Messaging

When it comes to phone messaging these days, most people are out to text, and the Nokia 5310 is ready to meet their needs. All the standard features of modern messaging are here, like predictive text and video and picture messaging.

An easy-to-use interface allows the user to scroll between the To: box, the Text Editor, and a menu for inserting various media. The insert menu is incredibly convenient, allowing the user to scroll through insert options without thumb leaving five-way navigation key. Users may insert almost anything imaginable into their messages - images, video, sound clips, calendar notes, business cards, themes, a streaming link, or a text template. The text menu is easily accessed from the five-way navigation key. Convenient, versatile, and equipped with all the standard features, the Nokia 5310 texting experience should leave users satisfied.

For users who like to use their phone for other forms of messaging, the 5310 also offers email and IM. Users may access email accounts from a wide variety of providers, including AIM, AOL, Yahoo!, Comcast, Compuserve, Earthlink, Gmail, HotPOP, Juno, Mac, NetZero, and Verizon. The IM feature lets the user choose between AIM, ICQ, Windows Live, and Yahoo! messaging, with options for alert sound and / or vibration.

With a convenient text messaging system and access to IM and email, the Nokia 5310 makes sure its users keep up with vital communications in textual form.

Entertainment

Just in case a measly MB of music files isn't enough to keep the user entertained, what other entertainment features does the Nokia 5310 offer? Games? Sure. The phone comes preloaded with four J2ME demo games: Bowling, Millionaire, Poker, and for those of us who didn't make it the first time around, one called "Survive High School." These demos, of course, expire, but users may download full versions of these games and others for a fee. Streaming video is also available, in addition to downloaded video. With a sporty music package, still and video cameras, downloadable games and video, the Nokia 5310 should keep its users entertained.

The Nokia 5310 features a fine collection of organizational tools to help users keep up with their busy everyday lives. With features that organize both time (Alarm Clock, Calendar, Stopwatch, Countdown Timer) and mind (To-do List, Notes, Calculator) this phone offers all of the standard applications designed for today's fast-paced world.

Like many phones, the 5310 features an Alarm Clock and a Calendar to keep users on time for pressing appointments. The Calendar can switch from a monthly to a weekly view and offers a variety of options (Reminder, Meeting, Call, Birthday, and Memo) in order to keep appointments sorted by type. Temporal demarcation is offered bidirectionally in the form of both a Stopwatch and a Countdown Timer, convenient for marathon training and baking, respectively.

The To-Do List allows users to attach a priority level, due date, and time to a written reminder, and then organizes the list by importance. The Notes feature is a simple text editor, similar to Notepad on a computer. The Nokia 5310's Calculator sadly does not have a graphing function, which is the only thing keeping it from getting a user through Algebra II (or even Calculus). It is nevertheless quite robust, featuring a Standard Calculator, a Scientific Calculator (which can display in both radians and degrees), and (perhaps as a sign of today's troubled times) a Loan Calculator. Users on the lookout for a new mortgage, or who need to calculate a cosine and need to do it fast, should not be failed by their Nokia 5310.

With the standard collection of features, including Alarm Clock, Calendar, Stopwatch, Countdown Timer, To-do List, Notes, and Calculator, the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic proves that it can do more than keep its users plugged into groovy tunes - it can keep them plugged into the fabric of the reality of their own busy lives.

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