The Nokia 5800 is a smartphone and portable entertainment device by Nokia. Code-named the "Tube," it is the first touchscreen-equipped S60 device by Nokia. It's part of the XpressMusic series of phones, which emphasizes music and multimedia playback. The touchscreen features tactile feedback (though it doesn't utilize Nokia's upcoming Haptikos technology.).
The 5800 has a compatibility mode for Java applications that are not touchscreen-aware. It works by using part of the screen for displaying the essential buttons required by the program.
On January 23rd 2009, Nokia announced it had shipped the millionth 5800 XpressMusic device, even though it still had not been fully released worldwide. In Nokia's Q1 report released on April 16th, 2009 it was announced they had shipped 2.6 million units during the quarter, with cumulative shipments of more than 3 million units since the smartphone's launch in late November 2008. Q2 results released July 16, 2009 reports 3.7 million units shipped during the quarter and more than 6.8 million units total have shipped since the release.
After firmware V20, the 5800 Xpress Music has a higher CPU speed from 369MHz to 434MHz to match Nokia 5530 and N97 specification. However, huge improved overall performance can be observed at firmware V30.
XpressMusic is not the first touchscreen device in Nokia's range. In 2004, the Nokia 7700 was announced, a Nokia Series 90 device that was cancelled before it reached the market. This was followed by the Nokia 7710 which was an upgraded version of the 7700, which became available during 2005. Nokia also produced the UIQ-based Nokia 6708 phone in 2005, but this was not an in-house development and was bought in from Taiwanese manufacturer BenQ.. Nokia have also produced a range of Maemo-based Internet Tablets which have a touchscreen interface, however these are not mobile phones. The 5800 is, however, Nokia's first Symbian S60 touchscreen device.
The 2007 launch of the rival Apple iPhone demonstrated that at the time, Nokia did not only not have any current touchscreen mobile phones, but since the cancellation of the Symbian Series 90 operating system, it also lacked any sort of suitable platform for developing such a device. Although Nokia asserted with some justification that the Nokia N95 was a comparable or better device, most other manufacturers responded with their own touchscreen devices.
The launch of the 5800 XpressMusic in October 2008 was followed-up with the announcement of the Nokia N97 in December 2008, followed by the Series 40 based Nokia 6208c in January 2009.
In late February of 2009 the website Mobile-Review.com, which was initially very enthusiastic about the handset, published its research and concluded that the Nokia 5800 had a design flaw. Specifically, when phones were used on a daily basis, their earpieces, produced for Nokia under contract by a third party, would cease to function in very short time. Repairs performed under warranty would only temporarily fix the problem. The defect was found to be in the earpiece design. Nokia's public relations department had admitted that the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic contained a design defect. According to Nokia, they switched to another earpiece manufacturer, so all 5800's produced during February 2009 or later should be free from defect, with previously produced earpieces eligible for free warranty repair. New earpiece parts have also been supplied to Nokia service centers and future phone repairs should permanently fix the defect.
On April 17, 2009 DigiTimes reported that Nokia plans to release the Nokia 5800 with an induction display instead of a resistive one, which is used in the original model. According to Mobile-Review.com, the induction display is believed to be more fit for thumb operation when a stylus is not used. The upgraded model is expected to ship in May or June of 2009. In mid-May 2009, DigiTimes has written that new induction sensor screen components for Nokia are about to be produced by Synaptics. On 24 April 2009, this rumor was put to rest by Nokia; "we’re not changing the hardware of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic".
Navigation Edition
On 21 August 2009, Nokia announced a new variant named Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition. In addition to the normal Nokia 5800 it has the latest version of Ovi Maps pre-installed, loaded with a lifetime license of drive and walk navigation (which otherwise requires subscription on the non-Navigation Edition 5800). It also comes with a car-charger and car-kit inside the box, and is slated for a Q3 2009 release.
