Apple are going to have to watch their back as the Nokia Tube 5800 Express Music Phone takes the stage

The Nokia 5800 has finally gone on sale around the globe and immediately the gadget market is billing it as the most serious contender to the Apple iPhone.

More commonly known as the Tube, Nokia announced their hot little number complete with a 3.2 inch full touch screen , a full screen qwerty keyboard, handwriting recognition, a traditional phone keypad on the screen and a plectrum (rather than a stylus - well it is a music phone, after all).

The features don’t just stop there - there’s a 3.2-megapixel dual flash camera with a Carl Zeiss lens, and 8GB of storage. A phone created for music wouldn’t be complete without a decent set of speakers - and the Tube doesn’t disappoint. Instead of iTunes, Nokia have launched the Comes With Music service, a downloads site packed with “Millions of Free songs” - yes, FREE songs. Nokia have done a deal with all of the major record labels (and many of the smaller ones too) and if you have a “Comes with Music” phone you can simply forget about the download charges and grab your music for free!

On the Internet front, the Xpress Music 5800 has again leap-frogged the iPhone, shipping the handset with a fully compatible Flash browser - meaning you can explore pretty much all of the Internet.

All the usual messaging, contacts and calls are all there - but you will have to wait until February to get your hands on one in the UK. It is a shame Nokia didn’t ship before Christmas as this could have been a top item for many a Christmas list.

Latest pricing appears to be around 279 Euros on pay-as-you-go which works out about half the price of the iPhone.

More info on www.nokia.com or on the Tunes 5800 blog

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Posted by admin on Monday, December 1st, 2008