Nokia has introduced the 5800 XpressMusic to the public, the first mobile phone to implement S60 5th edition software platform, possibly the most awaited software platform of this year, right next to Google Android and Windows 7.

The 5800 was presented at the Remix event in London, with Will.I.Am  as a special guest who spoke about the possibilities that can be achieved by mixing music and technology. We were unfortunately not able to stream the live event due to a technical glitch. To explain more about this new platform, there will be a live audiocast from Helsinki, which our readers will be able to stream. Speakers will include the Vice President of Mobile Software Sales and Marketing, the Head of S60 Platform Marketing, and the Communications Manager.

The specifications were already known to us, but to recap, the 5800 XpressMusic will feature Media Bar, which is "a handy drop down menu that provides direct access to music and entertainment, including favourite tracks, videos and photos. The Media Bar also offers a direct link to the web and to online sharing." Unlike previously rumoured, there will be 8GB built-in memory, and not a 8GB memory card. A 3.5mm audiovisual jack and surround sound stereo speakers will provide audio output. The contact bar will have four large shortcuts of your favourite contacts, and such shortcuts will help a consumer user his/her phone with more productivity in our opnion.

The "Tube" will also include a 3.2" display with 16:9 aspect ratio, and a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and dual LED flash. A stylus, and plectrum are included as well, although we are still trying to figure out what function it will have on the device. The phone will be priced 279€ w.s.o.t, which is relatively cheap, but the first batch that will include the Comes with Music campaign will only be released early next year.

Photos, press releases, and the video after the break. Do visit our Nokia 5800 Blog, and the relatively new 5800 Forum.

More videos available at Symbian-LifeBlog.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic press release:

Nokia amps up music offering with new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
October 02, 2008

Innovative 'Media Bar' and 'Contacts Bar' add human touch to music experience

Nokia Remix, London, United Kingdom and Singapore - Nokia turned up the volume on its music offering today by unveiling the new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, a mobile device for music that brings innovative new features to the mass market.  Delivering on Nokia's vision to provide the best total music experience possible, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will be among the first devices to support Comes With Music, Nokia's groundbreaking service which offers one year of unlimited access to the entire Nokia Music Store catalogue.

When it comes to music phones, people all over the world want a device that is a great music experience - with more memory, loud and powerful speakers, easy synchronization - and must still work well as a mobile phone with direct access to important contacts and content. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic delivers on all counts and allows consumers to access and share content.

"With the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, we set out to connect people through the one thing we all feel a universal connection to - music," said Jo Harlow, Vice President, Nokia. "The way in which people enjoy music is different around the world. With that in mind, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic gives people the freedom to experience music they love in the way they prefer."

Media Bar, Contacts Bar - putting people first

Taking advantage of touch screen technology, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic introduces the 'Media Bar', a handy drop down menu that provides direct access to music and entertainment, including favourite tracks, videos and photos. The Media Bar also offers a direct link to the web and to online sharing. Because the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic supports Flash content, individuals can surf the entire web, not just pieces of it.  In addition, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic offers all the music essentials, including a graphic equalizer, 8GB memory for up to 6000 tracks and support for all main digital music formats, and a 3.5mm jack. Built-in surround sound stereo speakers offer the industry's most powerful sound.

Ensuring a seamless music experience, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic also provides easy access to browse and purchase tracks from the Nokia Music Store, where applicable, while the newly updated Nokia Music PC software allows for easy drag-and-drop transfer of songs and management of any music collection.

The innovative 'Contacts Bar' lets consumers highlight four favorite contacts on their home-screen and, through a single touch, track a digital history of recent text messages, emails, phone logs, photos and blog updates.

"As Nokia's first mass-market device with a touch screen, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic turns a 'user interface' into a 'human interface' by truly putting people first.  For example, we've introduced the Nokia Contacts Bar, which is like a digital RSS feed on your life," said Harlow. "By adding the benefits of touch screen technology to S60, the world's leading smartphone interface, Nokia is taking the familiar and giving it a human touch. We have used touch technology where it really adds value such as the Contacts Bar, Media Bar and clever shortcuts from the homescreen to menu items such as calendar, profiles and clock. "

For the best screen resolution available on a mobile phone, the 3.2" widescreen display brings photos, video clips and web content to life in vibrant color and true clarity.  With a 16 by 9 aspect ratio and 30 frames-per-second playback and recording, the device is ideal for VGA quality video recording and playback.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic also features a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and, with a single touch, images or videos can be shared via a favorite online community, such as Share on Ovi, Flickr, or Facebook.  Music playlist song titles can also be shared through Bluetooth, MMS or online sharing.

Music for the masses

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic supports 60 languages worldwide, which covers nearly 90 percent of the world's population. As people around the world use their phones in different ways, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic offers a variety of input methods including a virtual alphanumeric keypad, a virtual computer-style QWERTY keyboard, a pen stylus -- and for true music enthusiasts, a plectrum -- are all available.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will be available worldwide beginning in the fourth quarter of 2008 for an estimated retail price of 279 EUR before taxes and subsidies. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic featuring Comes With Music will be available early next year. Pricing details to follow.

