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At first glance the Nokia 5230 could be mistaken for any of its predecessors; the familiar slim style compares to that of the Nokia 5800 and the Nokia 5530. This is where the similarities end. This Nokia handset is one to rival the top end smartphones without actually being a one. It runs on the S60 Symbain operating system which is widely used in today’s smartphones and it uses all the advantages of this operating system to the fullest. So why is it not a smartphone? Nokia smartphones are usually labelled Nseries or Eseries; these are aimed at business users and those who want the best in high end multimedia entertainment from their phone. The Nokia 5230 handset enters the market in a highly competitive price range and could be seen as a budget smartphone. The strong features of this handset surpass the other phones in this competitive price range. Nokia have crammed high specifications into this middle of the road handset.
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More Nokia 5230 deals and accessories at the end of this review
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Display & Keypad
The 5230 has a sharp, resistive 3.2” TFT widescreen display; the resolution of which is 360×640 pixels and it supports up to 16 million colours. The touch screen of the Nokia 5230 is fully optimised for multiple data entry methods by finger or a stylus; use of which works well with the inbuilt handwriting recognition software. The handset offers a standard alphanumeric keypad which can be used with predictive text or the standard multi-tap. Other keypad layouts include a mini QWERTY keypad, for use with a stylus, and a full QWERTY keyboard which is fully optimised for typing with your fingers. These keyboard layouts can be used in both portrait and landscape mode, apart from the full QWERTY keyboard which only works in landscape mode. The display handles all the applications and photographs with ease.
Music & Social Networking
The Nokia 5230 may not be marketed as a music handset but it delivers a fully functional music system. As with other S60 handsets the 5230 has a full media player which is compatible with a large number of music formats. These include MP3, RA, WAV, WMA and AAC. The music search groupings are well arranged as you would expect from a modern handset and the Nokia 5230 makes it simple to create your own playlists. The standard 3.5mm audio headphone jack is present so you are not limited in the headphones that you can use. This handset has 70MB disk space for your music, that might not be a lot compared to the multi-gigabyte MP3 players of today but you can use MicroSD memory cards to expand your storage space up to 16GB. You can transfer music to and from your PC via Bluetooth 2.0 support. Included in the Nokia 5230 is a FM radio which allows for 20 radio stations to be stored. Downloading your music on the go is a breeze with HSDPA support for up to 3.6Mbps.
Online Features, GPS & Extras
The 5230 supports Nokia’s Ovi online suite which allows for access to a huge array of features including music, mail and storage. Multiple connection options as well as HSDPA include EDGE, GPRS and HSCSD. The handset has an inbuilt A-GPS Chip which when combined with Ovi Maps turns the 5230 into a GPS navigation system showing you your world in detailed 3D maps. The Nokia 5230 allows for quick and easy access to all your online social networking sites, in fact this access is achieved with just one touch!
Conculsion
To conclude, the Nokia 5230 handset is very impressive for its target price range and market, it might not be a top end smartphone but it isn’t far behind and offers a wide choice of features commonly found on smartphones but at a cheaper, more affordable price.
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Tags: 5230, MobilePhone, mp3, Nokia, S60, Touchscreen