Nokia’s first true iPhone competitor revealed

Rumoured for months under the codename of ‘Tube’, Nokia’s first (but certainly not its last) touchphone was unveiled at a regional press launch in Singapore.

The Finnish phone giant has thrown almost everything it’s got at this multimedia-minded handset. Bouyed by Nokia's own fresh-baked Symbian 60 5th Edition OS, which will be used to extend touchscreen support throughout the Nokia line-up, the 5800’s 3.2 inch touch-sensitive display draws at the ‘Quarter HD’ resolution of 640 x 360 pixels. A built-in accelerometer providing for automatic screen rotation, while the expected GSP and Wi-Fi sit under the hood.

The handset itself is a fraction smaller than the iPhone 3G in width and height but slightly thicker in profile, although this could be due to the removable high-capacity battery which Nokia rates as being good for five hours of talk time on 3G and 17 days on standby.

However, in a turn-about from Apple’s storage strategy, Nokia has chosen not to pack the 5800 with solid state memory – instead, storage is by means of a microSD card, with an 8GB wafer included in the box.

Interestingly, initial specs indicate the 5800 will run on not only the conventional 2100MHz 3G band and Telstra’s 850MHz Next G network but also the newer 900MHz 3G services being rolled out by Optus and Vodafone.

While there’s no keypad, Nokia has provided plenty of ways to text. in addition to a half-screen virtual QWERTY keyboard when the handset is held vertically, there’s also a larger full-screen mode which appears when the 5800 is used horizontally. A more familiar virtual alphanumeric keypad supports T9 predictive text, and there’s also handwriting recognition. A stylus is also included for those who prefer to work in ‘PDA mode’.

The standby screen now sports a ‘contact bar’ to list the user’s four favourite contacts which shows everything from recent text messages and emails to photos and blog updates. A second ‘media bar’ provides one-touch access to photos, music and video.

The now-mandatory digital camera sports a 3.2 megapixel sensor with with autofocus and Carl Zeiss optics, while music fans will appreciate the standard 3.5mm headphone socket and surprisingly punchy stereo speakers.

Local pricing hasn’t been set, but as a benchmark the European and Asian release due by year’s end has been tagged with a price of 279 Euro (A$500) pre-tax and sans subsidy.