Nokia Blogged, Nokia news, reviews information and more

It may seem like a gimmicky device, but the X5-01 is as impressive as it is quirky. Sure, the square form factor takes a little while to get used to, and the loud colors obviously target the more hip and happening crowd –as opposed to the more somber, serious tones of other smart phones. But in terms of features and specs, the X5-01 is a great phone to have.

Made for the fun loving crowd that still wants quality handsets, the X5-01 brings together reliable smart phone commodities with new intuitive gesture controls to help make the music listening experience a whole lot better –spin the device around and it will skip to a random track on your playlist. There is both fun and functionality in this device, which makes it one device that you should not fail to check out.

So, speaking of the handset’s features, this new Nokia music phone comes in a variety of colors: azure, purple, yellow green, pink, graphite black are among the confirmed selections, but we would not be surprised if Nokia adds more choices to the list. The slide out QWERTY keyboard makes the thickness worth it as typing on the buttons feels quite natural and almost on the same level of efficiency as a BlackBerry device.

Nokia’s Symbian^3 operating system brings plenty of functions, features and of course, app support from the Ovi store. Sadly, the device lacks GPS support so it cannot make use of the free Ovi maps features (nor will it allow you to log into foursquare –which is a very important feature for this device’s target market).

As a music phone, the X5-01 delivers. The 2.3 inch TFT display provides users with a clear view of current track and the playlist, and the controls are easy to fiddle around with. The audio quality of the loudspeaker is quite clear and the device’s 3.5mm audio jack lets users have their own choice of headsets.

X-series apps, Blackberry, Nokia, Nokia-X5-01, Ovi-Store, Symbian-3

August in the mobile phone world is like the calm before the storm. OK I’ll let the secret out, the biggest handsets are normally released in October and November but as yet we have had no word on any big releases (apart from Samsung and Sony Ericsson, but more on them in another post). Her we have decided to pick out our favourite mobile phones and the best deals around. We are also being a little controversial and including not just Nokia handsets, please forward your complaints to the comments section.
1) Nokia N97 deals – The mother of all Nokia phones, we think that it’s great (even if we are a little biased. It is available on Vodafone for £40.00 per month with 600 minutes and unlimited texts, not half bad.
2) Nokia N86 deals – the gaming phone of choice. This simple yet effective phone is built on N-gage technology. 400 minutes and 3000 texts on Orange for £25.00 per month seems like a pretty good deal.
3) Nokia 5530 deals – The slimmer version of the Nokia 5800 is still a winner and at half the monthly cost of the N97 is great for those on a budget. Did we mention that you get the same amount of minutes and texts as well?
4) HTC Hero deals – Android has to be a concern for Nokia, can Symbian compete? Time will tell. In the meantime the HTC Hero is the best Android offering out there and 400 minutes and 3000 texts for £28.53 is pretty good in our opinion.
5) Samsung Jet deals – Another Android phone and a seriously underrated one at that. We love it (not as much as the N97 though) and you can get it for £26.11 on Vodafone with 300 minutes and unlimited texts, a great offer if we may say so ourselves.
6) Blackberry Curve 8520 deals – An updated version of an already popular brand of handset. This is the phone for the email generation. That is of course if you don’t opt for the Nokia E75. You can get this on O2 with £170 auto cashback which makes this seriously affordable.
7) Sony Ericsson W995 deals – Because we are Nokia lovers, we bumped this one down the list a bit, but for £21.00 per month you can get this great handset which has arguably the best music features of any phone out there.
LG Crystal deals – This novel handset looks the part, but you pay for looks. O2 offer the best deal here, with 400 minutes and 500 texts for £30.00 per month. Not bad, but not great either.
Do you know of any other handsets we should have mentioned? If so let us know. And before you say the iPhone, we didn’t want to give it any more publicity. We know it’s great and we also know it will set you back the best part of £1500 over the duration of your contract. In our opinion there are cheaper alternatives out there.

Blackberry, HTC, LG, N-series, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson Blackberry, blackberry-8520, HTC, htc-hero, htc-touch-diamond-2, Nokia, Nokia-5530, Nokia-N97, Samsung, samsung-jet, samsung-pixon-12, Sony Ericsson, sony-ericsson-w995