Nokia 5300
Phone Scoop Review
Apr 5, 2007 by Eric Zeman
Our in-depth review of Nokia's new music phone. Is the music player good enough to leave your MP3 player behind? Find out. NEW: Video tour read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Worst Nokia I've had
I've been hooked on Nokia phones from day one but this phone has really disappointed me.
Pro: The mp3 and radio are great. I wish I could listen to the radio without a headset though like you can the mp3.
Cons: I bought the phone June 1 and got a replacement a week later because the ear piece hookup was bad. My new phone I dropped one time the first of July and broke the screen. So here comes phone #3. It is now the beginning of August and I am getting another replacement because the ringer only works intermittently, the back light also stops working, and the charger doesn't always work.
The "normal" ringer volume is very low. The service bars fall in and out of service way more often than any other phone I've ever owned.
There are a lot of "extras" with this phone that the manual doesn't tell you how to use, so what good are they?
I give it the 2 rating because the music player is really that good, but as a phone, I'd only give it a 1.
This phone...
Wow, so this phone... When I bought it I would rate it atleast 4.5, but after using it for a month it has really lost its value. The sliding function is loose after only using it for a month, (not using it alot). The interface when viewing pictures or entering folders is extremely laggish compared to my friends SE s500... Its just terrible now, regret buying it...
this phone sucks.
i got this phone last month
at first it was a very good phone.
but after the first week it started freezing alot
and the battery died after 4 hours.
this isn't a good phone at all
i recomend a samsung slider
pros:
its good for the first few weeks.
- its good for txting
- its good for listening to music
- good memory
cons:
phone freezes to much
breakes easyly
battery doesn't last at all
Needs major refinement
Good:
Speakerphone/ringer sound quality (loud, clear, and full frequency range).
Display resolution and quality (240 x 320 TFT).
Lots of settings options, common to Nokia's series 40 menu.
Bad:
Video player volume control doesn't change the volume much. It's always too loud.
The MP3 player's playlist feature still plays all of your songs, the only thing a playlist does is play selected tracks in order, then it starts playing all of your other songs, ringers, etc.
The Media control buttons (play, skip, volume) on the side of the phone are difficult to push and have poor feedback. It's about 75% mush and 25% click. This makes the next problem even worse...
The memory card can be bumped by pushing the battery cover, which is no more resistant than the buttons. This causes any ringer, theme, or graphic settings selected from the memory card to be reset to default. This phone does not "load" themes and media into active memory, it is constantly reading off of the memory card each time you open a menu, etc.
The large display and high-speed data don't live up to their potential because Nokia's web browser is garbage. It displays ALL text as black, even when a website has a black background, making some unreadable (and the web browser does not obey theme text settings, so you can't "fix" it manually). It also often declares itself to be "out of memory" even when the website being viewed is much smaller than the available phone memory.
The earpiece is only average, and at full volume might not be loud enough for some situations. This is disappointing considering the ringer/speakerphone speaker outperforms every other phone available.
Great Music/Organizer Phone
Have T-Mobile, downsized from DASH and considered RIZR b/c of music player (which was my favorite feature of the DASH) but was thoroughly disappointed with the lack of getting my music files to work on the RIZR (I still don't know why they didn't work, possible software incompatibility?) Anyway, went back and looked at the other music phone choice w/T-Mobile, the 5300. All I can say is what an amazing difference. Upon Immediately hooking up the 5300 to my computer I was instantly able to click and drag my music files to the memory card folder for the 5300, and they played!
Music player plays back songs with adequate sound quality, volume, and selection capability. The other great feature I love is the calender function (my second most used feature on the DASH). 5300's screen allows you to view the entire month, while scrolling over a date will display activity on the bottom, Awesome. The third best feature (my opinion) is the elaborate phone book capability! Confirms for me Nokia is A+.
MUCH more than I'd ever bargained!!
My previous phone was a Moto SLVER with Cricket wireless. First of all, Cricket is awful. The network is new, and small, the service is awful, the quality is bad, and the phones are poor quality, even though they may say brand names (Motorola, Nokia, etc) the phones seem to be cheaply made knockoffs.
I got rid of Cricket 3 days ago, switching to T-Mobile, and haven't looked back since.
I'd always had trouble with Motos in the past, but I decided to give it another chance and got the RIZR. After giving Cricket the boot, I decided to be silly again and try the Moto RIZR in Rose.
While waiting in the store, I looked around, testing the display RIZR, and then the Nokia 5300 in Lilac caught my eye. After only evaluating it for a few minutes, I had already figured out that I wanted it, once I asked a few questions of the sales girl.
I wanted to know:
1. Could I used downloaded tones as ringers?
2. Could I import pics and mp3's from my PC using USP with an easy UI?
After getting a "Yes" to these questions I was sold, so here goes:
Pros:
-At first look the phone is small, nearly fitting my palm.
-Nice, clean phone, with a hint of color (mine is in Lilac)
-The screen is bright, easy to see, and is beautiful color
-The volume of the ringers is quite loud (adjustable) and easy to hear over loudness
-Strength of the vibration is better than that of the Motos.
