"iPhone killer" Nokia 5800 XpressMusic launched in India

Nokia has launched the latest "iPhone killer" in India, its first touchscreen mobile phone, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, which is expected to give Apple Inc.'s iconic iPhone a run for its money.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. Nokia has launched the latest "iPhone killer" in India, its first touchscreen mobile phone, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, which is expected to give Apple Inc.`s iconic iPhone a run for its money.



The feature-packed phone, said D. Shivakumar, managing director, Nokia India, is a better converged device than Apple's iPhone 3G. "What iPhone did was to bring the touch element to a multimedia converged device. Since we are already the leader in converged devices in India, Nokia 5800 will be a revolutionary launch from our stable," he said.

Unlike the iPhone which comes with a 2-megapixel camera, Nokia 5800 is equipped with a 3.2-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens, LED flash and video capability.

While the phone's virtual QWERTY keyboard is ideal for text messaging, email and instant messaging, the WiFi, 3G, GPRS, dual-band WCDMA, HSDPA, WLAN (802.11 b/g) and HSCSD support ensures wireless access to the internet.

The Symbian 60-based phone is capable of playing audio and video files in multiple formats and for the music or movie buffs, this is a boon as it comes with a whopping 8GB microSD card (note: 5800 has built-in 128MB memory) and for those who want more, an optional 16GB card.

In addition, the phone has a crystal clear 3.2-inch display and a tilt sensor (similar to Apple's accelerometer) and an in-built A-GPS receiver with voice navigation.

Other features include virtual keypad with stylus input support, Bluetooth 2.0, handwriting recognition software, FM radio, built-in surround sound stereo speakers with eight-band graphic equalizer, Nokia Maps, haptic touch technology, Mobile Transfer Protocol support, and TV out - video cable included - that allows streaming of multimedia.

According to tech analysts, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic wins hands down in several departments, including:

[1] A battery which is removable and has a better and longer life

[2] A better camera. Nokia has 3.2-megapixel camera with video recording capability as compared to iPhone's basic 2-megapixel camera

[3] A better screen resolution. Nokia's display screen is smaller than the iPhone (3.2-inch as against 3.5-inch) but the the resolution is better on the Nokia 5800 with 640x360 pixels against 480x320 pixels for the iPhone

[4] MMS support

[5] Adobe Flash support (Apple claims that Flash may slow down browsing on iPhone and hence the device does not support Flash)