Nokia 500 Review

Nokia smartphones may not carry the wow factor of the past, but their smartphones still have a lot to offer in terms of stability, and features. The recently announced Nokia 500 has all that, and with the new Symbian Anna OS, can also claim to offer a level of usability missing from recent Nokia devices.

In fact, many people are saying that with the new Anna OS, along with the even more recent Belle (which will be available to the Nokia 500 as a future upgrade), Nokia smartphones are once again a viable alternative to the plethora of Android devices and the ubiquitous Apple iPhone. So much so, that the devices may even rival the new Nokia Windows Phone handsets when launched.

Small and compact, the Nokia 500 measures in at just 111 x 54 x 14mm and weighs in at only 93g. The handset has a standard monoblock form, sporting a medium sized 3.2 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen. The display supports up to 16 million colours, and has a pixel resolution of 360 x 640.

Onboard the Nokia 500 includes a 5.0 Megapixel camera, with support for geotagging, and VGA video recording capability at 15 frames per second. The lack of a secondary front facing camera means the device will not be able to support face to face video calls, which is a disappointment as this feature is really starting to gain popularity, with many third party services offering video calling support.

Media fares well on the Nokia 500; the built in media player supports playback for most popular digital formats, including MP3, MP4, WAV, WMA and eAAC+. A 3.5mm audio jack is in place allowing you to use alternative headphones for music playback, and support for Bluetooth with A2DP allows you to also use a wireless Bluetooth headset, making for less mess with no wires. As an alternative to listening to your own music, the phone has a stereo FM radio, so you can listen to the latest hits or catch up with the news on your local radio station. There is ample storage space onboard with the Nokia 500 for all your media, with 2 GB internal memory expandable with Micro SD memory cards up to 32 GB in size.

Powered by a 1 GHz processor, the handset is fast and responsive in use, and is visibly a significant improvement on the tired Symbian devices we’ve seen over the last few years. The Nokia 500 has a nippy web browser on board, backed up with the inclusion of HSDPA up to 14.4 Mbps and HSUPA of up to 5.76 Mbps, web pages load quickly. For out of 3G coverage the handset supports both EDGE and GPRS, and WiFi is also included. A 1110 mAh Li Ion battery gives the device enough juice for standby times of up to 500 hours, and talktime of up to 7 hours from a single charge, depending on network conditions. Music playback time from a single charge is up to 35 hours, enough to keep you entertained whilst out and about without having to worry about running out of battery.

All in, the Nokia 500 has a decent enough spec list for it to be a competent smartphone, and whilst it does lack a little bit of sparkle, the inclusion of the Symbian Anna OS is very welcome. The device can be purchased in Black or White, with exchangeable covers available in a variety of colour options, including Azure Blue, Coral Red, Purple, Khaki, Orange, Green and Silver.