Nokia Open Studio NY 2006

At an evening party, after the noise about the new N-series phones subsided, Nokia showcased two new music phones – the 5200, 5300 and retouched 3250, branded with XpressMusic logo. They are designed as music-oriented devices on a budget, and are not part of the N-series.

5200s next to 3250

The 5200 and the 5300 run on Nokia's Series 40, while the new 3250, like the original version runs old version of Symbian S60 with small display resolution. The 5200 and 5300 use the slider form-factor, and the 3250 has its unique twist design with music keypad.

The key feature of the couple is the “multitasking” capability as they can leave their music player in the background running and perform other operation like composing a message for example. Although both are “music phones” and have music-dedicated keys on the surface left to the display, it's sad that for using standard headphones with 3.5mm jack you have to use an adaptor (hopefully the retail package has one). The 5200 is tri-band GSM with low-res display and VGA camera for Europe only, while the 5300 will have two versions – European and US one. Its display is QVGA with camera upgraded to 1.3 mega pixels. Both of the phones support multiple formats for their music player, EDGE, Bluetooth and slot for microSD card for memory expansion.