Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition Review

Nokia's 5800 Navigation Edition builds on the success of the 5800 XpressMusic phone, utilizing the brilliant 3.2-inch touchscreen as a navigation platform. Preloaded with complete maps of the U.S. and Nokia's Ovi Maps software, the 5800 offers premium mapping features such as 3D landmarks, terrain maps, weather service, traffic warnings and more. Included is a lifetime subscription for both walking and driving directions, along with all the necessary accessories--charger, holder, suction mount--for vehicle use. On top of navigation, you'll get all the connectivity and multimedia features that have made the 5800 a best-seller.

Review : This phone is one of the best

By V. Phan "yimnvs" (Bay Area)

I've been using this phone for four days and those four days have been very blissful for me.

I came from a Samsung Star touch screen phone and this Nokia 5800 Nav. edition blew it away. The Samsung star was good but it lacks wifi and GPS.

With this phone you can pretty much do anything on the go. Wifi internet? let's go. Youtube viewing? No problem. Got lost while driving/walking? It will be your savior.

PROS:

Battery life is decent if you do heavy websurfing and GPS navigating.

Battery life is super if you don't do the above too much.

Build quality is good: it has a silver metal lining around the phone and it is pretty heavy compared to my Samsung Star.

Free lifetime GPS: You get free map updates forever.

Integrated GPS, not A(Assisted)-GPS like the original 5800 xpressMusic.

I have a Garmin 255w GPS and the GPS on this phone almost keeps up with it in accuracy. The voice on this GPS sounds more human than the robotic voice on my Garmin. Hey, this is a phone, don't get your GPS expectation up too high.

Quad band unlocked: take the phone anywhere, put in any simcard and you're good to go. Yes I am talking about AT&T and T-mobile, too.

Simcard and microSD card slots are on the side of the phone - unlike many other phones where you have to open the battery to put them in(though you have to open the battery to get the simcard out).

Phone has two cameras: The main one in the back and a self portrait camera in the front for all you narcissists. =)

Comes with a lot of accessories and cables.(Car mount for Navigation is very durable)

The stylus comes in handy for handwriting on the phone.

Speaker is typical for a Nokia: good. Music plays loud and clear, even got some bass.

Charging time is quick for a high capacity battery.

Good screen resolution (I think iPhone is lower at 480x320)

Convenient phone lock/unlock button on the side for your thumb

Radio

CONS:

The Main camera picture quality is average and doesn't look like it is 3.2MP

Doesn't come with a screen protector (I had to buy one)

Dialer keypad doesn't have letters when you dial numbers. Might be a problem if you want to dial in a number disguised in letters. Hopefully they will fix this.

GPS on this phone takes a minute or two to lock in signal. Sometimes a few minutes if you're not in an opened place.

Why can't I think of anything else?

SYMBIAN OS VERSION 5:

This is my first time using this OS and it has been good to me.

Everything is very responsive and installing apps is a breeze.

You can open a free OVI store account on your phone to download free apps, games and other stuff.

If you want to use an all in one instant messenger to compliment your WiFi, I suggest downloading an app called Nimbuzz in the Ovi store and ditch the default IM app on your phone.

Surfing the web is decent, but the screen may be a bit small for prolonged surfing.

OVI store has lots of free apps(some you have to pay)

Youtube videos play well, but don't expect to watch them in HD like you would on your PC.

[...]

All in all, this phone is worth every penny and if you wanna be different and not have an iPhone, this is the one to get.

UPDATE: This phone version has the updated firmware of V30 with increased CPU power. (Open your dialer and Press in *#0000# to see your firmware version)

UPDATE #2: I have been playing around more with the GPS and came to a conclusion that the text to speech on this phone gives me more instructions than my Garmin 255w. Though it doesn't speak street names(just "turn right" "turn left", "stay right" "stay left"...etc), it gives more instructions than the Garmin. For example, when I enter a freeway, it tells me to follow the freeway, and when I go over the speed limit, it tells me to watch my speed.

LATEST UPDATE: It has been roughly five months of owning this baby and I can't live without it now. There is a new firmware update that added the support of kinetic scrolling and many other additions. Please update to firmware v40 if you have not yet done so. It is much more stable. You can update from your phone. (Open your dialer and Press in *#0000# - then go to options and check for updates.)