The accelerometer goes beyond simply keeping track of your jogging routines. It acts as the primary controller for a pre-installed game, where you tilt the phone around to guide a virtual ball through a 3D maze. And you can also use it to control music playback. Tapping on the left goes to the previous song, on the right to the next, and just below the screen to pause or resume.

Some other features make the 5500 a complete consumer smartphone. Aside from the 2.0 megapixel that can take still or moving images, holding down 0 activates a flashlight.

Based on personal experience as a former owner of a Nokia 1100 (which also has a built in light), this feature will become useful when you least expect it.

At least here in the Philippines, Nokia has bundled some great accessories. The wired remote features full playback and volume controls. It also uses a standard line-in socket, making it possible to plug in other earphones (though the bundled set is pretty good). You also get two wrist straps, each of which come with a grey nub that doubles as a battery cover opener, in lieu of a thing-enough coin. And the included 512MB microSD is indeed welcome, for not that many songs can fit on the smartphone's 64MB internal memory.



Time for a little nit-picking, for the 5500 flaws are minor. The rubberized keys takes a little getting used to, allowing only assertive presses to register. Though the music this mobile will produce is great, the player application is slightly cumbersome, requiring you to scroll up or down through each action, instead of assigning each playback function to a specific key on the 5-way directional keypad.

Not to mention that videos or images taken in low-light conditions will come out poorly. And perhaps the rubber cover protecting the bottom connectors (power and data) will wear out quickly, because of the constant opening and closing required. Lastly, for some reason, some functions load a half-second late.

But these are only slight drawbacks. The Nokia 5500 is a great deal, going for as low as £149 (below $300), and is perfect for people looking for a full-featured smartphone but lack the money for high-end models.