Enhancing the experience, Nokia today unveiled four new music accessories including a new Bluetooth headset and three new stereo headsets.

Nokia S60 5th edition/Touch UI press release:

S60 5th Edition brings new, advanced multimedia and Internet experiences to devices with touch user interfaces and sensor technologies
October 02, 2008

Direct link to audiocast: http://www.nokia.com/A41196476.

S60 5th Edition SDK and tools available for software developers

Espoo, Finland - Today sees the introduction of S60 5th Edition, the latest release of the world's leading, open smartphone platform, S60 on Symbian OS. The S60 5th Edition has the most advanced set of features that enable new innovations and new experiences for consumers that want to fully embrace the use of smartphone products.

With S60 5th Edition, the user interface is extended by the introduction of touch and with full support for tactile feedback. Enhanced display resolution support and a new Widescreen mode further compliments the touch UI and enables engaging visual experiences. Also, for the first time, the platform includes a framework for the use of advanced sensor technology. This all allows S60 device manufacturers to create innovative new device concepts for a wider range of user segments, while preserving the rich capabilities of the existing software platform. The first S60 5th Edition based device, designed for music lovers, was announced today - the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

S60 software continues to lead in the support for and use of internet technologies, and includes the Web Browser for S60, which supports desktop-quality browsing with Adobe Flash Lite 3. With the touch enabled products and S60 5th Edition, Internet browsing is made more convenient by enabling scrolling Web pages and interacting directly with Web content by touching with a finger or the use of keys or stylus. The ecosystem now has more options, and user experiences are further enhanced with touch optimized toolbars and easy access to browser and internet application options.

Sensors enable very intuitive and smart usability for the key S60 applications. For example, silence the phone ringing by turning the phone upside down. The sensor framework in S60 5th Edition provides easy integration for wide range of sensors into vendor's devices, and enables them and developers to take advantage of sensor data to create new exiting and intuitive applications and features.

S60 5th Edition's new features continue to provide a complete solution for multimedia experiences. New image and video editors in the S60 5th Edition make it simple to capture and edit pictures and videos directly on the device, before sharing them with others. Users can for example decrease red eye, crop image highlights, adjust image quality or add text and graphics to pictures. With the video editor, users can quickly cut and merge videos and sound directly on the device. Support for large, high resolution displays makes it possible for users to better enjoy widescreen multimedia and these features.

"S60 5th Edition's new features and added functionality significantly enhances the products that intend to provide rich multimedia and Internet experiences for consumers. Intuitive sensor technologies, interactions via touch, and tactile feedback creates delight and excitement for consumers and unparalleled innovation opportunities for developers and internet content providers," said Lee Williams, Senior Vice President, S60 Software, Nokia. "With this release we will see manufacturers create and extend their portfolio of products with new types of devices addressing a broader range of consumer needs."

The implementation of the S60 Web Runtime in S60 5th Edition adds support for S60 Platform Services, which enables creation of personal and context aware Web widgets. Platform Services gives these Web standards based applications access to numerous applications and features of the S60 platform, such as calendar, contacts, GPS, messaging, audio, and video. Widgets can also mash-up information from the Internet together with selected information from the user's mobile device. These Platform Services are easily accessible to Web content developers and service providers via new JavaScript and Adobe Flash Actionscript extensions. All of these capabilities continue to provide the user with the most control over security and their own private data.

To lower the barrier to entry for new innovation, S60 5th Edition is also expanding its support for open source technologies through integrated support for Open C++. This support brings the Standard Template Library and other popular platform-independent C++ libraries to the S60 platform, extending the Open C offering. Together, Open C and Open C++ create opportunities for developers to utilize existing skills and code from other platforms in their S60 development projects, including open source components that run today on Linux and other open platforms.

"The versatile developer support offered by S60 5th Edition enables developers to write applications in a range of languages that they are already very familiar with," said Tom Libretto, Vice President, Forum Nokia. "That familiarity and being able to arm developers with the tools and technologies that best suit their needs will allow for further innovation of new applications and services, not only for S60 5th Edition, but also for S60 3rd Edition Feature Packs 1 and 2."

Developers are encouraged to leverage touch UI functionality in application design to get the full consumer advantage of touch in their solutions and create the best possible user experience.  From today, S60 5th Edition SDK and tools are available to download via Forum Nokia.

"The S60 5th Edition SDK presents an exciting opportunity for mobile application development," said Erik Abair, senior vice president of engineering and co-founder of Kyte. "Development on this new platform will advance touch technology, provide more flexibility to create new user interfaces for our mobile application, Kyte Mobile Producer, and improve the overall user experience for consumers."

"Over the years, SHAPE Services have observed an astounding evolution in Nokia mobile platforms and development environments which have been further revolutionized by the latest Symbian S60 5th Edition SDK," said Igor Berezovsky, CEO, SHAPE Services GmbH. "It is great to see that Nokia was able to keep the original spirit of the S60 platform while continuing to provide compatibility for previous editions of S60. This allowed for quick and easy porting of Shape Services' IM+ All-In-One Instant messenger to the new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic."

The global smartphone market is growing. Almost 180 million S60 devices have already cumulatively been shipped by S60 licensees by the end of June 2008. More than a third of these are fully web-capable S60 3rd Edition devices.