Good (For Now)
- Size: I love the size. It’s not too thick, and not too big either. Weighty enough to know that you’re carrying without being a burden a la N97 or (shudder) N90.
- Build quality: Even though the 5530 XpressMusic is mostly made of plastic, like the 5800, it looks and feels a heck of a lot better. The material on the front is some kind of metallic plastic, and Nokia changed the back cover from the rubbery 5800 cover to a smoother plastic. Overall the phone feels extremely solid.
- Snappy interface: Yes, it’s still Symbian S60 Fifth Edition. But the whole experience feels snappier than say, the N97, thanks to some slick transitions.
- Speakers: Thank you, Nokia, for not screwing this up. The speakers sound just as good as the 5800’s, and that’s a huge plus.
- Touch-screen: The 5530 uses a resistive touch-screen, but it feels pretty sensitive. More sensitive than the 5800.
Bad (For Now)
- Slowdowns: they’re rare, but they happen – most notably when scrolling through songs while playing a track in the Music Player.
- Kinetic scrolling: it’s in most places, but Nokia left it out in the folder view. Strange that no one picked that up.
- Virtual keyboard: the keyboard is better with iPhone/Android-esque pop-up letters, but still flawed. Instead of recognizing keypresses *as you’re pressing the keys*, the keyboard only recognizes something when you press and let go.
Overall, I’d have to say I’m impressed. I like the 5530 XpressMusic, and while the 5800XM had more desirable features (GPS, Carl Zeiss, 3G, etc), I prefer the 5530.
Nokia 5530 XpressMusic First Impressions
