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Need new Phone & MP3 Player - Two Birds...?
Sunday_Assassin
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So apparantly my 5 year old mobile phone no longer cuts it in today's social circles. It's green-hued screen is scoffed at, it's lack of a camera a crime of some sort. Not even its ability to compose its own ring tones can redeem it, it seems, which isn't surprising, since my version of Terra's theme came out less than recognisable.
Also, there's the issue of my MP3 player. Its once ample 128mb storage is now no longer sufficient when placed alongside the GB mem sticks and cards that litter my life.
And there's its tendency to devour a set of batteries (yes, batteries!) in about 30 mins.
So, with Christmas fast approaching, I'm looking to replace these stalwart companions with some younger, sexier models. Or model. Are there any phones that work as functional MP3 players? It seems like a logical tag-team, and yet I never see such a feature advertised (Or haven't so far. As you might have guessed, I've been out of the 'game' for a while now). MPEG4 video, yep, that's on the lists, but simple MP3? Beyond ringtone, of course... Is that different?
So take my hand, gentle stranger, and guide me onwards through-
Hang on. Got carried away, there.
So essentially I only have finite pocket space. If I could combine these two essential items I would be a happy bunny indeed. I'm not a big phone user, the occasional text, but enough to demand that I have one. Neither do I require immense music abilities. I pretty much carry my laptop with me everywhere anyway, so storage not really all that vital.
(Also required: Dictaphone services, but I assume they are a given these days. They were in mine)
Any suggestions? Guidance? Am I wasting my time?
Also, there's the issue of my MP3 player. Its once ample 128mb storage is now no longer sufficient when placed alongside the GB mem sticks and cards that litter my life.
And there's its tendency to devour a set of batteries (yes, batteries!) in about 30 mins.
So, with Christmas fast approaching, I'm looking to replace these stalwart companions with some younger, sexier models. Or model. Are there any phones that work as functional MP3 players? It seems like a logical tag-team, and yet I never see such a feature advertised (Or haven't so far. As you might have guessed, I've been out of the 'game' for a while now). MPEG4 video, yep, that's on the lists, but simple MP3? Beyond ringtone, of course... Is that different?
So take my hand, gentle stranger, and guide me onwards through-
Hang on. Got carried away, there.
So essentially I only have finite pocket space. If I could combine these two essential items I would be a happy bunny indeed. I'm not a big phone user, the occasional text, but enough to demand that I have one. Neither do I require immense music abilities. I pretty much carry my laptop with me everywhere anyway, so storage not really all that vital.
(Also required: Dictaphone services, but I assume they are a given these days. They were in mine)
Any suggestions? Guidance? Am I wasting my time?
Sunday_Assassin on
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Sony w810.
Its a cellphone/camera/mp3 player with memory card slot and bluetooth.
Im getting one soon. I haven't heard much about it, so research will be needed if this looks good to you.
Also, its got a good sized speaker on the back so you can actually play the music through them. But I think it also has a headphone slot.
EDIT: Well the second pic implys it has headphone capability.
EDIT 2: I forgot that its a 2.0 megapixel. Not bad for a camera.
If I didn't dislike Sony and get a hard on for anything flip-able I might look into that one.
It's kinda sexy.
...Wait. That's a keyboard. How small is that thing?
edit: Also comes in this monstrous colour-scheme, it seems
Nokia recently released some music-centered phones (5300/5200). They also have some phone with 8GB of built-in memory (N91).
There are also more Walkman phones and their normal counterparts aren't much worse - I think the main difference is that you get pretty good headphones with the Walkman phones.
The W810i counterpart would be the K750i sometimes found also as the D750i
They also use memory stick exclusively for memory - the Pro versions I think go up to 4GB and the new Micro up to 1GB.
Nokia seems to use microSD which also caps out at 2GB but is a bit cheaper than M2. OTOH Pro Duo is cheaper than microSD >1GB.
At night, the ice weasels come."
The phone is, frankly, awesome. It's built well, has an awesome UI, fantastic OS, it's themeable, and works just great as a MP3 player. I've got a 4GB memory card in mine, and it carries plenty of music. The phone has play/pause, volume controls, and next/previous buttons on the side so that you can control it with a touch.
Also, at least for the one that Cingular ships, it does take headphones. It doesn't use a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, but it comes with a set of headphones (pretty nice ones, at that), and the cord that you use to plug them in does accept a standard 3.5mm plug, so I just used the nice earbuds I used with my iPod.
