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Saturday’s Apple: Why Would Someone Pick Nokia 5800 Over iPhone?

Magnus Nystedt | Dec 20, 2008 | Comments Comments

A few days ago I wrote about trying a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and the day before yesterday I actually went out and bought one. It wasn’t easy to find but now it seems to be available in most outlets.

I showed it briefly to Omran (Editor in Chief, Shufflegazine) in the office and he asked why would anyone buy it when there’s iPhone. Because the 5800 is not as cool looking as the iPhone and the interface on the Nokia device has a lot of catching up to do compared to Apple’s device. At the time I blurted out a few reasons I could think of without putting too much effort into figuring out a good answer, but then I came back to that very question today.

You will be able to see a full review of the Nokia 5800 and the Nokia Music Store in February’s Shufflegazine but I thought I’d try to answer the question here.

First, and lets get this out of the way, some people don’t want to buy iPhone because it’s from Apple. They may not like Apple as a company, their business practices, iTunes Music Store, or any number of other reasons. I think this is a weak reason but there are people who think like that.

As far as I can see the main reason for someone to get the Nokia is that it’s officially available in the market and it’s unlocked. You can buy it in any number of stores, it comes with warranty and getting service and support should be a simple affaire. This and the prevalence of Nokia phones in the market also means accessories are available everywhere.

One of the big weaknesses of the iPhone is the 2 megapixel camera with limited resolution and no video recording. Okay, the Nokia offers only slightly better resolution (3.2 megapixel) but it does offer video recording. And when you throw in a decent flash on the Nokia (decent at least for mobile phones) the Nokia clearly wins.

The 5800 has an exchangeable battery, much like most other mobile phones, sans the iPhone. For many users that’s really important and will certainly prolong the usage of the device while away from power outlets. In a similar way the Nokia has expandable memory. It comes with an 8Gb memory card but you can upgrade that to a 16Gb card. Of course the iPhone comes with either 8 or 16Gb but it’s fixed and you cannot upgrade or expand.

This may be a small reason for a very limited number of potential customers but the Nokia offers better and more up to date maps than the iPhone. When we tested the iPhone 3G in Dubai for the October issue the Google Maps on the Apple device showed that we were in the middle of water even though were safely driving on a bridge. The Navteq maps in the Nokia seem more up to date than the Google ones the iPhone uses. In addition the Nokia offers driving directions in Dubai, something missing on the iPhone.

The Nokia Music Store is one further reason why someone would pick the 5800 over the iPhone. If you didn’t know it the store is actually for the UAE and you can use an UAE credit or debit card to make your purchases. Each song is AED3, albums AED30. You can bulk buy credits and get more songs for your money (AED300 will get you AED360 in songs). So it’s only music in the Nokia store, at least for now, and the selection is limited. Certainly compared to the iTunes Music Store, Nokia is far behind in number of songs. But Nokia has the edge in local and regional music. There is a lot of Khaleeji music as well as most famous Lebanese singers along with a selection from India. That local connection accounts for a lot. If you buy from Nokia’s store you have to put up with much the same DRM protection as you have when you buy from Apple, so there’s no difference there.

So there you have it, many good reasons for someone to pick the Nokia 5800 over the iPhone. Please note that I’m not saying this is an exhaustive list and of course once the iPhone is sold here officially and if we get an iTunes Music Store for the Middle East the game changes dramatically. But that day is not here yet and until it is I think my reasons stand.

Update: Moey has some thoughts too about the 5800 and iPhone.

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Related posts:

  1. Nokia 5800 First Impressions
  2. Nokia set to unveil “unique music experience”
  3. First look: Nokia X6 and Comes With Music
  4. Nokia N97: First look
  5. Nokia Launches Music Store for UAE, Mac Not Supported

Filed Under: Blog • My apple

  • I forgot to mention: VOICE DIALING. It's important for me in the car, where I make many many calls. The voice dialing apps i saw on the iPhone are still pathetic and not well integrated. When I think about it, I can't understand either Nokia or Apple. Both companies leave stuff out that is not too hard to implement. But it just shows you that innovation can happen even in a space occupied a 500 pound gorilla like Nokia. It will be a very interesting 2009 to watch..
  • Jake
    Nothing wrong with not purchasing a product because you don't agree with a company's business practices. I choose not to purchase items at Walmart because I don't agree with their business practices. And no, I'm not comparing the two.
  • I agree Jake, every consumer is free to select who they should do business with, at least if there are a range of products and services to chose from.
  • I have now spent a week with the 5800. I am actually quite delighted with it. Yes the S60 touch interface is a bit quirky and text entry needed getting used to. But browser is pretty nice.. Screen is nice overall. Even handwriting recognition came in handy a couple of times while traveling. Camera is good in daylight but crappy at night. I miss my N95 in that aspect.