-Phone's UI is simple, yet easy to personalize, giving you choice and customization of most everything
-Phonebook capacity is large and easy to use
-It is possible to import mp3's and images from you PC or laptop using USB very easily.
-Camera and video quality are amazing!
Phone is sturdy and sound
-Reception and call quality are much better than i've had before.
-Phone charges very quickly and holds a charge for quite a while.
Cons:
-Battery door is a bit difficult to open
-No memory card slot to expand memory
-Music player sidekeys get a bit hard to press sometimes.
Fairly decent, really fun
I've had this phone for about 3 months now and I have to say the pros pretty much outweigh the cons - IF, and only if, you take good care of it. If you drop this phone ONCE, it is toast.
Pros:
Very awesome call clarity and volume.
Ringtones, message tones, alarms, all are the loudest I've ever had.
Camera is excellent, for a phone. A nice touch is you hold it sideways like a real camera.
Music player is great, easy to navigate.
Very bright, screen and keys are perfect at night.
Cons:
Feels cheaply made
Software has problems
Battery life is abysmal.
You can only set calendar alarms for am.
Back cover only comes off with biting, no joke.
The hardware and the software are both a bit faulty. It's a little cheapo case that feels too light in my hand. Also, about 4-5 times since I've owned it, I've experienced a problem where people could not hear me when I called them. Turning on and off fixes this problem, but it's annoying.
I always use the speakerphone because if you try to balance the phone inbetween your head and shoulder the slide will close and end the call. Maybe I'm just clumsy, though.
My last phone was a Nokia 3220. I could go a week without charging it, but this phone needs it every night. When I forget, oops! Now I have a dead phone for a day.
I use my phone as my PDA and you can only set reminder alarms on the calendar for am. For some reason you can't change it to pm. Annoying.
I currently can't use this phone. Why? It was in my purse, and I dropped my purse on the floor, and now the screen is blank with weird black etchings. THAT is how fragile this phone really is. I mean it when I say, DON'T DROP IT EVER! Don't even look at it the wrong way. It'll break.
It was a good phone, though. A great phone, really. I'm going to spend the time and money getting it repaired. I would definately recommend it, but only to the careful and not to the clumsy.
Nokia 5300 review
Bottomline: Love the Nokia 5300, the battery is just so so.
Screen is vibrant! Sound quality through the earpiece/handset is excellent. I'm on T-Mo in the Bay Area, CA.
Speakerphone is excellent. People I'm talking to say they can hear me loud& clear. Playing music via speaker is just ok. We all know this is not a boombox so no expectations there. U can set your own songs as ringtone/message tone/alarm tone! Excellent feature.
The camera is decent. With ample lighting your pics will look good -not great. Don't put your digital camera to retirement yet!
Phone housing is hard plastic which bother some, its ok with me since it probably makes the phone weigh less. Slider action very smooth.
The music player is very good. Easy to control/navigate. The headset/earbuds that came with the phone sound crappy -but so does the majority of earbuds that come with mp3 players -even the ipod earbuds suck so better use your preferred brand of headphones. A headphone adaptor is included in the T-Mo branded package. The position of the adaptor is a bit awkward but its ok as long as I can use my good headphones. Some people have reported a slight hiss while using the adaptor but I only encountered this "hiss" while browsing through the phone menu while the music is off or on pause. When the music is playing, there is no hiss -just great sound. The 5300 sounds better than my old Sandisk Eseries! 1 Gig microSD card included in the T-Mo package -a big plus! You can use a 2gig card should you decide to buy one. The songs I transferred via drag and drop are at 64 bits WMA and they still sound great when played on the 5300. A highier bit rate will surely improve the sound.
Nokia navigation menu is fast & user friendly! Signal reception excellent!
The bad part--Battery is not so good. As reported on CNET with about 1 hour talking & music playing& some browsing per day, you will get about 2.5 days of battery. I charge mine every 2 days. Nokia should research on better batteries.
Best phone from nokia for t-m
I have had this phone for about 2 weeks and i love it. It a great phone!!!!!!!!!!!1
The next best thing
Got this phone through T-mobile as an upgrade to the Samsung T609 and I plan to keep this for as long as I can until Nokia comes out with an upgrade to this phone.
Pros:
1. MP3 player. Songs can be used as ringtones.
2. Video can also be used as incoming call ringtones.
3. Great Speakers
4. FM radio because sometimes you need to listen to the Wendy Williams Experience.
5. The PC Suite is great and easy to use for converting files.
6. You have the option of vibra/ring
7. Reception is good (blame your phone company and not the phone when it comes to reception)
8. Texting is easy to do even when you're doing other things on the phone
Cons:
1. Battery cover is a pain to get off
2. Micro SD card is under the battery cover and not on the side as opposed to Samsung
3. Voice Dialing Software
4. Housing is plastic and breaks easy. Dropped mine on the 2nd day of getting it and it cracked.
The pros outweighs the cons so if you're looking for a small phone with lots of features I'd say go for this one.
