Nokia 5300 review: Hop on the music express

Key features:

• 1.3 megapixel camera
• Dedicated music keys
• microSD memory card slot (hot-swap)
• Enhanced MP3 player and stereo FM radio
• QVGA display resolution
• Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP profile
• Standard mini-USB port
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack adapter in the package

Main disadvantages:

• Somewhat cheap looks
• Below average camera quality
• No camera LED flash
• Records video in the low resolution

The Nokia 5300 doesn't exactly rely on its slimness to attract attention. It measures 92.4 x 48.2 x 20.7 mm, which in fact makes it rather thick. But it's rather its body design than actually the thickness itself that's to blame, since it's even a few millimeters shorter and slimmer than Sony Ericsson W850. The weight of 106 g is also acceptable and it is by no means a heavy phone or anything.

In terms of construction, well… construction has not always been the brightest side of a slider. In this case the mobile body is perfectly stable and rock solid when opened, but when closed it did seem to play a little - but not that much to turn you down.

The front panel of the phone is the one that might attract the most attention. In the upper part, above the display, there are two small holes, which in fact are the in-call speaker apertures. In the lower part there are four control keys and the navigation D-pad. The upper set of keys act as context keys for interacting with the phone's interface while the lower set are the call keys for accepting and ending calls. Just beside the red one there is a small hole which is in fact the microphone aperture. Opening the handset reveals the alphanumeric keypad, which is made out of the same material as the body.

At first glance Nokia 5300 failed to impress us with its design and the materials used for its body. In fact we think that the white color and matt plastic with rubber elements make it look cheap. It's not among the slimmest devices either.

But armed with the highly user-configurable S40 user interface it scores even with the corresponding Sony Ericsson user interface and even makes a stride ahead. The menu is organized logically; functions are detailed, offering high control comfort and brilliant work efficiency.

Nokia advertisement campaign on the XpressMusic handsets clearly shows that they are made for young people having fun. The available microSD memory card slot, the miniUSB port and the standard 3.5 mm audio jack adapter make it great for enjoying music on the go. You can even fancy a stereo Bluetooth headset to go with it. The slider form factor would most definitely attract attention too, since the Walkman line lacks a slider in this price category. Summing it up, if you like the sporty design, Nokia 5300 is a highly attractive music proposal from the Finnish manufacturer and it definitely deserves your attention when picking up a new mobile this holiday season.its available

Sony Ericsson W710 review: Sports and music

Key features:

• 2 megapixel camera
• M2 memory card slot (comes with a 512MB card)
• FM radio with RDS
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• Bluetooth support with A2DP
• Great music player
• Pedometer
• Sports applications
• Multi-tasking
• Sports-oriented accessories

Main disadvantages:

• Low resolution display
• Camera has no autofocus
• Records video in ancient QCIF (176 x 144 pixels) resolution only

Sporty all around

Seeing W710 for the first time left us with an impression of cheap white plastic combined with unpretentious grey rubber - nothing fancy, really. Opening the clamshell, made things better, since the white plastic seemed glossy from the inside of the clam, while the grey plastic covering the insides felt and looked nice.

When it comes to dimensions, well… There's nothing impressive in that department too. The W710 is a rather fatty fellow with a width of 24.5 mm - but despite the size, it still doesn't fit into the heavyweight category with its 101 g which is a somewhat normal weight these days.

The front of the Sony Ericsson W710 is dominated by the large monochrome external display which can fit a lot of information for the user. The Walkman logo sits right beneath it and the grey rubber on both sides accommodates the dedicated music keys.

In fact, speaking of those side music keys they tend to resemble a lot the ones incorporated into the Nokia 5300 Xpress Music. Maybe because of the similar color combination (white/grey) we just couldn't help the feeling that these two are as if made by one and the same designer team.

A look at the left side reveals that they are not the only side keys though. There we also see a dual volume key and the camera shortcut key. Placing the camera key on the left side hinted us from the very beginning that the camera is not made to shoot in landscape mode.

An interesting element is the one under the side music keys - the one designated with the Memory Stick Micro logo. Although it resembled a memory card slot cap a lot it turned out it's a dummy cap after all and it only designates where the memory card is located. To gain access to it you have to remove the back cover.

Final words

Being among the few sports-oriented mobile phones on the market, the Sony Ericsson W710 deserves a nice score just for the efforts the manufacturer has put in it and the risk taken. Nevertheless, we find the W710 to be an excellent implementation of a mobile phone, a portable music player, a personal digital trainer and a digital camera all-in-one. It's not a high-end device and it's not meant to be one. It's meant for fun and it manages to deliver what's expected . We at GSMArena.com would like to see more devices of that sort coming out on the market and competing for the hearts of the sports oriented audience. Because W710 surely managed to warm ours.

PS: its available