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I just got the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic. I like it.

Let’s do some first impressions.

I’ve had the 5530XM for roughly five hours now, and my first impressions are based on my usage during that time. Full review coming soon.

Good (For Now)

- Size: I love the size. It’s not too thick, and not too big either. Weighty enough to know that you’re carrying without being a burden a la N97 or (shudder) N90.
- Build quality: Even though the 5530 XpressMusic is mostly made of plastic, like the 5800, it looks and feels a heck of a lot better. The material on the front is some kind of metallic plastic, and Nokia changed the back cover from the rubbery 5800 cover to a smoother plastic. Overall the phone feels extremely solid.
- Snappy interface: Yes, it’s still Symbian S60 Fifth Edition. But the whole experience feels snappier than say, the N97, thanks to some slick transitions.
- Speakers: Thank you, Nokia, for not screwing this up. The speakers sound just as good as the 5800’s, and that’s a huge plus.
- Touch-screen: The 5530 uses a resistive touch-screen, but it feels pretty sensitive. More sensitive than the 5800.

Bad (For Now)

- Slowdowns: they’re rare, but they happen – most notably when scrolling through songs while playing a track in the Music Player.
- Kinetic scrolling: it’s in most places, but Nokia left it out in the folder view. Strange that no one picked that up.
- Virtual keyboard: the keyboard is better with iPhone/Android-esque pop-up letters, but still flawed. Instead of recognizing keypresses *as you’re pressing the keys*, the keyboard only recognizes something when you press and let go.

Overall, I’d have to say I’m impressed. I like the 5530 XpressMusic, and while the 5800XM had more desirable features (GPS, Carl Zeiss, 3G, etc), I prefer the 5530.