The slider brings nothing new in terms of dimensions and measures 92.4х48.2х20.7 in size, weights 106 grams. Actually the form-factor picked for this handset was chosen not randomly – Sony Ericsson doesn’t have relatively cheap sliders in its middle price-bracket portfolio, as the company attributes this form-factor to fashion solutions and applies it only for top-notch products, like Sony Ericsson W850i.
The display found on the 5300 features QVGA resolution with 262 K colors. On the face of it, the screen reminds more of Nokia 6233, rather than Nokia 6131. Though it is still quite nice to play around with and boasts good color rendering
The device makes use of a 860 mAh Li-Ion battery (BL-5B). As the manufacturer claims, it powers the handset for nearly 12 hours in music playback mode, which is nice, although the up-to-date Walkmans easily beat that time (18 hours at least, most models provide about 25-30 hours of lifetime). The music player sports support for MP3, WMA, M4A, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ formats. Even though the microSD socket is placed underneath the cover, it still allows for “hot swap†feature.
The handset comes in two appealing trims – red and dark-grey. In both cases painted details have framings made of white plastic. I won’t unveil my personal feelings about the design here, as tastes differ, however on the face of it the solutions are aimed mainly at youth. In the not distant future Nokia 5300 will get a companion with another form-factor, austere and classic design, targeting at higher age brackets.
The shortcomings of the 5300 include presence of an entry-level 1.3 Mpix camera (allowing video recording in quite mediocre resolution of 176x144 pixels), which is unusual for this segment. One more thing of note – the model incorporates an FM-radio module by default.
