that will appeal to everyone, but some will fall for its looks and rectangular charm. And as far as non-touch smartphones go, the Nokia X5-01 actually ranks pretty high on features.

It has a couple of nice accelerometer-based tricks too. If you press and hold the volume key, then shake the X5-01 it will “knock” several times – according to how many new messages you have. You can also skip a music track by shaking the phone.

Now, you can go ahead and skip to the next page for the hardware tour. We begin with unboxing and the 360-degree spin