Ever wanted a phone that could take a beating but didn't have a feature set straight out of the 1990s? We review Nokia's 5500 Sport, primed at athletes, outdoorsmen and the otherwise ruggedly inclined.
Review summary of the Nokia 5500 Sport:
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 It's the most advanced outdoors handset we've seen to date, but Nokia's 5500 Sport still favours ruggedness over features which is evident from its mid-range set of capabilities. Its call handling is excellent, while messaging performance isn't ideal due to issues with the keypad and a cramped screen; still, the phone makes a good overall impression but is likely to appeal mostly to those in real need of a phone that can take a beating or excercisers interested in its handy Sports application set. Release: August 2006. Price: $350.
Pros:
Cons:
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Mediocre |
Good |
85%
VERY GOOD |
Excellent |
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Full Nokia 5500 Sport Review:
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Calling - Excellent
Whether using the handset itself, its loudspeaker or a Bluetooth headset, calling with the 5500 Sport is an enjoyable experience courtesy of Nokia's usual excellence audio quality and signal reception. Contacts management is also top notch with speaker independent voice dialing as a particular treat, although the inability to add pictures to contacts is a wee bit disappointing. Battery life, meanwhile, clocks in at 3 hours of talk time and 7 days of standby, which is about par for the course.
Messaging - Very good
With a rubberized keypad that's slightly less comfortable than the usual variety and a somewhat cramped, medium-resolution screen which holds in the range of 100 characters at a time, the 5500 Sport lacks the final touch in the messaging department despite its otherwise excellent messaging handling abilities which include storing a nearly unlimited number of messages and folder archival.
There's also the ability to have SMS messages read out loud on receipt, but this is more of a gimmick than anything else.
Best of the rest
Handy for excercisers, the 5500 Sport comes with a set of tracking applications which view and record your progress, even allowing for synchronization with a PC.
There's also a 2 Megapixel camera sans autofocus with reasonably good image quality; a music player with MP3 and WMA support as well as the usual crappy earphones; a decent FM radio; and a selection of games and applications as well as a capable browser which isn't much use due to the cramped screen.
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Motorola i615
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Score: 81% When: October 2006 Worth: $200 - $350 Carrier: Sprint Nextel
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A rough-and-tumble handset with a ruggedized case and access to Nextel's push-to-talk network, the i615 lacks a camera but packs in plenty of no-nonsense features. Is it hard-hat worthy?
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Motorola i580
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Score: 55% When: July 2006 Worth: $230 - $250 Carrier: Sprint Nextel
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This military-grade clamshell promises to withstand drops, dust and even rain, and it packs in a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth and a music player. Did it pass our punishing boot camp?
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Read » Gallery »
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Price and availability
The Nokia 5500 Sport is available throughout Europe as of mid-August 2006, selling in the €350 range without subscription.
The Nokia 5500 Sport will start selling for $350 () in August 2006.
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