GSMBOX - Preview: Nokia 5510

With its new model, the not exactly small and light 5510, Nokia is betting heavily on entertainment, in a device it hopes will appeal to the young public who are its biggest fans. Certainly the challenge this kind of device represents could be rather dangerous, given its high cost and the ever improving offerings of its competitors, who manage to keep prices down and propose valid alternatives to a giant which sometimes seems old and complacent.

Just the day before the official announcement there were rumours - on the Web, home of news and indiscretions, obviously - of a new Nokia product, in other words, of an event capable of eclipsing everything else in the pipeline, anything else that was happening, and of catalysing the attention of specialists and fans alike. Last Thursday was the day chosen for the announcement, made very stylishly, although somewhat unusually: again the Web was the true protagonist - the announcement from Finland appeared on the official company site, at an address reserved for journalists and industry professionals only. A few words from Annsi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Nokia Mobile Phones and Totti Helin, one of the designers of the new product, to let us know how much Nokia cares about young people and the rich market they are able to generate.

So the latest offering of the world leader in mobile telephony is an unusual instrument, decidedly innovative, and therefore regarded with suspicion by some, and with admiration by Nokia fans who would buy anything the company came up wth. But the context has changed, manufacturers throughout the world have changed a lot over the last 5 or 5 years, to be able to gain footholds in a market which, although no longer unlimited, as it was in earlier times, is still satisfying and stimulating. If Nokia has presented its 5510 in those days it would have sold it easily, just the sight of their logo on the handset would have been enough to convince users to buy. Now Nokia's sense of security, its awareness of being the top of the class means that the company can attempt any project, confident that it could never be a failure or disappointment for its millions of fans. However, it should keep an eye on outsiders, if just one interesting example is anything to go on: although the 3310 and 3330 models are undoubtedly selling very well, Alcatel, with its One Touch 511, is certainly giving the Scandinavian pair a run for their money in their segment.

But let's have a closer look at the new dual band pride of Nokia. To even the most cursory glance it is highly original: this is not a classical vertical mobile phone like those we are used to, but a horizontally arranged one, with an original centrally placed display and a full keyboard (QWERTY, just like your PC) on either side of the display. This will make it easier to compose text messages, using both hands almost like using a new generation Game Boy (by Nintendo, for the uninitiated). Its dimensions are 58 x 134 x 28 mm., with a weight of 155 grams and a volume of 165 cc, not exactly in-line with current standards of lightness and compactness (recalling the 151 grams of the 3210).
By comparisn, the Siemens SL45, equipped with an MP3 player, weighs just 88 grams, while the Nokia 8310, with FM radio, weighs just 84 grams. And yes, the the 5510 is equipped with an MP3 player and FM radio - see below for further details of all its features. It goes without saying that the aerial is built in - something which Nokia, and most other people, seem to consider essential, and we have to agree with them on this. The graphic screen displays up to 5 lines, and includes the classic Nokia animations.
Its features are not that different from those of the preceding low/medium range models from the same manufacturer, apart from the MP3 player and AAC (Advancd Audio coding) - with 64 MB of memory, able to store up t 2 hours of music - and the FM radio, with automatic station search. The Nokia Audio Manager PC software means that music can be downloaded from a PC and organised in the phpne; connection is by USB cable, since there is no IrDA port. Both music features can be used with a stereo earpiece (HDD-2), supplied as standard with the 5510, which can also be used for calls, when the music is automatically switched off. The other technical characteristics are: microbrowser Wap, version 1.1 (why not the by now tried and tested improved version 1.2.1); capacity to store up to 10 radio stations; 35 ring tones (not yet polyphonic!!!), plus a further 7 downloadable, as usual, by text message; voice calls for 8 numbers in the phone book; 5 games - Bumper, Space Imact, Snape II, Pairs II and Bantumi; T9(r) Text Input for fast text messaging; mobile chat functions; picture messages; linked SMS; screen savers, including animated screen savers; clock with alarm; calculator and currency converter; chronometer and stop-watch feature.

The memory is ample, able to store up to 100 contacts in the phone book, plus those in the SIM card, 150 SMS or 50 picture messages, and 220 notes in the diary. The 950 mAh lithium battery is able to guanrantee 55 to 260 hours of standby and 2.5 to 4.5 hours call time. To play music, the time available is around 10 hours for the music player and about 13.5 hours for the FM radio. The colours in which this phone will be available by the end of the year (for the classic Christmas present?) are red and blue. Strangely, the covers are not interchangeable. The price announced was 400 Euros, although this will depend on the agreements Nokia makes with the various operators and as such we do not think the price will appeal to those young people it seems to be aimed at, particularly in the difficult economic conditions which have developed since 11 September.

In conclusion we can affirm that every time Nokia moves an enormous amount of attention is paid to whatever it does or suggests, and this tends to enhance its successes and also tends to condemn, definitively, its admittedly rare failures (does anyone remember the 8810). It is hard to see how the new 5510 will go. What we can do is to point out how "anachronistic" it is, at least insofar as weight and dimensions (too high) are concerned, the impossibility of changing covers (a feature which has been and still is highly successful), the absence of GPRS technology (apparently finally ready to go), the sales price (to high for the very young), and the absence of a handsfree device, which would have been very welcome in a device of this king. We hope this precursor of the future's UMTS terminals (at least in terms of its unusual design) is simply a Nokia test, a test intended to test market opinion in the run up to similar, but richer and better, terminals. In other words, we hope we don't have to wait for the 5530, totoally ignoring the not-entirely-convincing 5510. Are we perhaps too grown up, with other requirements: or will this latest Nokia offering disappear without trace in the vast universe of mobile phones?




Massimiliano Bucciol