A slew of square phones is evidence enough of these gadgets gaining popularity and becoming a visual reality. Brands like Micromax, Zen and even Motorola have brought in square phones to the market. Nokia with the X5 has joined the league. The square X5 that we received is a combination of bright pink and grey, with the front in pink and the rest of the body sporting the matt grey colour. It looks like a compact box, but feels quite sturdy and sleek.
The X5 features a smooth front with the 2.4-inch landscape screen, which could have been a bit bigger. It has an almost smooth control pad below it. The left shortcut button, menu/home and call receive buttons are to the left of the D-pad and the right shortcut button, music player shortcut and the call disconnect button are to the right. The D-pad in the centre has the movement cursors and select button in the middle. The major issue with this entire setup is the lack of differentiation between the keys. I mistakenly pressed the music button many a times. Same is the case with the home button.
The X5 smoothly slides upwards to reveal a smart looking QWERTY keypad. The keys are soft and comfortable and aid messaging well, as is necessary for social networking. To the right is the volume control and the left has been kept plain. The top hosts the 3.5 mm audio jack and the neatly covered micro USB slot and the bottom features two speaker grills. The back features the 5 megapixel camera and a smart metal panel covering the 950 mAh battery, SIM and microSD slot. The phone is expandable up to 32 GB, comes along with a 2GB microSD card in the package. The other contents in the package are the usual charger, USB cable.
When it comes to usage, the X5 has been disappointing in terms of response time. It is quite slow even with its 600 MHz processor. However, the basic layout with the shortcuts and the option to pick easily accessible icons of the most used programs is good. In terms of sound quality, X5 is quite impressive as the sound is loud, crisp and clear, both on the loudspeaker and the provided earphone. The device fares well even on call quality. The volume does not need to be put on the maximum to be heard clearly. And there is no cracking of sound even at higher volumes.
Connectivity is the big winner in the X5, as it has everything on offer. Starting with basics like Bluetooth and GPRS, which work well, the Wi-Fi connectivity is flawless too. It connects to Wi-FI networks quickly and starts working instantly. Using all of these options becomes better with the inbuilt Facebook and Twitter applications and emails sync easily too. While using the FM Radio, the ready station directory has to be downloaded and saved. The device also comes with internet radio with radio channels from all over the world that connects through internet. The other applications that are built-in are Shazam and Playlist DJ that all use online resources. All the applications worked well on either GPRS or on Wi-Fi. X5 is 3G-enabled and should be able to work well with 3G SIM cards as well. Added on are the numerous paid and free applications on the Ovi store.
The image quality even with the 5 megapixel camera is disappointing. It does not have Auto Focus and the images, with or without flash, are just about average.
There are 6 scene modes for shooting and what can also be edited are brightness, colour tone, contrast, exposure, light sensitivity, sharpness and white balance. Similar is the VGA video quality which is quite jittery.
However, there are is an interesting panorama mode which takes nice panorama shots and that too quite easily. X5 does impress you with its looks, at least initially. But as you move on to usability, the issues crop up. However, at its size and compact body, it does pack in a lot and is one of the better players at its price.
? CyberMedia www.LD2.in
Mail:talkLD@cybermedia.co.in
