Compare 5230 XpressMusic purple Deals

Nokia is being canny with its highly successful Xpressmusic range as the 5230 XpressMusic in dramatic black demonstrates. We can’t yet order bespoke phones with our own favoured feature set, but this is the next best thing. If you want most of the the bells and whistles of a smartphone, there’s the 5800, while the rest of the range offers “smartphone-lite” – including the 5230 - but maintaining excellent quality.

Focusing on music, of course, the 5230 has a 3.2-inch screen, supports all the popular music file formats and has an FM radio. Sound quality is excellent and Nokia have included some advanced music features not only to play with but also to make the sound more customisable.

For the internet, it earns its smartphone label with 3G/HSDPA supported by EDGE and Bluetooth short-range wireless data transfer. It is a quad-band phone for potential global roaming and supports the usual messaging options including instant messaging.

While it does not have Wi-Fi or a document viewer, the 5230 does have A-GPS navigation linked to Google Maps. In fact, it also has 3D Landmark for over 200 cities, plus personal pedestrian navigation. The camera is a basic 2 megapixel affair with flash – fine for snaps and entry-level videos, but definitely one of the “compromise areas”.

The user interface is excellent – no compromises here – identical to the 5800. It has a handsfree speaker phone, a standard 3.5mm audio jack and there is a microSD card slot for additional memory. In short, Nokia has the “affordable smartphone” down to a fine art, with no better example than the 5230.