If you've been gritting your teeth and letting the PR onslaught of the iPhone 3G, Storm, and G1 knock you around as you waited for Nokia's entry into the widescreen, touchscreen superphone market -- that wait appears to be nearing it's end. Nokia has gone and gotten all official and release-y with it's anticipated (if somewhat disappointing) 5800 XpressMusic... or as we know it, the Tube. According to the company's PR, the device "is now, or will be soon" available in Russia, Spain, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Finland, "among others." If you'll recall, the phone boasts a 3.2-inch, 16:9 resistive touchscreen (hey, they throw in a guitar pick stylus), a 3.2-megapixel camera, 8GB of on-board storage, and the constant assurance that you're using a phone once called the Tube. No word on price or plans, but we expect cheap, and lots.

[Thanks, Pdexter]

Nokia's 5800 XpressMusic isn't exactly in the same league as some of the other high-end touchscreen smartphones hitting the market right now, but that doesn't mean it's not getting the Chinese KIRF love -- and we'd actually say the flush-mounted touchscreen on the Li 5800 here is an improvement. The generic OS is obviously less attractive than S60 Touch, but not by much, honestly, and although the real 5800 should be pretty cheap on contract, we've got a feeling the Li here might undercut it significantly. Too bad they didn't stick a random micro-projector in there, eh?

[Via UnwiredView, thanks Robin of Loxley]

The 5800 XpressMusic may be delayed for some people, but apparently, the boys and girls at the FCC aren't included in that flatly unlucky group. Nokia has passed a version of its first touchscreen S60 handset by the Fed's watchful eyes, and all's looking good except for one critical detail: this isn't the HSDPA 850 / 1900 version. We're sure it's coming, don't get us wrong -- but for the time being, this does us just about as much good as a Nokia with a resistive touch... ah, wait.

Given that most of the world won't see Nokia's 5800 XpressMusic until 2009, you may be better off just forcing yourself to overlook this here review until you can snag one without importing. If you're just too impatient for all that, however, you should know that an early critique of the affectionately dubbed Tube deemed it mighty impressive. Call quality was solid, the OS was stable in most areas, and the display was a joy to look at and interact with. In fact, reviewers had a difficult time finding anything exceptionally negative to say, noting that this is the handset for anyone after a "well-rounded, do-it-all solution." It was also made clear that this phone and the iPhone were really two different animals not worth comparing (advantage, Tube), but that didn't stop critics from confessing that the 5800 packs an "unparalleled price / quality ratio that changes the rules for all phone makers out there, including Nokia itself."

The Foundations said it best in their 1968 classic, but seriously, why let us down like this? Nokia didn't mind busting out a litany of press shots and all the specifications one could need to get amped up about the 5800 XpressMusic, but it obviously has something holding it back from launching in "mature markets" before 2009. In an announcement that's just as disappointing to the suits in Espoo as it is to those in North America and Down Under (just to name a couple), we've now learned that the touchscreen-dominated handset will only be available in seven countries in Asia, the Middle East and Europe before 2009 dawns. Even worse? Not knowing how deep into next year we'll have to wait for this thing here in the US of A. Catch our feelings spelled out in video form after the break.

If you've been enjoying those still pictures of Nokia's 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen phone, but feel you're lacking an in-depth experience, we think we can help. A slew of demo and instruction videos have just been slapped up on the Ovi Share site, allowing you to get a better idea of just how the device works, and what it looks like when it's doing it. Luckily for you, we've taken the trouble of including all of the videos after the break for your viewing pleasure, saving you the painful and laborious experience of hitting a read link. Enjoy.

[Via Cellpassion]

While it may not be Nokia's first touchscreen phone (anyone out there remember the 7710?), the 5800 XpressMusic is certainly the first to come out of Finland with a mainstream appeal. What we've alternately known as the "Tube" throughout much of its development cycle is the first production device to run S60 5th Edition -- the fourth major overhaul of Nokia's ubiquitous smartphone platform since 2002 and the first to support fingers, styli, and high-res displays. Speaking of high-res displays, the 5800 comes equipped with an impressive 3.2-inch 640 x 360 resistive touchscreen to go along with its 3.2-megapixel autofocus cam, Carl Zeiss optics, dual LED flash, GPS, WiFi, 3.5mm jack, and a microSD slot with support for 16GB cards. It'll be available in three versions -- European HSDPA, North American HSDPA, and GSM only -- and ships this quarter in black, red, and blue for €279 (about $392) unlocked with an 8GB card thrown in for good measure. Music fans with voracious appetites for new tunes might want to hold out, though, for the Comes With Music-equipped version that follows on "early next year" at a to-be-announced price.

October 2nd: mark it down 'cause Reuters says that's the date that Nokia will launch its Nokia Tube -- aka, 5800 XpressMusic. According to a pair of industry sources, Nokia will launch the much anticipated, long overdue, S60 touchscreen device at a media and analyst event in London -- exactly as Pocket-lint's source told us earlier. All that's left now is for the invites to be distributed.

One day after Google goes touchscreen, along comes what looks to be an official press shot of Nokia's 5800 XpressMusic -- aka, the Tube. No new details here, though Nokia appears to have cleaned up the industrial design around the buttons of some of those earlier prototypes we've seen. October 2nd looks like the date that we'll finally get our fill of the first S60 Touch handset. Though given the number of leaks and rabid competition Nokia faces in the touchscreen OS space -- our appetite for this device might be quickly satiated.

[Via unwired view]

Okay, so first we heard that Nokia's Comes with Music service would be good and ready by October 2nd. Then we heard October 17th. Now, a certain "anonymous industry source" has revealed that the long-awaited XpressMusic 5800 (or the Tube, as it were) will be launching on the 2nd of next month. With so much conflicting evidence out and about, we're firmly in "wait and see" mode at this point, and considering that "launch" gives no indication of a ship date, we reckon you're better off doing the same.

[Thanks, Mikkel]

Ah yeah, that's right -- wasn't Nokia supposed to be coming out with a touchscreen smartphone at some point? Citing an unnamed source, a delightfully unsubstantiated rumor has popped up on Just Another Mobile Phone Blog claiming that Nokia's first S60 Touch device, the 5800, will get a British launch just a month from now on October 8. Given Nokia's historically epic spans between announcement and launch, putting a device on retail shelves that hasn't even been revealed yet in just four short weeks seems improbable -- but on the flip, we can certainly imagine Espoo wanting this one available in plenty of time for the holidays. Our fingers remain firmly crossed, both for an October release and for a right-quick unlock and ship across the pond.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

Well, we've seen the Nokia 5800 Tube's keyboard, home screen, video player, and uh, Bat-Sonar, so we might as well keep going with these shots of the browser. Kudos to Nokia for delivering something just slightly more impressive this time around than we're used to from S60 Touch, but we're still not feeling the super-90s aesthetic -- check out those icons at the bottom. We're still hoping to be blown away when this thing finally launches, but it's looking less and less likely with each new screenshot.

[Thanks, Marie]