I bought the Nokia 5300 Express Music (slide) phone (dark gray one, not red) a few days ago, this past Friday. I’ve been spending a lot of time with it, checking out its features. It costed RMB 2200 (about US$280) and I bought the phone at a Nokia outlet (is that what they’re called? lol).
Just remember that this phone comes with everything you’ll need. This person I know said she had to buy her own DKE-2 USB cable separately. Here’s what the box should contain, when you buy it (according to what I had in the box):
-Nokia 5300 Express Music Phone
-AC-3C Phone Recharger
-CD-Rom (Software)
-Nokia MicroSD Memory Card (I got a 256mb one but this varies by region)
-HS-47 Earphones
-AD-50 Earphones Adapter (allows you to use the common earphones)
-BL-5B Standard Li-Ion Battery
-Carrying Pouch
-Book manual, warrantee slip…
Why did I buy it?
Well first of all I wanted a new phone! So I sold my Nokia 6230 to Christine (I had been using it since December 2004). Slide phones are in so I really wanted to get myself one! Here’s a site I trust: cnet.com. I checked out the top 10 cellphones for 2006 and I saw the Nokia 5300 in the top 5 (but considered best in the Nokia range). Read the reviews, cnet editor’s rating is a. 8.3/10 and users average rating is a 9.0/10. Pretty good already don’t you think? So I went to nokia.com to check out the phone’s features. It’s got everything the 6230 has, and more.
According to cnet editor review of the phone, one fo the downsides is the placement of the memory card. That doesn’t bother me at all, it’s placed inside the back cover, on the side (sorry, I don’t have a picture). I don’t see a point of even bothering yourself with the card, it’s easy to transer files to and from the phone via USB cable. If the memory card was placed outside, that would definitely bother me. The fact that it’s been placed inside next to the battery is pretty cool in my opinion.
Another random downside (user review) is that the phone comes with really limited themes, and these themes aren’t that ‘hot’. Unfortunately, I do agree. I only like the main music theme, everything else is pretty weird looking. But if you have net connection and USB cable, then here’s a quck fix:
http://www5.ownskin.com/
Loads and loads of cool, 100% free themes. Lots of other sites you can get free themes. But due to the Taiwan earthquake that happened last week, this is one of the only sites that work great.
Size Matters?
Yup. Is this phone bulky? Well, it’s pretty thick (about as thick as the 3300 Music phone I have). But I don’t have a problem with that at all. It’s a relatively small phone and really quite portable.
Weight: 106.5 g
Dimensions: 92.4 x 48.2 x 20.7 mm
===========================================
Before buying a phone you have to consider the things that are important to you. If you’re deep into camera phones then perhaps you shouldn’t go for a Nokia. Many other brands offer 3 mega pixels at a relatively affordable price. Nokia seems to be ‘greedy’ in that area. The Nokia 5300 only offers 1.3 Megapixels.
But I’m not a camera phone person, I’m deep into music. But I’m also into size & appearance, as well as multimedia features. I’m not into smart phones, I remember reading about them when they started becoming popular & I just wasn’t into all that.
Anyways, I’m still getting used to the 5300. I’m deep into the slide, the comfy keypads, phone personalization, bright display. I’m surprised at the price, it’s a whole lot cheaper than I thought it would be especially coz it comes with the micro SD card, earphones and USB cable. The 6230 didn’t come with a DKU-2 cable so I had to buy one for about $US50 at the time. The 6230 was also about USD$360 when I bought it 2 years ago.
The big problem with Nokia phones is price. You have to pay a whole lot more for great features that other mobile brands offer for a whole lot cheaper. But I hope this never changes. It feels good to walk around with a Nokia.
Seychellois are deep into Nokia phones only. Yeah, sometimes the Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola & LG will look hot & sleek. At the end of the day it comes down to durability, and in this area, everyone knows that nothing beats a Nokia. I don’t know anyone in Seychelles at the moment, who isn’t on Nokia. So phone compatibility amongst friends is also something to consider.
The best thing that I loved about this phone from Nokia was the sound quality that it produced. For a compact device like a mobile phone it is an outstanding achievement to make such a gadget that produces great sound.