Nokia 5233

Full Review

The Nokia 5233 proves that just because a phone’s price tag doesn’t cross over into five figures, doesn’t mean it cannot stand on its own. The 5233 might not have all the features under the sun but it’s still a very good phone.

Features

Like I mentioned earlier, the 5233 doesn’t have much to boast of when it comes to features. It doesn’t support Wi-Fi or 3G (which would be useful once the auction comes through). It has only 70MB of internal memory and a 2MP camera without a flash. But for all it forsakes, the Nokia doesn’t come across as a miser; instead it’s a lean/ mean device that does everything that it can do, quite well. Also, although it doesn't have a built-in GPS reciever, the phone uses network triangulation and GPRS to ascertain your location on the excellent (and more importantly, free) Ovi Maps.

It looks very much like the 5800, except that it uses matte instead of glossy plastic.

If you have already had a close encounter with the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic , then you should know that the only difference between the two phones is limited to the features. The 5233 has the same screen at 3.2-inches and even weighs the same (take a few grams here and there). It uses an updated Symbian OS v9.4 that has now found its way across to all touch-based Nokia phones.  Also like the Tube, it also has a handy 3.5mm jack for earphones.

Design & Usability

Although there is also a white model available, we got a drab brownish-grey model. The 5233’s looks won’t inspire any paeans, but it’s not ugly either. It looks very much like the 5800, except that it uses matte instead of glossy plastic. It’s as big as the 5800 and weighs about the same. It even has the same hardware buttons including three buttons below the screen; a screen lock, volume controls and camera button on its right and a power button on top. The phone’s back is completely sparse except for the 2MP camera.

The 5233 might not have the best screen especially under direct sunlight but for its price we can’t think of any alternatives that can come even a close second. The 3.2-inch screen is large, provides nHD resolution and has excellent color output of 16 million.

When I first used the S60 interface first on the 5800, it left me thoroughly unsatisfied. It was buggy, sluggish, the kinetic scrolling wasn’t well done and it brought in inconsistencies which other touch UIs didn’t. With constant updates, this Touch UI has improved over time and at present although it might not be the best touch UI out there, it’s easy to use. Without exception, the 5233 sports the best touch UI that have seen in a phone that costs less than 10K. It easily beats out the LG Cookie and the Samsung Star and Corby on usability and smoothness. Of course, the UI still makes you tap twice to launch applications (while only asking for a single tap in certain cases) but that is an inconsistency you will get used to in time.

The 5233’s browser is like the rest of the phone- not exceptional, but it gets the job done. It’s particularly good at rendering pages and works reasonably well using touch.

Multimedia

The 5233 is a good phone when it comes to multimedia performance. Just don’t expect it to blow your mind. Its 2MP camera doesn’t bring much to the table and most of the images I shot with it were washed out and looked dull, albeit noise-free. I was pleasantly surprised by the videos I recorded though. There was compression related issues but the videos were still better than ones I have seen from any phones in this range and even slightly more expensive devices.

The phone’s music playback is clear but it suffers from the same problem that afflicted the 5800- not enough volume. Keeping that aside, the external speakers are of good quality but again they pump out very low volume. The bundled headphones are nothing noteworthy and its good thing that the phone lets you plug in other earpieces. The phone provides good FM reception and a cool interface for radio. If only it was louder. The 5233’s 3.2-inch screen provides enough real estate to enjoy watching videos and even movies. Yes, it doesn’t support DivX/XviD videos out of the box but Nokia’s own video converter works without hassle in converting and transferring videos to the phone in formats that it does support.

Bottom Line

The Nokia 5233 is available in India for Rs. 6,500 and that’s not a price I can argue with from any perspective. It might not be a powerhouse but it does enough to make it a very good buy.