    One thing I am concerned about is that the phone is already showing some lag time when transitioning from one thing to the other. But its not a deal breaker.

    The mapping is fabulous. I just used it effectively in Abu Dhabi (including the driving directions in Arabic). Maps coming for my hometown Amman soon.

    For the price this is an amazing phone.

    I agree with all your points (obviously). Add to that: Arabic support. The 5800 can already display arabic in messages and browser. Soon it will write in Arabic too. Apple simply doesn't care about this point.

    Also add: Flash in the browser. That's a major shortcoming for the iPhone for me.

    But what Apple has going for it is the App Store, Multi-touch as well as better media player and generally a more progressive interface design language.

    The App Store in particular is what might end up breaking Nokia's back. It's not hard for Apple to catch up with nokia's hardware specs. So in a way it's Nokia Mapping vs. App Store universe as the future battle. :-)
  • Hello Ahmad, thanks for the points. I really like the 5800 too and I'll keep it around for a while. I agree the maps are impressive, with driving directions and pretty up to date maps. I missed mentioning Flash, thanks for pointing that out. They've improved the browser so it's now useable on most sites and with 3G connection it works very well. It's not like Safari on iPhone but not bad. The apps I can find for the Nokia though are pretty pathetic. There is only one Twitter client that I can find and it's bad. I've fallen in love with Tweetie on iPhone, it's wonderful.
  • @medopal: I think, if we are talking about ease of use, it's the iPhone definitely.

    But not because of reasons you mentioned: the notes app, calendar or contact are one click away on the 5800. You can also see your upcoming appointments or tasks without opening any application.

    What you are mentioning is the difference between a touchscreen and a keypad phone... even if the Notes or calculator apps are on the main screen, you need to click to move to the icon. With touch, you immediately get to the function. (Not to mention that in the 5800 or any S60 phones you get to your contact in half-time compared to the iPhone.)

    @Magnus: one way to put the difference is ease of use vs. features. Another is media consumption vs media creation. I think Nokia phones are nowhere near to the iPhone in ease of use or media play. But they really excel in feature set.
  • Nokia 5800 v/s Iphone
    There is an interesting comparison between Nokia 5800 and Apple Iphone here-

    http://www.tube5800.com/20-reasons-why-nokia-58...
  • Thanks for linking back.
  • Sitri, thanks for the comment and you're right, that's something that I forgot to include. The Bluetooth is very limiting and being able to send and receive files, among other things, over Bluetooth is very nice.
  • Sitri
    wellll there is 1 simple reason to buy a 5800 over an iphone
    I USE BLUETOOTH daily to sync and to exchange business cards with other colleagues at work (i wont mention exchanging music n videos since we are talking in business issues arent we ?)where is the bluetooth in iphone ?? ooops they thought it would be better to leave it just for the handsfree very nice thinking
  • medopal
    to complete the review, u should add why shouldn't you.

    the iPhone -with all its cons- is still (in my opnion) the easiest device to learn and use. After sometime u wont care that much of the camera or the music store, u would just care about how to find someones name and call him in a second, or how to open a notes application and write a note quickly.

    Those things and more are not offered from any mobile yet. I dont know about the 5800, but with other Nokia mobiles, u will need like 3-5 clicks at least to reach the calculator, Notes or Calendar!!

    Which becomes something more important after few weeks. (after the excitement of new device is gone)
  • The three things speaking for iPhone are multi-touch screen (much more sensitive than the Nokia and obviously multi-touch), the user interface (much better adapted to touch, not like Nokia's which at times seems very ill suited for touch), and integration with iTunes in general and Mac in particular. And if we had an iTunes store in the region and if iPhone was sold officially here it would be different game alltogether. And that may seem like "only three things" but they are huge issues. And you're right the S60 interface is so frustrating at times, taking many clicks to do even simple things. And although the S60 platform, AFAIK, is open to anyone to develop for and there are no AppStore approval and restrictions, the apps are often not the most polished ones. Sure there is crap in AppStore too but the apps are generally much more polished, I think. So there are reasons for both sides. What I wanted to point out to readers was that there are actually (many) reasons why someone would pick 5800.
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