5530 Xpress Music

Remember the pictures of rumored 5900 Xpress Music doing the rounds on internet, just around the same time last month? We did cover that on our blog here. It turns out that the pictures were authentic but the speculations were wrong. Nokia Conversations just announced the results of its "Pass the Parcel", here in Singapore and much to the surprise of everyone, it was not Nokia N97 as many were expecting but a brand new Xpress Music Series Phone bearing the model number 5530. Pass the Parcel as you may know by now was an online contest by Nokia, wherein a package was passed around randomly among shortlisted bloggers, with the package being unwrapped layer by layer as it moved around and one lucky blogger got to unwrap the final layer of package and unveil the hidden product to the world. Nokia has been really impressive with its promotion on onlne media these days: first with their "Search for N" for N97s and now with "Pass the Parcel", making waves in effervescent blogosphere like no other.

The contest was won by PhoneDog.com, who get a 5530 Xpress Music phone prior to its official launch in the third quarter of 2009, along with an exclusive interview with the product manager for their blog. Nokia Conversations has also promised some "goodies" for other bloggers who participated in the contest along with a "special treat" for one lucky netizen who has been commenting on Nokia Conversations for the past few days. The goodies and the lucky commenter and his "special treat" will be announced later.

Now lets see what Nokia has packed in their latest Xpress Music model: a 2.9" touchscreen with tactile feedback, 3.2 megapixel camera with LED flash, bluetooth, wi-fi, EDGE,  3.55 mm headphone jack and comes preloaded with 4gb hot swappable micro SD card. As with  our 5800s, 5530 sports the s60 fifth edition OS. How it compares with 5800? Check out the comparison below:

1. Smaller screen (2.9" compared to 3.2" of 5800)
2. Lack of 3G support
3. At 104 x 49 x 13 mm (68 cc) and 107g, 5530 is considerably lighter and sleeker than 5800's 111 x 51.7 x 15.5 mm (83 cc) and 109g.
4. Lacks GPS hardware (Now we know the reason for it being so slim and sleek)
5. Homescreen is similar to that of 5630 with support for upto 20 contacts compared to 4 contacts on 5800 homescreen
6. TV out cable, spare stylus and plectrum, carrying case are absent compared to the box contents of 5800
7. Comes preloaded with a lower capacity memory card (4 GB compared t0 8 GB of 5800) and a different headset model (sports silicone ear buds, no news on model number yet)
8. Most importantly, 5530 is priced slightly lower than 5800 at € 200 compared to € 279 of 5800 at the time of its launch

5530 may be sleeker and a little better in the aesthetics department (with the impressive  stainless steel rim  along the edges) when compared to 5800, but the lack of GPS and 3G makes 5800, the better handset of the two. Further the only advantage that 5530 has over 5800 is the new homescreen with support for 20 contacts, application shortcuts and mini music player which can always be fixed with a firmware upgrade on 5800s. So, my loyalty continues to remain with my Nokia 5800.

Check out the gallery below for some high resolution photos of 5530:

The 5530 promotional video released by Nokia Conversations along with a comparison with 5800:

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