Nokia 5030 XpressRadio Review

Nokia 5030 is a low end mobile phone which comes in a candy bar design whose focus and selling point is its radio feature. The Nokia 5030 is from the range of Nokia XpressMusic phones although it is of a much lower budget and focuses on the FM radio player and not the music player.

Body Design
The Nokia 5530 XpressRadio comes in a candy bar design and has a physical dimension of 4.2 x 1.7 x 0.57 inches and weighs nearly 2.9 ounces. It has a 1.8 inch TFT screen that can display up to 65K colors at a maximum resolution of 128 x 160 pixels. The earpiece is located just above the TFT display screen. And below the screen, we have the four-way navigation key with a soft key on each side. Below the left soft key is the call button with a green phone sign. And below the right soft key, you will find the call end button which also functions as the Power on and off button. The central navigation pad has a shiny silver color finish. Below this array of buttons are the 12 alphanumeric keys. They are not raised buttons but flatbed ones and surprisingly have good tactile feedback. The headset connector and the charger connector are on the right side of the phone. The two ports are situated on the upper part of the side and are protected from dust and other materials by a plastic flap. The left side of the phone has 3 physical buttons and resembles the volume rocker in music phones to some extent. Actually, the middle button of the three is the FM radio key which is the shortcut key to start the radio at a touch of a button. The two keys on either side are the channel selection key. The microphone as well as the release button is in the bottom part of the phone. The release button should be pressed and lift up if you want to open the back cover. Lastly, the top of the phone plays host to the in built flashlight. There are also two lanyard eyelets on either side of the flashlight.
The back of the phone is very unique and makes the Nokia 5030 special despite of its price or features. It has a prominent loudspeaker around the upper part in the form of a thick square design with XpressRadio logo in the middle. The loudspeaker is prominent because of its vivid color.
All in all, the Nokia 5030 is a stunning cell phone with a good grip owing to its corrugated rubbery strip on the side.
The phone comes in two colors-Graphite and Red.

Multimedia
The Nokia 5030 has no camera, music player or any of the features that you find in a high-end or even a mid budget phone. This is an entry-level phone and has only the very basic features and a little more. The handset has an in-built FM radio. The special thing about this FM radio is that you don’t need to plug in your headphones to start the radio as most phones do. You can play radio directly with a touch of the radio key and without any wires connected as it has an internal antenna. You can change the settings in your phone and make an FM radio channel your alarm tone.
The phone comes with 32 polyphonic and MP3 grade ringtones. It also has a ringtone composer along with various themes, screensavers and wallpapers.
The Nokia 5030 has all the necessary applications like the calculator, converter, spreadsheet and stop watch among others.
Lastly, the entertainment is moved up by a notch with in built games like Snake Xenzia, Mobile Soccer, Cricket Cup, Rapid Roll, Bounce and Sudoku. You will get only 3 games from these depending on where you buy from.
This XpressRadio phone comes with an in built flashlight which proves useful when caught in dark environment unawares.

Memory
The device has a combined memory of 64/16kb. This may sound petty, but in a phone which has no music player or a camera, the memory size is ok. This internal memory has the capacity to save 1000 phone entries, and store 20 records or details of the past call activity which is the missed, dialed and received calls.
There is no external memory in this phone.

Connectivity
The Nokia 5030 is a dual band 2G phone and works on EGSM 900/1800 and GSM 850/1900.
It has a charger connector port and a 2.5 mm Nokia AV connector.

Performance
This Nokia phone looks stunning and expensive due to its generous use of color. It has a good call quality and the battery life live up to its promise of 524 hours of standby time and 10 hours 15 minutes of talktime. You can play your FM radio for a whopping 24 hours on a single full charge.
However, being a cheap phone, there have been hardware complaints about the FM radio not working or malfunction of the microphone or the earpiece.

Verdict
It will be unfair to compare the Nokia 5030 XpressMusic with even a mid-level phone as it is a very basic handset. Keeping the low-cost price in mind, the 5030 is a total value for money handset and is ideal as a gift to a child as their first mobile. The 5030 can also be bought if you are an FM radio fan and want FM radio wherever you go with you, but on a tight budget. You can also buy this phone if you are looking for a second phone on a very tight budget.
The Nokia 5030 XpressRadio is availablse for just $95.

Reviewer’s rating: 3.5/5