Revision 1.0 vom 26.07.2006
Intro
Some things develop faster than any self called "insider" may dream of. The Nokia 5500 Sport has been introduced to the public on the 10.05.2006, now you can already purchase this fine mobile. Nokia releases it's - from all health insurance companies long awaited - 5500 Sport. As you personal trainer and killer of your own piggy dog, it will support you at the daily marathon or triathlon. If it's worth your hard earned money we'll see.
As ususal this device is given to me by my loyal dealer
Thanks to Mr. Schoeps and his team.
Design
The design itself looks as active as the featurelist promises. It's made of Stainless steel and plastic, this time in a real good looking mixture. It's sort of business and sports mixed up. As wearing some expensive sport shoes while wearing your daily "at work" suit. The mobile is shaped like a nice looking girl, it's hips are thinner than the rest. Therefore it's feels comfortable in your hands.
  
 
The body of the fine 5500 Sport is made of Stainless steel. It is designed to withstand knocks, dust and water splashes. Practically all keys have been molted in plastics. This is the main disadvantage: keys are sort of harder to press. With measurements of 107 x 45 x 18 mm and a weight of some 103 g (incl. Standard-Battery BL-5B) it can be carried within the trousers with ease. You can also use the included Clip CR-64 to attach it to your belt or somewhere else.
Features
Well, the featurelist of the 5500 is not that impressive.
A decent TFT-Display with 262.144 Farben (208 x 208 pixeln), a 2.0-megapixel camera with up to 4x zoom, a Music-Player and Stereo-FM are certainly nothing new. BUT all the sport related functions are. You can activate the Music-Player just by touching the phone on a certain point. Therefore Nokia included a built-in 3D sensor for screen tap commands to play music or voice feedback in sports tracking. Most parts of the phone can be used just by touching the phone. Even incoming SMS will be read aloud using a text-to-speech function. Sports tracking, plans, records, and schedules workout sessions are the main aspects one semi-professional runner, cycler or couch-potato will love.
To store all your pictures, messages and contacts, the 5500 Sport is equipped with roundabout 12 MByte internal memory. But thats not all, there is also a microSD-Slot together with a small 64 MByte memory card. If thats not enough, the 5500 Sport uses the brand new 3rd Edition of Series60. Which means: plenty of third-party software to wait for.
Whats in the box
  
Open the nice looking box and you'll find the following accessories
* Nokia 5500 Sport-Telefon
* Standard-Battery BL-5B (Li-Ionen, 860 mAh)
* Nokia Charger AC-3
* Nokia Sport-Stereo-Headset HS-29
* Nokia microSD-memory card (64 MByte)
* CD-ROM with PC Suite (PC-Software) and Nokia Sport Manager-Software
* Some instruction manuals
* Connectivity cable CA-53
* Wristband CP-135
* Clip CR-64
Look & feel
Because of the fact, that the new 5500 Sport is used as an outdoor mobile, Nokia should not repeat the same loosy processing as with his 6280. Just to calm you down: they did not. The 5500 is in fact a well build mobile. This time (again) no moan and groan audible. Only the plastic cover made for the Pop-Port™ (to connect the 5500 Sport to your PC using the included connectivity cable) fits not that good. A small gap is visible.
The Stainless steel enfolded body, the keypad, all keys and last but not least the battery cover are well made. No visible gaps, no faults. The keyboard - made of soft rubber - itself is a little stiff. This is because of his water and dustproof design. It is also a bit small, but all keys are well accessible, even the last row.
Right beneath the display, the two softkeys are situated. Together with the "Erase" (C) button and the menu key. Keyboard is illuminated and labeled in white. On the right side of the 500 Sport you'll find the Infared (IR) port and the "pencil" key. So you can mark, copy & paste texts. On the left side of the mobile, the dedicated PTT key is found. There are also the two loudness controller and on the top, you'll find the torch.
Holy moly, a mobile with a dedicated torch? Yep, but there is no built-in in flashlight for the camera. Which means: you can turn the torch on and off using the asterisk (*) key, but you can't use it to light up your campics.
  
