Is the Nokia 5800 still a good phone to get?

I would like a touch screen 'smartphone' that is dependable rather than flashy, and not too big, can take the rough and tumble of a real-world life.

I am toying with the idea of an HTC desire, but gimmicks wear off easily on me and feel the size/battery life/faff is not worth it.

I have always liked the look of the 5800 and the resistive touch screen is better when hands are wet and cold I think.

So would people still recommend the 5800 for a basic phone/internet browser/sat nav. I would be signing up to an 18 month contract.

I wouldn't – a mate's got one, and it's poxy compared to current kit. That said, resistive screens work when you're wearing gloves.

I love mine especially the Sport tracker and the Turn by Turn maps. Had mine for nearly a year now and had no problems. Just updated it yesterday and it is now working even better. The only dowside is that some Apps cost a bit for it.

Is there anything else to consider? HTC's get good write up but they are HUGE, the Nokia X6 dubbed the 5800's replacement is tacky and has the same issue/benefits as the 5800.

+1 here also. I just upgraded the free software and it's still running fine.

Really like mine. Not in the same league for gadgeticity as an iPhone but does everything I need pretty well. The v5.something or other has really improved things imo.

If you do go for a 5800, it could work out cheaper to buy a sim-free one for £160 and put your own sim in.

I am currently using a sim-only deal from vodafone for £15 a month but that includes no internet. I have a habit on hanging on to phones for a while and the 5800 is £20 a month with unlimited internet. So I may as well go for a contract.

Yeah fair enough, sometimes worth considering though.

As I dont often call or text on my phone any more and mainly use it for the internet and occasional use, I top up £10 every 3 months and get free 3 to 3 minutes, 600 texts and 150mb of data usage, all of which last 3 months not the usual 1, so it works out amazing value. Depends on your usage though of course.

It'd be okay, but the battery life is still not going to be good if you're using gps or wifi, same as all the other smartphones.

I wouldn't buy one on an 18 month contract personally, it's going to look really dated in 18 months, as almost all application development moves to the more modern smartphone platforms. Even Nokia stop developing new applications for their phones in approximately 2.5 years (with their new maps stuff, they've stopped supporting the N95, which only came out a year or less before the 5800.)

Unless you use zillions of minutes, you should be able to get it for <£20 a month – you can get the htc desire for less than that on Three, and that is a brand new phone that is worth about 3 times as much, rather than an end of line thing.

The Nokia X6 feels horrible and cheap.

Personally, I'd recommend an HTC Desire, they are great.

Joe

ooh mine arrived in the post this morning!
all the good apps (SpackNav, Facebonk et al) were preloaded. Not bad for free phone, £10 a month inc vat with unlimited tinterweb on T-moanbile.

I was looking at a 5800 but I couldn't justify the expense (I'm on payg and spend around 10 quid a month)

Ended up buying an HTC smart. Only available on O2 at the moment. It's like a pretend smartphone for people to cheap to buy a real one 🙂

Has the HTC sense stuff in a stripped down form, so interface is quite nice, big screen, decent battery life, facebook/twitter and email stuff already loaded.

Only thing I would add is wifi which would have been nice, but about the only time I'd use it is abroad and at this price range I can't complain. I get free internet on my payg deal and with opera mini that's fast enough for browsing on the move.

Agree with the point about comparing payg deals and contracts. HTC Smart is free on all tariffs but you only get unlimited internet once you're paying aroudn twenty quid, after trading in my old phone and discount for being an o2 customer I paid 75 quid for the phone and then will pay 10 pound a month for 300 texts, unlimited internet and 10 pound worth of calls.

HTC Legend- a fair bit smaller than the Desire, slightly slower processor, Android 2.1, got the lovely OLED screen. £20 a month on Vodafone, I got £150 cashback through quidco as well, but I think that's been reduced now.

Mines a year old, love it great fone.

For the money it's a great phone. It's solidly built and can take a few knocks.
[*]Internet browsing is okay. Occasionally the browser quits for no reason, but this is rare.[/*]
[*]Free SatNav is excellent[/*]
[*]Stock skins are quite ugly. I downloaded a few free alternatives before I settled on one I like.[/*]
[*]New updates improve the phone considerably, particularly the touchscreen.[/*]

Overall good value.

How do you do software updates?

Its dependent on your network releasing updates iirc.

Menu>Settings>Phone>Phone Management>Device Updates>Options>Check for Updates

That should do it 🙂

Well I went to carphone warehouse after work to have a fiddle – a bad idea.

I have just ordered a Desire.

It felt so solid compared to the Nokia – a shame really as I had a soft spot for the plucky phone, but I found a deal on the Desire that will work out cheaper than I could get the 5800 for (If I remember to send the bills back for the cashback!) Here's to being over-biked and over-phoned!