Nokia has announced three new handsets that emphasize music playback along with its renowned multimedia functionality.
The Nokia 5030 features an FM radio with an internal antenna, which negates the need for a headset as well as side-mounted channel selection keys, but is otherwise a basic entry level model meant for emerging markets powered by Series 30 with a flashlight function, speakerphone, and either dual-band European GSM/EDGE or US/Latin American GSM/EDGE access.
The Nokia 5330 XpressMusic is a mid-range slider that features a 2.4 inch QVGA display, 3.5mm headphone jack, microSDHC expansion slot, access to Ovi, Facebook, and MySpace, side mounted media player controls, Bluetooth with stereo audio support, 3.2 megapixel camera with video recorder and LED flash, along with speakerphone.
The Nokia 5730 XpressMusic is a hybrid messaging/music device that features a 2.4 inch QVGA display, sliding QWERTY keyboard, standard dialing pad, Wi-Fi radio, quadband GSM/EDGE and triband European HSDPA access, speakerphone, gaming controls, touch sesitive media player controls with dedicated keys for music imaging and gaming, GPS support via Nokia Maps, and a 3.2 megapixel camera with flash and video recorder.
All three phones will launch later in the second quarter of the year.
The 5330 is likely to include the 1700 MHz 3G band currently used by T-Mobile USA. This is no guarantee that they will subsidize this unit, but at least it may be available unlocked for use with their faster wireless network.