Nokia bows touchscreen 5800 XpressMusic

Armed with a roomy touch display, stereo speakers, and—eventually—a year's worth of free music, Nokia's long-awaited touchscreen phone (formerly known as "The Tube") will make its debut in London today. Can it compete with the iPhone and T-Mobile's Google-powered G1?

First, let's cover the specs: Measuring 4.4 by 2 by 0.6 inches, the 3G- and Wi-Fi-enabled 5800 (set for global release by the end of the year, but not in North America until the "early part" of 2009) is more or less the same size as the iPhone 3G and the G1, although at 3.8 ounces, it's significantly lighter than both of its touchscreen competitors (the iPhone is about 4.8 ounces, while the G1 weighs in at a hefty 5.6 ounces).

So, how's the 5800's 3.2-inch touchscreeen? I haven't had a chance to try it in person, but the Symbian-powered display looks (from the press images, at least) reasonably sleek—somewhere between the clunkier interface on the G1 and the iPhone's eye-popping UI. No multitouch (so no "pinch"-type gestures), mind you, but the 5800 has an accelerometer that lets you turn the phone sideways for a virtual, landscape-oriented QWERTY keypad. You'll also be able to enter text using a half-size, portrait QWERTY keypad (with a stylus, if you like), T9 text prediction, or handwriting recognition.

Nokia promises a couple of key one-touch interface features, including a "Contacts Bar" that gives you quick access to your "favorite" four contacts, along with a "Media Bar" that'll let you tap into your music, videos, and images. Not bad, although I'd also like to see a status/alerts toolbar like the G1's.

As its name implies, the 5800 XpressMusic is more about tunes than productivity, so don't expect out-of-the-box support for BlackBerry or Exchange servers (although this being a Symbian phone, there's nothing stopping third parties from filling the void). Instead, the 5800 comes with stereo speakers, support for stereo Bluetooth headsets, a 3.5mm headset jack (which doubles as a TV-out port), and up to 16GB of microSD memeory expansion for your tunes.

The 5800 will also support Nokia's much-touted "Comes with Music" service, which will let you download all the free tunes you can stand—but just for 12 months, with a helping of DRM on the side. (CNET has details on all the restrictions right here.) Also, keep in mind that the cost of all those "free" tunes will be passed along via an inflated price tag for upcoming "Comes with Music" handsets (the Nokia N95 and 5310 XpressMusic phones will also be getting "Comes with Music" support), although Nokia reps didn't have details on how big the surcharge will be. Still, the music catalog looks to be pretty solid, with all four of the major labels (as well as some indies) signed on.

Back to the 5800 itself: The phone also comes with a 3.2MP camera, complete with Carl Zeiss optics, a dual LED flash, and video recording (up to 30fps). GPS and Nokia Maps are included for navigation. Sorry, gamers—no N-Gage support on the 5800, at least for now.

Nokia hasn't released U.S. pricing details—or carriers, if any—for the 5800 yet. (Since the 5800 is a GSM handset, it'll only work with GSM-based carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile.) In Europe, however, the phone (minus "Comes with Music," for now) will sell for 279 euros, or about US$385—not bad, considering the sky-high price tag of Nokia's N-series beauties.

How does the 5800 XpressMusic stack up with the iPhone and the G1? Well, hard to say until I see the phone itself in action—and especially whether the 5800's touch interface measures up to the two touch heavyweights.

My initial impression? I'm a bit underwhelmed, frankly; it's almost as if Nokia is wading cautiosly into the touchscreen pool with the 5800. What I'm really waiting for is a full-on, touchscreen Nseries handset, complete with a revamped interface designed specifically for touch. In any case, I'm reserving any final judgement until I get an actual unit in for review. (Update: Gizmodo just published a quick hands-on report, and so far, the touchscreen sounds pretty lackluster: "On the prototype we played with briefly, it's much harder to get touches to register, and far less accurate than the iPhone's capacitive screens. The 5800 packs a built-in stylus for this reason—you'll be using it a lot." Ouch.)

So, what's your take? Like what you see? Disappointed? Fire away!