If you were reading the Nokia 5220 XpressMusic's specification sheet, you might well assume that this is a variant of the existing Nokia 5310. But what's surprising about the 5220 is the way it looks.

Nokia have bravely opted for an asymmetrical design for the 5220. It is taller on one side than the other, and Nokia haven't really said why except that it makes the design more "edgy", and that the 5220 comes with a lanyard for carrying it around.

It isn't the first time that Nokia have gone a bit strange when it comes to the shape of their phones - the Nokia 7610, 6670, 7600 and 7260 have tried a similar trick before. The 5220 isn't as radical as the 7610 or 7600, but it's a great deal less ugly than the 6670 and 7260.

Despite the strange looks, the Nokia 5220 XpressMusic is almost exactly identical to the 5310. There's a 2" 240 x 320 pixel display, a basic 2 megapixel camera,  with QVGA video capture, Bluetooth, microSD expandable memory, a web browser and email client. It's a little heavier, and the screen isn't quite as good as the 5310, but otherwise they are almost identical.

The "XpressMusic" tag indicates that there is a little more to the 5220 than meets the eye. Although not as advanced as the new 5320, the 5220 still comes with a multimedia player and FM radio. The 3.5mm audio socket means that you can fit a decent set of headphones on it, and 24 hours of music playback time should be enough for most people.

The Nokia 5520 XpressMusic is a pretty lightweight device at 78 grams. The unusual design makes it a slightly tall and narrow device at 108 x 44mm and just 10.5mm thick. Talktime is a very reasonable 5.25 hours with up to 17 days standby time.

The standard sales package includes an AC-3 charger, 1020 mAh battery and 512MB microSD card. Nokia say that the 5220 XpressMusic should be available during Q3 2008.