In fact, its resolution is even weaker than the 2MP that the original XpressMusic came with. The VGA camera (about 0.3MP) takes low-res pictures that we were all used to living with about 15 years ago. There’s just not a lot of software or hardware powering it. There’s not much to say about the 5310’s snapper. It’s also worth mentioning that the 5310 is Dual-SIM capable, a nice touch for a feature phone. In keeping with the phone’s hearkening to a bygone era, it comes pre-loaded with a version of classic time-waster Snake, which is sure to bring a nostalgic grin to your face. HMD has loaded the OS onto some of its other feature refreshes such as the 8110, but strangely didn’t think it necessary for the 5310. It’s crying out for the ability to use Spotify. It would be nice for HMD to have given the 5310 the benefit of the KaiOS operating system, which puts 4G and WiFi connectivity in feature phones. Luckily, with a battery size like that, it doesn’t take long to get the phone up to full strength. The best part of this listening experience is how long it can go on for, with the 5310 providing days of consistent use before its removable 1,200mAh battery needs a charge. In the age of streaming, a few thousand songs might sound paltry, but a stripped-down experience is exactly what this phone is offering. When combined with a microSD card, that gives you a few thousand songs to listen to at great quality. This is where the 5310’s built-in MP3 player comes in handy. They delivered FM radio at DAB levels of fidelity, even at a pretty high volume, and without the need for a headset to act as an aerial. It comes packed with dual front-facing speakers that are pretty-high quality. Where the phone really shines is in its audio and battery life. There’s no WiFi, so you will need a SIM to get any sort of internet access. While it’s not powered by KaiOS, it does come with a pre-loaded Facebook app that accesses the social network through an Opera browser on the GSM 900/1800 bands. In terms of usability, the phone navigates like any phone from around 15 years ago, with every functionality loaded onto one menu. Running on 8MB RAM, and with just 16MB internal storage, there’s not much to shout about here, although the expandable microSD card is worth the investment if you want to load up your device with music. It’s old-fashioned, sure, but it’s sleek enough to tell that it’s from this decade. These are on the left and right hand sides of the device respectively. It’s sturdy, compact and yet feather-light, a world away from the glass and metal-clad giants of the phablet era.Ĭoming in either black (the colour of my review device) or white (which I preferred the look of), the 5310 retains the red markings of the volume controls and the FM scrollers on the original XpressMusic. It’s easy to forget just how simple and carefree it felt to carry around a feature phone back in the day, and these feelings certainly carry over to the 5310. This is a straightforward candy bar phone with an audio experience twist, made for blasting out tunes at high quality… and not much else, it turns out. HMD has offered us refreshes of the iconic 8110, 3310, and 2720 devices, and now it’s launched an update of the XpressMusic brand. While HMD continues to keep pace in the smartphone arena, with an increasingly competitive mid-range offering and an incoming 5G phone backed by the James Bond franchise, the Nokia licensee has never forgotten the brand’s feature phone heyday. HMD’s XpressMusic update boasts formidable sound in a basic feature package – 3/5
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