Nokia 5320 review: Teensmart

XpressMusic is back on Symbian turf. Last time we checked the musical talent was playing second fiddle to smartphone skill but maybe it's time for the tables to turn. Nokia have ditched the swivel and are playing it rather low key on the 5320 exterior. Fair enough, less express in XpressMusic but no complaints elsewhere: FP2, HSDPA. Well geared up in terms of connectivity and running on the latest Symbian, Nokia 5320 will hardly count solely on the XpressMusic branding. What it can sure count on is our careful scrutiny. Let's play.

Nokia 5320 official photos

Key features

• 2" 16M-color display of QVGA resolution
• Symbian 9.3 OS with S60 3.2 UI
• ARM 11 369 MHz CPU and 128MB of RAM
• 140 MB of user memory
• microSD slot with support for up to 8GB, 512MB or 1GB card in the retail package
• 3G with HSDPA support
• Bluetooth and USB v2.0
• 2 megapixel fixed-focus camera
• 3.5 mm standard audio jack
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Dedicated music controls
• Music-centric Active Standby plug-in
• Very good loudspeaker performance
• Compact body and light weight
• Cool handsfree set in the retail package

Main disadvantages

• Mediocre camera
• QVGA at 15fps video recording max
• Poor battery life
• Smallish display
• No Wi-Fi
• N-gage gaming support is still in the works
• Audio quality is good but not great

The bar-shaped Symbian-powered Nokia 5320 has a distinctive youthful appeal and is obviously targeted at the younger audience. The middling feature load and moderate price also come to confirm that. Let's have a look at some of the alternatives that are currently on the market.

Nokia 5320 views

Nokia 6120 classic can pass as a budget version of the 5320 for those with no ear for music. It has half the RAM, no RDS and doesn't sport the Feature Pack 2 but as far as the rest of the specs sheet is considered the two devices are identical. The 6120 classic however is a good 40 US dollars cheaper, which might be a good enough reason to go for it instead.

Nokia 5700 was the last XpressMusic-on-Symbian edition. Larger and heavier than the 5320, it has a bigger screen and better keypad. Its swivel design may as well be another selling point as you don't see many of those recently. However, the 5700 can't match the Feature Pack 2 and 128MB of RAM in 5320. With the prices of the two handsets so close it is completely a matter of user priorities.

Samsung i450 sure doesn't go unnoticed in this class. It has the same price tag as Nokia 5320 and sports a much larger 2.4" display and the rare dual-slide design. The unique Touch-wheel key scores another point. On the negative side, the i450 has worse screen quality and is notably heavier than Nokia 5320.

Finally, if you find Nokia 5320 just short of having everything you need you may wish to consider Samsung i550w. It tops the Nokia in terms of WLAN and screen, if you're willing to dish out 25% more. We personally find WLAN and the larger display utterly worth the extra dime even if Feature Pack 2 is missing. And the audio quality kicks butt.

Now that we're not totally clueless about the whole mid-range music phone shebang, we're set to go. Join us after the jump for more on Nokia 5320.