Nokia 5300 Black review

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Dial-a-Phone review of Nokia 5300 Black

Although the Nokia 5300 has been styled like a boiled sweet found in the designer's pocket, we can confirm that it does not taste like one. With this point cleared up, it becomes clear that Nokia intend for this 'Xpress Music' model to appeal to people who want listen to their favourite tunes via their mobile. Weighing in at 106 grams and being only 20mm thick, the 5300 is compact enough not to make a nuisance of itself in your pocket.

You would expect a phone with the ability to play MP3 (and all other associated) files to come with a sensible amount of internal memory, but the Nokia has a mere 5MB – barely enough for a single track – forcing the user to rely on a MicroSD card to store music. This, however, is the only oversight that Nokia have made, as the MP3 side of the phone is impressive thanks to good sound quality, comfortable supplied headphones and the inclusion of an adaptor that allows you to use your own set rather than the packaged ones, something that few manufacturers deem important. With the slider closed, special buttons on the side allow control over the media player.

Pushing the spring-loaded slider up activates the phone and we are presented with familiar Nokia menus. This is as easy-to-use as you would expect and comes with a variety of themes to customize the look to your taste, provided your tastes include golf, gambling and unusual animals, however the standard configuration remains the most intuitive. It's also nice to see the 240x320 screen being used to full effect even in standby, where it displays media file information, recent events like missed calls and anything in the organizer function that is coming up.

Usable even with the slider closed, the lens for the 1.3MP camera is mounted on the rear of the casing. It's probably a good thing that the quality of the camera is not as high as some other phones, as again this feature is let down by the feeble amount of memory. An FM radio ensures that even if you run out of music files, you still have something to listen too, and the inclusion of Snake III and a rather good 3D snowboard game should keep you entertained.

The MP3 player, switchable themes and robust design make it clear that the Nokia 5300 is aimed at the younger mobile phone user; someone who wants as many features they may actually use packed into one compact device. Although master-of-none, the Nokia performs admirably enough to be considered for this role, with only the memory letting it down. Still, provided a MicroSD card is included in the package this won't be too much of a concern, making the 5300 worthy of consideration.