Nokia 5300 Black Review - Features

Features

Music is the main draw of the 5300.  Nokia's music player arranges your tracks in iPod-like fashion, letting you browse according to Artists, Albums, Genres, Composers, and user-deinfed playlists.  Songs can be loaded direct from a computer via USB or bluetooth, or using the included mini-USB cable. T-Mobile included Nokia's music management program on CD with the phone, though I found it just as easy to manually drag tracks to the memory card or device in USB Mass Storage mode.  Music can be played back over the integrated speaker or via wired or wireless (Bluetooth) headphones.  The Series 40 operating system allows for background playing of music during other tasks, and tracks can be controlled using either the dedicated music keys or the D-pad. 

T-Mobile does not yet have a 3G network, so no streaming music or entertainment options are supported by the 5300, though an integrated radio picks up FM signals using a connected headphone cable as an antenna.  Video playback is available, but only the 3GP format is supported.  The phone also came with two games preinstalled, and more are available for purchase from T-Mobile.  Unfortunately, T-Mobile has closed the operating system to block installation of unsupported third-party apps; for instance, while I was able to download Opera Mini via the T-Zones WAP browser, I was unable to actually install and run it. 

The 5300 features a standard suite of PIM applications including a contacts manager with photo, video and ringtone caller ID, an organizer with calendar, appointment and to-do alarms,  alarm clock,  notepad, countdown timer, and stopwatch.  Perhaps the "hidden gem" of this handset is the Active Standby feature which allows for a Windows Mobile-esque home screen customizable with application shortcuts, notes, and calendar reminders.  I tend to rely on my phone's calendar reminders on a daily basis, so I really appreciated Active Standby - having my daily schedule accessible from the home screen gave the 5300 something of a "smartphone in a regular phone's clothes" feel. 

As a side note to fellow Mac users out there, while the 5300 is not officially supported by iSync on OS X, I was able to find a very easy hack online that made my MacBook recognize the phone.  After just a few minutes I was wirelessly syncing my calendar and contact entries via Bluetooth.  

MyFaves is also supported on the 5300.  MyFaves is a T-Mobile calling plan that allows for unlimited calls to and from five phone numbers that you pre-select.  The numbers can be on any mobile or landline network in the United States, and each number may be changed once per calendar month.  MyFaves compatible handsets support one-touch dialing and messaging to your five "faves."

Nokia built a pretty average 1.3 megapixel camera into the 5300.  The camera performs well in daylight and other well-lit conditions, and photos taken with the phone render wonderfully on its 262,000 color QVGA display.  However, as with most cameraphones, picture quality suffers noticeably on shots taken in low-light conditions, including most nighttime and dimly lit indoor scenes.  So you might have problems using your hip, young cameraphone inside of those hip, young, and dark nightclubs.  The upside is Nokia's software makes it easy to use your photos as wallpapers and caller ID photos, attach them to MMS messages, or transfer them to a computer via Bluetooth, Infrared, USB, or "sneakernet" by way of the included microSD memory card. 

The camcorder can shoot video with sound at 176x144 or 129 x 96 resolution.   Clips can go as long as you want, provided you have sufficient memory available in the phone or on a memory card; beware, though, as the default mode limits videos to just six seconds of recording time.  Cameraphone videos taken with the 5300 weren't all that great - just a bit below average for a mid-range cameraphone.

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