Nokia 5310 XpressMusic Review

Performance:

Apart from the sluggish performance of the camera, the rest was a breeze. It took the handset a few seconds to load the content of the memory card but this is to be expected when loading close to 1GB of data.

Sound quality is so-so. Our voices kept going between clear and muffled without any changes on our end and we found ourselves having to repeat parts of the conversation from time to time. Voices from the other side came through loud and clear for us.

Volume was not an issue on either side. Even though we came through muffled, our voices were still very loud. Thanks to the speaker on the back, music came through very loudly. Just incase the lowest setting is too loud, messing around with the equalizer allows you to bring it down even lower.

The 5310 is rated for 4 hours and 18 minutes of talk time thanks to its 860 mAH Li-Ion battery but we were about to squeeze out 5 hours and 15 minutes of talk time. Not bad at all. Of course, you’re all wondering how well it holds up with music. We’re glad to say that we listened to music for nine hours straight with lots of texting and still had enough battery life to make it through the rest of the day without a low battery warning. We also made sure to use it extensively for the rest of the time.

The 5310 was tested around the Chicago area and reception was generally good. It didn’t perform too great in the basement test and tended to lose signal easily there. Outside, it was much better and we experienced no dropped calls.


Conclusion:

For a music handset, this was one enjoyable little model. Its small size made it great for day-to-day use and storage without getting in the way. The battery had more than enough juice to keep it going throughout the day without dying on us.

Sadly, the photo quality is very lacking and the sound issues might keep it from being a really consideration, especially when considering other phones out there that can do the same for better. However, if it’s a music-oriented phone that you’re looking for, it would be a real shame to pass this one up.