Nokia 5800 Xpress Music: the latest convergence device from Nokia

Global leader in the mobile phone Industry, Nokia, recently unveiled its latest offering --- the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music phone, in London.

Powered by the Symbian  S60 fifth edition software, this phone could pose a real challenge to Apple's iPhone, and the other players in the Touchscreen segment.

It comes in a sleek candy bar design with a brilliant 3.2'' touchscreen display, with a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels and support for up to 16 million colours. 

There are four different input methods to suit everyone.  A full-screen QWERTY keyboard, handwriting recognition, a traditional phone keypad on the screen and a plectrum. 

It has a 3.2-megapixel dual flash camera with Carl Zeiss optics, and 8GB of storage (expandable to 16 GB), for your music, photos and videos, expandable to 16 GB.

A nifty new feature allows users to store details of four of their favourite contacts, complete with photos, on the home screen storing the user's entire history with that person --- messages, emails and calls exchanged as well as Facebook status updates through RSS feed.  Speaking of which, the 5800 is also fully compatible with flash-meaning you'll be able to browse "the whole internet".

Other important features include GPS with Nokia Maps 2.0, Video recording at up to 640 x 480 pixels and up to a rate of 30fps, Nokia NSeries Digital Music Player, Voice Recorder, Stereo FM Radio, Bluetooth version 2, HSDPA… the list seems endless.  Name it, and it's got it from a 3.5 mm jack for connecting any earphone or headphone of your choice, a high speed USB 2.0 port, TV out interface (the cable is bundled with the sales pack), 81 MB internal memory and a 8GB Micro SD card included in the sales pack.

All these add up to a truly formidable package, capable of taking on all comers. The BL-5J 1320mAh Lithium battery, gives you enough power at your disposal to enjoy a full-length Hindi movie, and some more,  on a single charge, at high resolution settings.  An 8-band graphic equalizer makes it possible for you to tweak the sound output until it is just right.  SMS, MMS, Video Call, et al are all there, as one would expect of such an advanced device.

The phone has been launched in the UK, where buyers will be able to take advantage of the 1-year free subscription to the Nokia Music Store.  What's more, after the 1-year period, you get to keep everything that you downloaded!

It is expected to hit the Indian market in December.  If the launch price in the UK is any indication, it should cost just around Rs20,000 to Rs25,000 here.  Cool eh?  Watch this space for further updates.