On top of the right side, you'll find the instant swap key for easy one-key switching between phone, music, and sports modes. The color of the keypad will change in correspondence with the mode you choosed. In standby mode it is white, in Musik-Player mode it is yellow and starting the sports mode it'll change to red.
  
The keys dedicated to answer and stop phone calls are some millimeters heigher than the rest. They are shaped like a curve. Have a look at this picture and teel me, which keys i'm thinking about?
To solve the riddle: i mean the two "outgrowths", situated left and right of the Navipad. Although the navipad itself is not that easy to use, after some time, you'll get used to it. If you are one of this "hell, i forget to write my daily 100 SMS" you may think about another mobile. Because of the small keyboard, E-Mail and SMS typing is not that funny.
The backside of the 5500 Sport is made of black plastic. The battery cover (a mixture of stainless steel and rubber) is mounted just as if you are using a Siemens outdoor mobile (e.g. ME45). The small "screw" type button holds the battery cover in place.
Display
Well, well. This time Nokia decided to release it's new baby with a standard TFT-Display capable of viewing 262.144 Farben, BUT with a smaller resolution of only 208 x 208 pixel. Because of the fact, that the new Nokia 5500 Sport is using the same 3rd Edition Series 60 as - for instance - the Nokia N80. That means, all icons and fonts are a lot smaller and less visible. But this is not really a problem, as the 5500 Sport is not designed as a mobile office.
Brightness of the display and keyboard can be adjusted. This time there is not automatic lightsensor. If the 5500 Sport switches to standby, in the upper part of the screen you can still see the clock and date. Also the battery level and net power will be displayed. Time of standby can be adjusted as well.
Start me up
After you switch your 5500 Sport on and after the usual - S60 typical - somewhat longer startup time, it'ss ready to serve you as your mobile trainer. Some settings wizards as well as a short introduction to every important point (made with the new flash Player lite (slightly sluggish)) will help you to get you accustomed to your new mobile.
Menu/Functions
The matrix is everwhere, it surrounds you ... Some statement out of the motion picture "Matrix". The 5500 itself does use the normal 3x4 menu matrix. The menu can be individualized. You can move entries to folders. YXou can create folders, you can install new software. If you install new programs, the icons will be shown in the Folder named "Personal". Regarding the usual PIM und other applications, the 5500 Sport ist like the other new 3rd edition mobiles. In contact application you can store a lot of informations, e. g. first name, last name, Firm, Position, Mobile, Telefon, Video, Fax, Pager, Internet-Telefon, E-Mail and so on. You can sort the contacts by first name - last name and vice versa.
Games/Applications
Although the 5500 is designed for outdoor and training, it sure has some really good games pre-installed. Especially the
  
Groove Labyrinth is really well designed and makes a hell of fun. You have to control and move a ball by using the internal 3D Sensor. Which means, you have to twist and turn the whole mobile. Just like in the good old days, as you were a kid trying to move a metal ball through a wood made labyrinth. As usual, there is this 3D game called Snake and a flash lite written Soduko pre installed.
  
The usual suspects, like Clock, Calculator, Notes, File manager, to do list, , HTML Browser, E-Mail Client, Flash- and Adobe PDF Viewer are also included.
Multimedia
As you may have espected, the 5500 Sport features the standard Series60 MP3 Player. With it's sound sections (Standard, , Klassik, Jazz, Pop und Rock) in connection with a Koss Porta sounds very well. Even teh included Stereo handsfree HS-29 sounds goof. However it does not match the quality you'll find on the Nokia N91. There also a cable based remote. You can use it to remote controll the MP3 Player. The MP3 Player supports play lists as well as it reacts fast and in connection with the active standby, it is very good to handle.
The sound of the MP3 Player is balanced, sadly, there is no real bass. You can improve it by using the §D Stereo-Enhancement and the Bass-Boost. And/or by using Koss Porta as headsets. In total the sound of the 5500 Sport is - compared with that of the Nokia 6270 - very good but ot better.
Tracks can be played individually, in playlists, randomly or repetitive.
  
