Nokia 5310 review: XpressMusic (See all reviews)

By launching the 5310 XpressMusic, Nokia's XpressMusic class has definitely moved closer to Sony Ericsson. The Nokia 5310 XpressMusic is a classic-shape music phone available in red or blue colors. It's an ultra-thin phone, at just 9.9 mm, and has a lovely practical design with a good sized conventional keypad and a 5-way navigation key.

This new music device is definitely aiming to hit its target youth-market with a slick slimline look, featuring prominent color contrast music player controls, and plenty of tune-playing punch.

Main Features:

- Nice design and only 9.9 mm thick
- 2 inch 16M QVGA Screen (240 x 320 pixels)
- High-quality construction materials
- 2 megapixel camera
- Bluetooth with A2DP
- FM radio with RDS
- S40 5th edition user interface
- Dedicated music keys
- microSD card slot with a 2GB memory card included

Disadvantages:

- Slow camera with no flash or auto focus
- No 3G
- Records video in the old QCIF resolution
- Memory card slot under the battery cover

As we said before, the 5310 is only 9.9mm thick, which may not be a world record but is surely a great achievement. It fits perfectly in almost any pocket, as its other dimensions (103x44.7mm) are also quite compact. With a weight of only 71 grams we guarantee that you will not even feel it in your pocket.

Right above the 2 inch display we can notice the earpiece and the ambient light sensor that share together the same aperture. The numeric keypad of Nokia 5310 has ample terraced buttons. It is easy to distinguish between keys on different rows but rather difficult to feel the buttons within the same row.

To the left side of the display are the dedicated music keys, used for controlling the music player or the FM radio. As we noticed during our test, they are both functional and easy to use.

On the front panel, below the display, we can see the D-Pad surrounded by the two selection keys together with the Call and End keys. All those controls pads are large enough and quite convenient. The D-pad and softkeys can offer shortcuts to a range of features. They come pre-set, but it's quite simple to reconfigure them to your own taste.

On to the top of the device we have the power button together with the 3.5 mm standard audio jack and the microUSB port. On the back panel of Nokia 5310 there are only the 2 MP camera lens and the three loudspeaker grills.

Under the battery cover we have the BL-4CT battery and the SIM card slot. Nokia stated battery should last 300 hours in stand-by mode or 5 hours and 20 minutes of talk time but we only got around 3-4 days out of it, and since the device is a music phone, you'll probably use it a lot and will need to charge quite often.

The memory card slot is also located under the battery and you will have to remove the battery cover in order to have access to it.

Despite its thin design, the Nokia 5310 feels extremely solid in the hand. High-quality materials have been used and that contributes to both the handset's looks and sturdiness.

The retail package includes a 2GB microSD memory card, a microUSB cable, a CD with Nokia software, and a pair of earphones together with a remote equipped with a 3.5 mm audio jack.