Touch Screen Gadget

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic first touch screen phone

Posted by sawaru | Category: Mobile Phone

Nokia’s first touchscreen-equipped cellphone, the music-playing 3G 5800 XpressMusic, is due in the fourth quarter in Europe, but a North American edition isn’t planned for U.S. availability until sometime next year, a spokesman said.

Another version of the phone, due in Europe early next year at an unannounced price, will deliver free one-year

Nokia’s 5800 XpressMusic phone

access to Nokia’s soon-to-launch Comes With Music service, which allows one year of free unlimited over-the-air downloading of protected-WMA music tracks from the catalogs of the big four music labels (Warner, Sony/BMG, EMI and Universal) and independents. Tracks downloaded during that time can be kept after the year is up, and additional songs can be purchased after that time on an a la carte basis from Nokia’s Music Store. Consumers can also download Comes With Music songs to their PC and side-load them to the phone, a spokesman said.

The service launches in mid-October in the U.K. with compatibility on select Nokia phones, but the company hasn’t announced plans to launch the service in the U.S.

The company also hasn’t said whether the 5800, a GSM/W-CDMA HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) phone, will be sold in the U.S. through carriers or, as an unlocked phone, direct to retailers or consumers.

In Europe, the 4.31-inch by 2.04-inch by 0.61-inch, 3.85-ounce phone will sell for around 279 euros, or $368 based on an exchange rate of $1.38 per euro, excluding carrier subsidies.

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