Another iPhone challenger: The Nokia ‘Tube’ 5800 Express Music phone

The recently released T-Mobile G1 does pose a serious challenge to Apple’s iPhone in terms of function and specs but look-wise its a no-competition. Even as the dust still settles over the hype of the G1 there’s a new kid on the block that also aims to unsettle Apple from its dominant position. It’s the Nokia 5800 Express Music phone also dubbed the Nokia ‘Tube’.

The specs that I could gather from this website are:

General

• 3.2″ touchscreen with VGA resolution (640×480 pixels), 16M colors
• 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and dual LED flash(Carl Zeiss lens)
• 30 FPS VGA recording
• 3 physical buttons – answer call, softkey, end call
• Landscape keyboard mode
• Symbian S60 Touch UI, or S60 5th edition

Connectivity

• Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900), UMTS 2100, GSM/Edge, HSDPA connectivity
• Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and A2DP
• USB 2.0 connectivity
• Built-in GPS with A-GPS
• WLAN, Wi-Fi
• 3.5mm headphone jack, TV-Out port

Memory

• 150MB of User memory
• microSDHC memory card slot (up to 16GB, 8GB memory card in a box)

Size & Weight

• Dimensions: 111×52×15.5mm
• Weight: 109 gr

And here are a few photos of the device:

Like the G1 the Nokia 5800 is better speced out than the Apple iPhone 3G. On top of that it has the looks that are so important for successful smart phones. So where the G1 fails, Nokia succeeds. The question is will it still be enough to topple the iPhone? The answer lies in how Nokia intends to build an ecosystem around the 5800. 

Rumors are that the 5800 will be available in Europe first and then in the US. Also there is a chance that consumers would be able to buy an unlocked version of the phone in the US.