Nokia 5630 XpressMusic

Preparing itself in the run-up to next week's Mobile World Congress, Nokia today launched the 5630 XpressMusic. The new mid-range phone in the company's media-focused lineup centers around a rare voice recognition system that will play artists, songs and other music content just through speaking its name. Its visual interface also borrows from the N97's social component by including a new Contacts Bar on the home screen that provides quick access to the recent calls, messages and photos from as many as 20 favorites.

The 5630's music emphasis comes through dedicated side controls, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSDHC slot that comes with a 4GB card as well as room for up to 16GB. Nokia expects the UK and certain other countries to get a Comes With Music version that offers a year's worth of unlimited yet permanent music downloads for a higher price.

A 3.2-megapixel camera with flash, Wi-Fi and software N-Gage game support are also supplied with the handset, which ships in the spring for about 199 Euros ($259) before carrier discounts. Nokia notes that the phone supports the 850MHz band for GSM and EDGE and so will likely come to the US, though the phone's HSPA-based 3G is limited to the 900MHz and 2,100MHz bands more likely to be found in Asia and Europe.

By Electronista Staff