INBOX:ALTHOUGH THE iPod still reigns supreme, we carry much of our music around in mobile phones. But this is no new idea, and, if you're anything like me, you've been listening to MP3s on mobile handsets for a while. So on first look it's hard to see what Nokia can bring to the party with its new 5320 XpressMusic handset combined with the recently launched "Comes With Music" download service. But look under the hood and you can see a cunning new strategy emerging.
Brother to the earlier 5220, the 5320 has softer lines but a nice hot-rod paint job with electric blue or red side panels and detailing. As with previous XpressMusic models it has dedicated music player buttons, but there's more to the handset than meets the ear.
The 5320 also has 3G/HSDPA high-speed data connectivity which speeds up browsing, downloading, and streaming. HSDPA - up to 3.6Mbit/sec - means songs or video clips can be received in just a few seconds.
Plus, a podcasting application enables you to search for and subscribe to podcasts "over the air". And although it lacks a Wi-Fi capability, it does mean the handset is cheaper and thus more appealing to a wider market. Nokia's Music Store track download service is available on the handset, although Nokia's "Comes With Music" scheme will not be supported initially. With only 140MB of user memory, the phone is limited, but at least it does come with a 1GB Micro SD memory card in the box, and it supports Micro SDHC up to 16GB.
Nokia is coming up with some interesting new tech with this phone as well. The "Say and Play" option lets you call up a song by pressing a button and saying the song's title, artist, album or playlist.
Expect more of these kinds of features to appear in other handsets from other manufacturers over the next year. The iPhone is already capable of similar kinds of feats, but usually with quite high-end applications. However, it remains to be seen whether "Say and Play" voice control is going to be something people really use or whether it's just a gimmick. The accuracy will have to be improved first.
But here's the real inside story on why this phone merits interest. The 5320 is smarter than your normal bog-standard Nokia phones because it's built on the Symbian S60 smartphone platform. This means you can add many more applications than come with the phone. So for instance, Nokia Maps software is among the applications pre- loaded onto the 5320 (but with no built-in GPS you'll need to connect an optional Bluetooth GPS receiver). And QuickOffice and PDF document readers can be used to view e-mail attachments and documents copied over to the 5320, assuming you really want to have the smartphone experience. Calendar, calculator, notes, converter and dictionary and translation functions are included too, as is a voice recorder. There are lots more free and paid-for applications you could add.
This move is a smart one from Nokia - it is effectively seeding its mainstream phones with more smartphone software, something which will gradually hook in more people to its higher-end phones. At least that looks like their plan.
