Review: Nokia's Slim 5310 Music Phone

Nokia 5310 XpressMusic

Nokia 5310 XpressMusic

Nokia 5310 XpressMusic

Nokia 5310 XpressMusic

Consumers these days are really spoiled for choice. Ranging from the latest huge megapixel camera phones, to music phones with audio chips and big storage, buying a phone is quite a tough choice to make. And Nokia didn't help the situation by throwing in two more models from their XpressMusic range – the slim 5310 and the sliding 5610. We managed to get our hands on the 5310, a slim and lightweight phone that is equipped with a 2-megapixel camera and expandable microSD memory card slot.

Physical Aspects

Our 5310 review unit came in a grey and red color scheme. The contrasting red bars by the sides of the display give the phone a youthful, exuberant look. The phone is made entirely of high quality plastic and is very solidly built. There were no large gaps in the exterior of the phone and the battery cover slid on securely. There were no creaks or squeaks to be heard anywhere. I personally enjoyed using the 5310 and found it to be comfortable to hold, providing a very solid feel in the hand.

The front of the 5310 consists of the usual D-pad, flanked by the left and right softkeys, plus the usual call and end keys. The numerical keypad is set flush with the phones fascia, but each key is slightly convex, giving good feel and separation between keys to allow faster typing. They also provide excellent tactile feedback. The screen is a really nice QVGA (240 x 320) display, capable of displaying up to 16 million colors. Fonts and icons look smooth, and colors were reproduced perfectly. In strong sunlight conditions, the screen can appear slightly washed out, though still remains perfectly useable.

Both the display and white backlit keypad have their brightness controlled by a light sensor located next to the earpiece. When in brightly lit conditions, the screen will automatically be set to its maximum brightness with the keypad lights turned off. When the surroundings become dimmer, the screen brightness is automatically decreased so as to not blind you, and the keypad lights are turned back on. This is a nice touch from Nokia, as the light sensor is usually seen in more expensive mobile phones. However, there is no way to adjust the screen brightness manually, or even to turn off the light sensor, which is a shame.

The red bar to the left of the screen is home to three music playback buttons – Skip Backwards, Play/Pause and Skip Forwards, giving users easy access to their music. The top of the 5310 houses the power button, Mini USB port, and thankfully, a very welcome 3.5mm headphone jack. This is the single most important feature that should be found on any music phone, as it enables users to use whichever headphones they like, without extra wires or funny adapters. The charging jack can be found at the top of the left side of the 5310, and volume keys found on the right side.

The back of the 5310 features the 2-megapixel camera lens, though unfortunately there is no self-portrait mirror or flash included. The battery cover is quite tight and can be slid off to reveal the memory card slot, which is located near the bottom right of the phone. MicroSD cards can be hot-swapped easily without turning off the phone or removing the battery. The loudspeaker consists of two tiny holes located next to the SIM card tray.

Overall, I really liked the 5310's design. The clean lines and slim profile makes it easily pocketable and comfortable to hold. Measuring 103.8 x 44.7 x 9.9 mm and weighing a mere 70.2g (2.5oz), it may not be the slimmest or the lightest phone out there, but it does pack quite a lot of features, something which is rare to find in ultra-slim phones these days.