Nokia 5800 music mobile is comming

Technical problems with the U.S. version of the newly launched Nokia 5800 music mobile phone have led flagship stores in New York and Chicago to pull the model, according to PC World. For now, U.S. customers have to settle for a European version instead.
Nokia announced the new Nokia 5800 Xpress Music's availability in the United States Friday. Positioned as a rival to Apple's iPhone, the phone is a music device with a touch-screen interface, priced at $399 before taxes and subsidies in the U.S.

But according to PC World, the U.S. launch has been interrupted by consumer complaints that the earpiece is not properly protected against moisture, which ruins the speaker. Users have also reported difficulties connecting to AT&T's 3G network, and many customers have reportedly already returned their phones.

The touchscreen 3G Nokia 5800, set to launch in North America later this month, will give the mobile world a pleasant surprise. This iPhone rival brings plenty of hardware goodies, but can it compete with Apple's crown jewel?

The 5800 will launch on February 26, and will be available in an unlocked version, which can be used on either AT&T's or T-Mobile's network, for $399. I've been using the Nokia 5800 as my primary phone for the past few days to see how well it performed--and how well it compares with my iPhone.

What struck me immediately about the Nokia 5800 is that it lacks external music controls--and it's supposed to be a music-centric handset. On its right side, you'll find SIM and memory card slots, with stereo speaker grills underneath. On the left side are volume controls, a sliding screen lock, and a camera shutter. At the top of the phone, there's a power/profile switching button, plus a microUSB slot and a standard 3.5mm audio jack. A pleasant surprise was the included stylus, housed at the bottom right corner of the handset's back.

One of Nokia's 5800 most important assets is located at the back of the phone. The 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera sports Carl Zeiss lens with dual LED flash (take that, iPhone). Nokia just upgraded 5800's firmware last night, adding geotagging for photos (using the built-in GPS antenna), among other features.

The 5800 features a 3.2-inch 16:9 aspect ratio touchscreen (360 x 640 pixels), which has three control keys underneath it: call, menu, and hang up. The front of the phone also has a secondary VGA camera for video calling. Above the touchscreen, there's a tiny touch sensitive area can be found that brings up five onscreen shortcuts for music, pictures, media sharing, movies, and Web.