Nokia 5500 Sport

5500 Sport Nokia picture The Nokia 5500 Sport is a gadget-laden smartphone designed for outdoor and sports use. It could have been a great phone, but design faults have made the 5500 into a big disappointment. The Nokia 5500 isn't quite that advanced, but it is home to some genuinely interactive systems to help you train, race or simply get fit. It's also one of the toughest phones around. Most handsets are largely made from moulded plastic - which keeps the weight down but isn't so hot for taking out in typical British weather. The 5500, on the other hand, has a stainless steel chassis that's shockproof, dust resistant and, most importantly, splashproof. It's not suitable for total immersion in water but can resist the sweatiest gym session. Nokia 5500 Sport Themes Free Nokia Themes download Nokia 5500 Sport Software Free Nokia Software download Nokia 5500 Sport Games Free Nokia Games download Nokia has made much of the 5500 Sport’s multitasking capabilities. A single button on the side allows you to switch between functions, and text-to-speech capabilities mean the phone will read your text messages while your hands are full. The 262,000-colour screen is a good platform for viewing pictures taken on the two-megapixel camera. The cam takes pictures of a high enough resolution for small prints, but colours can be a little flat and lacking in contrast compared to top-end camera phones. The 2Mp onboard camera is accessed through the menu (or a home screen shortcut). The square format screen doesn't help with framing, reducing its effective size to around an inch. Try to ignore the size limitations and you'll notice how crisp and responsive the LCD is - it's nearly as good as some camera screens. Features are basic. There's a 4x digital zoom and Night mode to help with lowlight shots, but no flash or LED for really dark scenes. A burst mode stutters its way to six full-quality shots over about ten seconds, although it's difficult to work out exactly when the shutter will fire. You can choose from a few preset white balances and colour effects, and select image quality and size. Images look much better once transferred to a computer than they do on the cramped screen. There's lots of wide-angle barrel distortion and colour fringing but there's also plenty of detail to be found, even given the meagre 2Mp maximum resolution. Exposure is lively and colours (especially skin tones) are punchy and pleasing, although the white balancing can be erratic. Sound quality is good using the supplied headphones and handsfree adaptor. This adapter enables control of tracks, volume and ability to plug in any conventional headphone set. Nokia ditches its usual MMC card slot in favour of a tiny miniSD drive. The handset also supports a walkie-talkie style Push-To-Talk system, where the service is available. Compromises have been made. The screen is smaller than a typical smartphone, and 3G has been left out. If you are just getting into the fitness game this could be a handy little tool with which to start working on a schedule and getting some measurements to monitor progress - just be prepared to graduate to something more sophisticated as your fitness levels rise and your ambitions develop.

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