 
The onboard FM-Radio has room for about 20 stations, but no RDS informations are stored or shown. As ususla, Nokia features the net based "Visual Radio". You can get informations about the latest radio program and songs by downloading the adequate infos.
Sound
The sound of the Nokia 5500 is very good. The 6233 is of course also very well. The sound is more than sufficient. If you like to use it as an MP3 Player in your office (provided that you do not work on a construction site), the sound if good enough. Conversations in hands-free mode are not a problem, also conference circuits are possible.
The built-in-in and pre-installed ringtones sound are also well made. The device has, however, slightly worse receive powers than the 6233. Nevertheless for a real Smartphone they are really good. The reception in D1 net as well as O² net is good.
Sports
Since the device is made for all you crazy athletes and outddor freaks, i'll give it special part in my review. First time in history a Nokia mobile is made to support you in your excercises. Therefore the 5500 Sports keeps track about the user. It monitors your exercise and displays training data, speed and distance, steps taken, and calories burned. Well, maybe you should try and get it by prescription. :-)
If you'll start the exercise and training mode you can choose between running and cycling. The 5500 therefore calculates the speed and distance, steps taken, and calories burned. If you are one lazy guy, you can simply emulate this by moving the mobile up and down. Again the 3D sensor is used.
  
All informations are written down in an training diary. You can then get voice feedback for these sports tracking information, store them and show them to your freinds or trainer.
There is much to shown and much to try. A lot more than i can write dowen. Just have a look into the english manual then. You can expect a lot more of applications by third party developers.
Connectivity
The Triband-Mobile (GSM 900/1800 has good reception and sending quality in both nets. Bluetooth transfer are rapid. The 5500 Sport can be used as a storage device if connected via USB Connectivity cable. Thanks to USB 2.0 the transfer speed is very good. A2DP, however, is not supported. The 5500 has IR on board. It offers an external SIM-Access mode. The O² Homezone icon is shown correctly.
The 500 Sport also offers Nokias Pop-Port™ interface at the bottom. After you connect with the USB Connectivity cable it offers modes as Media player, PC Suite and Data transfer. While using the Data transfer/Media player mode the 5500 Sport switches off-line and your are not able to receive or make calls. There is no external docking station and the 5500 can not be loaded via Connectivity cable.
Camera/Video
Another one bites the dust. Also the 5500 Sport is using a 2.0-megapixel camera with up to 4x zoom, self-timer, and three advanced camera modes: still, burst, and video. This time without any auto focus or flashlight. They included a torch, but not flashlight ... What the hell ... ?
Besides that, the camera takes pictures with resolutions of 1.600 x 1.200, 1152x 864 and 640 x 480 pixel. It records videos in 176 x 144 and 128 x 96 with 15 Frames/second. You can view the fullscreen . You can change the picture quality between high, normal and low (or MMS). You may change options for night photos, and brightness adjustment.
The quality of the pictures is rather good. IF you have enough light. In darker areas you'll see the reason, why Sony and Co. are sellling expensive digital cameras: the quality is getting worse. I made some pictures with the Nokia 5500 Sport and took the same spots with my Sony Ericsson K800i, judge for yourself:
Camerapcis (2MP)
Camerapics of the K800i (2MP)
Themes
There are two themes installed. The plain and simple Nokia one (called stanard theme) and the one, shown on my Menuepics. You can find a lot of 3rd edition Sereis60 theme son the net.
How long can you go?
The battery is very good for a Series60. In case of intense use of the functions, you can use the 5500 Sport easily a whole working day. If you only use the MP3 Player, you will come up with a respectable time of about 16 hours. In case of moderate use, you can save yourself for about 2-3 days before recharging and in standby mode with good net quality, it will last 4 days (in GSM mode).
Fazit
If you are looking for a real outdoor an for some good every day functions, and you are a athlete or interested in making sports, go get yourself a Nokia 5500 Sport. Since there are no real alternatives.
The mobile is well made, good looking has all the latest features (not the best, though). All these Sports tracking stuff is really amazing. The 3D Sensor is fun, the mobile is one of the cheapest 3rd Edition Series60 phones i know.
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