Nokia re-enters the touchscreen war

Posted: 5 January 2009

The number of touchscreen mobile phones currently available means a great deal of choice is available for those in the market for the latest handsets. However, Nokia has now entered the war to have the most sought after model with the XpressMusic 5800 and the N97.

However, with previous phones such as the 7710 and 7700, the Finnish manufacturer has had a rocky road to get to its latest flagship handsets - as a number of reviews were a little unkind to early attempts to utilise touchscreen technology.

Many people consider the Apple iPhone to be the first mobile to truly offer a touch interface and although the device has revolutionised the way we look at such mobiles - as well as set the bar high for any other manufacturers offering multimedia content - Nokia was busy with its own innovative systems back in 2005 – two years before the original iPhone.

Recommended Handset

Nokia 5220 Xpress Red

• Handset specifications
• Weight: 78.0
• Height: 108.0
• Width: 43.5
• Depth: 10.5
• Band: Tri

• Handset features
• 2 Megapixel Camera
• Bluetooth Voice
• FM Radio
• Internet Access
• MP3 Player

In June, Trusted Reviews took a look at the Nokia 7710 and concluded that it was one of the "oddest handsets on the market today". Without any form of number pad, the 7710 was noted for having more in common with the now defunct N-Gage gaming consoles that had already graced the market before and gone the way of the dinosaur. The review pointed out that it was clear the Finnish firm was attempting to incorporate a multimedia device that crossed the lines of what mobile phones can do.

However, although the site said the phone was "a true hybrid", it said that "any company wanting to offer the best of all possible worlds needs to think very carefully indeed about its approach", adding that many had tried - and many had failed.

"I say this because while the Nokia 7710 has built-in software for business users, for those needing data and voice communications, and for those looking for entertainment, it fails to offer the best experiences; instead having some real highlights and some grave disappointments," the critic said.

Some of the innovative features of the Nokia 7710 were carried over into future models, in particular the Series 90 platform, which made its first appearance on the phone - yet the site concluded that this was not enough to provide the touchscreen model with the longevity and success that Apple would find just a couple of years later.

"In the end the device is neither enough of a phone, enough of a multimedia machine nor enough of a PDA to really satisfy," Trusted Reviews concluded, adding that it hoped Nokia would continue to invest in improving the line in a bid to end up with a feature-packed touchscreen device that "really does the business."

So after a couple of models which failed to ignite the Nokia brand, the company has returned to the fold with the N97 and the 5800.

Nokia unveiled the N97 in Barcelona at an annual conference in December and took the opportunity to show off the credentials of the device. It was claimed that the phone would revolutionise the way people interact with one another and use a host of internet facilities including maps and GPS systems. The handset was referred to as a mobile computer that was one of the most advanced currently available, combining a 3.5-inch touchscreen display with a full Qwerty keyboard.

Features include improved access to a host of social networking facilities, Nseries technology and improvements to memory, processing and connectivity speeds.

Jonas Geust, vice president of Nokia's Nseries department, said the N97 was capable of adapting to the individual needs of the consumer in a way that had never been seen before, connecting them with the features and online applications that were the most important to them - and for this reason it was destined to change the way that consumers look at connecting to the web while on the move.

"From the desktop to the laptop and now to your pocket, the Nokia N97 is the most powerful, multi-sensory mobile computer in existence," he added.

Other features the N97 boasts include GPS social location software which allows the unit itself to understand its global position for purposes relating to social networking and geotagging.

The widescreen aspects of the handset also mean that users can make the most of the multimedia capabilities of the phone - which include video streaming and gaming. The unit has 32GB of integrated memory and also has the capacity to support memory cards of up to 16GB - which means an impressive 48GB of storage for music, video and pictures taken with the unit's five-megapixel, Carl Zeiss optics-enhanced camera.

Mobile Burn's Jin Khang Ong took a look at the other major touchscreen model in the Nokia cannon, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, noting it not only builds on the innovations previous Nseries models but also adds to a range of music-focused handsets with a solid reputation by adding 3G capabilities.

Music lovers may be interested to hear that the phone has an expandable memory card slot that is capable of supporting up to 8GB and a 3.5 mm jack has been built-in so that standard headphones are also an option. The review did add, however, that some things were missing from the phone - such as Wi-Fi connectivity - but concluded that for its price range, the high-quality audio and battery life more than made up for this.

"The 5800 has proven itself worthy of becoming one of the best music phones out there at the moment. Therefore, we at MobileBurn.com give it a highly recommended rating," the review concluded.

With both of these handsets, Nokia may have plans to stake a claim on the touchscreen market and with rumours that Sony Ericsson is about to attempt to do the same in 2009 - as well as the possibility of improvements to the Apple iPhone 3G and Android-enabled mobiles such as the T Mobile G1 - it looks like they will have something of a battle on their hands.

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