XpressMusic Series-Nokia 5200, Nokia 5203, Nokia 3250
The Nseries weren’t the only ones taking the limelight yesterday. The new XpressMusic series now comes to you in the form of the 5300 slider that features tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth, the oh-so standard QVGA (240×320) screen, a low-ish 1.3 megapixel digital camera, 3.5mm stereo jack adapter, microSD memory upto 2 GB, FM radio and of course, music playback with the dedicated keys on the face itself, which I find more convenient to use than the N95’s slide-top design. Expected at around Rs 14,500.
The 5200 is simply a slightly trimmed version of the 5300, with the camera taking a backseat. The 5200 also doesn’t come with the XpressMusic tag. This skim gets you around 3-grand off the price at Rs 12,000.
Nokia 5300
Carrying the XpressMusic name, the Nokia 5300 looks great, especially with the clever dedicated multimedia keys, but ultimately it’s a pretty standard handset roughly analogous to the Nokia 6131 clamshell. There’s a QVGA 240×320 pixel TFT display, a 1.3 megapixel camera, microSD memory expandable to 2Gb, Bluetooth, a stereo FM radio and an MP3 player in a package weighing 104 grams.
Unlike most previous 5000 series devices, the 5300 doesn’t appear to be ruggedised in any way. This marks a bit of a shift with the 5000 series towards “lifestyle” devices rather than rugged ones.
Overall, the Nokia 5300 measures 92×48x21mm and weighs 104 grams. Talktime is about 3 hours with up to 12 days standby time. Estimated price before tax and subsidy is just €250.
Nokia 5200
You’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between the 5300 and 5200 at first glance as they are identical in size and weight, however the 5200 is very much a cut down device aimed at the budget market.
Out goes the 5300’s excellent display and in comes a cheap 128×160 pixel CSTN panel. The camera in the 5200 is a simple 0.3 megapixel (VGA resolution) device. There are no dedicated multimedia keys either.
However, at its heart the Nokia 5200 is pretty much the same type of music phone as the 5300 - it too has microSD expandable memory, an MP3 player and FM radio plus Bluetooth connectivity.
It’s a cheaper device than the 5300 - the Nokia 5200 will cost around €200 before carrier discounts and sales tax.
The Nokia 5200 is clearly an inferior device to the 5300, and at just €50 less in price, it’s not much cheaper. Most contract customers will probably end up going for the 5300.
The 3250 with the new XpressMusic tag has been updated with a new cosmetic treatment and the maximum microSD support has also been upped to 2 GB. Rs 23,500 sounds like a lot, but all of these are expected retail prices, so when they come down here they’ll cost a whole lot less, don’t worry.
