NOKIA has entered the mobile music market with the launch of its first touch-screen device, the 5800 XpressMusic.
The model is the company's first touch-screen device on the S60 Fifth
Edition smartphone platform. It also supports Comes With Music, a
service which offers users unlimited access to songs from Nokia Music
Store for one year.
At the recent Nokia Remix event in
Singapore, company vice president, category management, Live category
Tuula Rytila-Uotila said the 5800 XpressMusic is the company's first
mass-market device with a touch-screen. She explained that Nokia
decided to offer one- point touch experience on the 5800 XpressMusic to
enable touch technology.
According to her, the phone's user
interface is now made into a "human interface" with the introduction of
Nokia Contacts Bar, which allows users to visualise contacts and
communicate with them easily. This feature also allows users to add
pictures of four favourite contacts on the home screen.
And with just a touch, users can access recent history of
communications such as text messages, e-mails, phone logs, photos or
blog updates.
Besides Contacts Bar, touch technology is used
for the Media Bar feature, which is a drop-down menu that provides
access to music, direct link to the Web and online sharing.
The 5800 XpressMusic supports three input choices: the stylus, finger and plectrum.
For an enhanced music experience, the phone comes with a graphics
equaliser, an eight-gigabyte memory which can support 6,000 tracks of
any key digital format, a 3.5-millimetre jack and built-in surround
sound stereo speakers.
Other features include a 3.2-megapixel
camera, 3.2-inch widescreen display, 16:9 aspect ratio,
30-frame-per-second playback. and support for 60 languages.
The 5800 XpressMusic will be made available worldwide by year- end at
279 (RM1,320) before taxes and subsidies. Consumers have an option to
buy the device with or without the Comes With Music service.
According to Nokia's head of entertainment and communities category
management Andrew Connell, Comes With Music will be rolled out in
Singapore and Australia in the first quarter of next year. The United
Kingdom was the first market to enjoy this service, which commenced
this month.
Connell said the service hopes to address music piracy by enabling users to download and enjoy music legally.
Comes With Music is supported by EMI Group, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group.
As for Nokia Music Store, it is now available in 11 countries and will soon be provided to consumers in United Arab Emirates.
To cater to Asian consumers with interest in local music, Nokia has
signed on Ocean Butterflies Music and Rock Records Singapore.
Source : http://www.redorbit.com/
