Design and Looks
The Nokia 5230 is a chubby touch-bar phone. Nevertheless, single handed operation is possible. The most visible feature on any touchscreen phone is obviously the display and in this case it is a 3.2-inch resistive screen. It's definitely not the biggest display around but it's the best you can get in this price range. This haptic-feedback enabled screen is fairly sensitive but the screen's legibility under direct sunlight is poor.
Below the display are the call and menu hardware keys. They feature good tactility and adequate press-feedback. Other important buttons are the touchsensitive media key just above the screen and the sceen lock to the side. The flat volume rocker at the side is not very easy to work because it is hard to press and generally uncomfortable. Other than this the design and construction of the phone is both ergonomic and appealing to the eye.
The Symbian OS onboard is quick and responsive thanks to the 434MHz processor running it. As a music phone, the 5230 performs amazingly well offering users with an audio output that shows good frequency response, low noise and distortion levels and a good dynamic range.
The phone's 2MP camera performs decently for 2MP standards but in regard to other better cameras the photos have high noise levels, poor contrast and less resolved detail. The company claims the camera is capable of recording VGA resolution videos at 30 frames-per-second but this is not really the case and the frame rate drops much lower than 30fps to produce highly pixilated and overly compressed videos. There is also the presence of many artifacts and the colour balance of the video is bad.
A good thing about this phone is that it has adequate connectivity options with the exception of Wi-Fi. Among the more important connectivity options, you have 3G and GPS. The phone's inbuilt GPS receiver features A-GPS functionality which is fairly responsive and accurate.
This touchscreen phone is an excellent music player. It performs most other functions just as well and given the price it is selling at, users could not ask for more.
Features
- 3.2” 16-million colour touchscreen display
- ARM 11 434 MHz CPU, 128MB RAM
- 2MP camera
- Standard 3.5mm audio jack
- GPS receiver with A-GPS functionality and Ovi maps integration
- Advanced connectivity options including 3G and GPRS
- Symbian S60 5th edition operating system
- Virtual on-screen QWERTY
- Comprehensive music player with good audio quality
- Two changeable battery covers with retail box
Accessories
- Nokia Stereo Headset WH-500
- Nokia Mini Speakers MD-8
- Nokia Bluetooth Headset BH-504
