It's not often that market leader Nokia Oyj has to play catch-up. But when it has to, it does so with panache. More than a year after Siemens launched the MP3-capable SL45, Nokia unveiled its own version: the weird-looking 5510.

Looks And Build Quality
In preview shots, the 5510 looked stylish and hip enough with its chatboard design to excite us. However, when the actual unit made its way to our Lab, we just couldn't hide our disappointment. From the front, the navy blue-and-silver combination worked well enough, but the cream-based band around the sides gave the phone a rather plastic look.

Build quality was less than pristine. Some buttons squeaked, the flap that covered the USB port looked like it was going to break off, and the battery cover felt flimsy. When we depressed the screen of our review unit, it somehow registered the "Menu" button. Unless the 5510 came with touch screen, this demonstrated poor design of button contacts.

At 155g and about the size of a spectacles case, Nokia's latest offering was too large to fit into most pockets. It may put off the very same fans who adored the compact 8210 and 8250 phones.

Quirky QWERTY
According to Nokia, a key reason in having a QWERTY keypad is for easy gaming. However, we felt that the large number of keys fuddles up the gaming interface instead. For instance, the left direction is represented by the letter "D" in Snake II, "C" in Space Impact and "3" in Bumper. By the way, the 5510 features five games.

The keypad requires a two-thumb operation, which makes phone dialing a bit of a nuisance if you're standing in a moving bus and clinging on to the pole with one hand. But true to Nokia's promise, once you get used to the unconventional keypad, you can whip out long SMS messages in double-quick time.

Music Playback
The music capabilities of the 5510 look impressive on paper. It plays MP3 and AAC files, and evens doubles up as a stereo FM receiver. The non-expandable 64MB memory will be adequate for most. We managed to store 12 MP3 files on it.

The standard package comes with several music-related accessories:

•  A cable to pipe music to your sound system;
•  A USB connector to PC;
•  A earphone-cum-handsfree kit;
•  An adapter for normal earphones;
•  A CD-ROM containing the Nokia Audio Manager program.

You use the Nokia Audio Manager to load tracks onto the phone. The installation is straightforward, but using the program proved less intuitive. Users who have come to expect simple drag-and-drop interfaces will find the Nokia Audio Manager rather cumbersome. Uploading music onto the phone takes two steps: first you convert your MP3 file into an encrypted LSE format, then you copy that onto the phone. The LSE files created in this process remain on your hard disk, which means you have to delete them manually.

Otherwise, the integration of music functions with the phone's other features is seamless enough. When a call comes in, the music fades away automatically, coming back on when you end the call. By pressing the control button on the earpiece, you can go on to the next track or radio station. Press and hold that same button to issue a voice command to dial a phone number. There's also a useful Recorder function for recording sounds from the built-in radio or from external sources.

Overall, we found the sound quality rather average, although there are options to pump up the bass to enhance your listening experience.

Other Functions
The Nokia 5510 is packed with a number of functions, including SMS Chat, WAP browser, calculator and alarm clock. In addition, there are 35 preset and seven customizable ringtones to choose from, while the phone memory is good for storing 100 contact details. Our evaluation unit had no software stability issues, nor did the phone at any time shut off on its own.

Battery Life And Reception
Nokia expects the phone to last 4 hours of talktime and 260 hours on standby. Without playing music, the Lithium-ion battery gave us more than four days. But with frequent FM and MP3 playback, the battery life was slashed by more than half.

In terms of reception, the signal quality of the phone is average, although the phone speaker sometimes tended to distort the other party's voice. We stuck to the handsfree kit after a while.

SAR Value
According to Nokia, the 5510 measures 0.74 W/kg on Specific Absorption Rate tests. This is well below the limit of 2.0 W/kg. For the full statement of the compliance, you can check out Nokia's Web site.

Conclusion
With a street price of AU$699, the idea of an MP3-phone with full QWERTY sounds like a good buy. However, the poor implementation of the 5510 and its sizeable bulk may prove to be counterpoints.