The bluetooth functionality is great; you can send music, games, themes, etc. over bluetooth, and if that's not fast enough for you, it also comes with a USB cable. Better yet, spend a couple bucks on one of these and just swap the card directly to your PC when you want to move files around.
Seriously, I can't recommend this phone enough. It's just a damned good phone.
Also, 2 megapixel camera. If you have a good digital camera already, this certainly won't replace it, but it's damned impressive by cell phone standards.
Also, this:
...is a W500 series. You don't want that. You want this:
...the w810i.
Also, just to round out a bit more, the phone has about 20-25MB built-in that's free when you get it. Like a lot of phones, they add a bunch of bullshit ringers and such that you can't delete.
It also comes with a 128 Memory Stick Duo card.
Well congrats. I shall be purchasing one of these newfangled w810i thingies as soon as I figure out what do do with my contract/number etc.
If anything.
I have an unhealthy obsession with cellphones, so I'd be happy to help.
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Go Sony, no doubt.
If your expertise extends to anything to do with UK companies, I'd welcome the advice.
Ericsson makes the phones, Sony just markets them. Which is pretty much why they don't suck.
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Hmmm...not so much providers as phones for the UK, but if you want to change I HIGHLY recommend you check out the European Carrier Discussion forums at http://www.howardforums.com since it is the best site for cellphone news and discussion out there.
Think provider first, cell phone second. Sure, you can buy unlocked phones that will work on any network, but if you're going to switch anyways you may as well get the new contact discount. See if any other companies cover your work area and if they have a phone you like.
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I wish I would have waited and got the w810i though, as my mp3 player sucks total ass. The z520a is nice though
Forsake, Warlock of Stonemaul
It's a pretty nice slider phone, MP3 player, you can put a memory card in it to hold more. Camera, bluetooth, etc. It's from Cingular. It ranks high on a lot of customer satisfaction lists.
Also, you can't tell from the picture but the buttons light up cooler than that. I'm very satisfied with it.
*Also, it does play regular vanilla MP3 files.
I've heard nothing but bad things about the Chocolate, but haven't had any experience with it myself.
One of my friends had that orange one for a while and it's pretty badass, but I don't know how well it would work as an mp3 player. He just got ahold of whichever new Ericsson model is in the new Bond flick, and that one has the capacity to be used as a musicbox much more easily than his old one.
Can you tell I'm not that into phones?
It looks cool, but that's about it.
My brother broke the LCD screen on the outside of the stupid thing just by sitting down with it in his pocket. It's also made out of cheap ass plastic.
example of a photo i took in Hawaii:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/HyperAquaBlast/DSC00048.jpg
As a cell phone geek and employee of a Cingular dealer, my advice is yes, go with Sony Ericsson. Awesome phones, nobody even comes close nowadays in terms of quality. The only thing Sony branding does for you is the MS Pro Duo memory format (which is better than the low-capacity MicroSD most phones use) and Walkman software (which is really good).
The w810i is about as good as it gets for us Americans. $99 with new contract on Cingular, and Newegg has a 4GB MS Pro Duo card for $99. So, for $200 you get:
-very high-quality cell phone with some of the best battery life I've seen outside of Nokia
-2MP camera with autofocus and flash and video recording (better than equivalent Samsung or Motorola 2MP cameras)
-4GB Flash MP3 player with Walkman software (better than the OEM crap UIs that every other phone uses)
-included data cable and Disc2Phone software which will rip CDs and convert music files to the correct format and selected bitrate in one step (most music phones don't include these crucial things in the box)
-includes some above-average earbuds (they're comfy, but certainly not audiophile quality; most music phones do not come with headphones, let alone decent ones)
SE phones use this weird plug for the headphones, but the end of the cord it comes with has a standard 3.5mm jack that you can plug your own into instead of the included buds. A thing that every other music phone (except the craptastic SLVR) forgets is that 3.5mm adapter.
The only thing this phone doesn't have is A2DP, which is music through stereo Bluetooth, but most stereo Bluetooth headsets these days are trash. Expensive trash. There are some kinks to work out with A2DP.
Oh, and no 3G on the phone, but you can probably live with that.
I pretty much recommend SE over everything else nowadays, if only for their UI. I have yet to find a phone UI this good; the much-vaunted Symbian OS on high-end Nokias is like trying to drive a Mack truck on a racing track. Powerful but unwieldy as hell.
Nice.
Guess I'm getting one of them, then. The board has spoken.
edit: Hang on there, Joe. Anyone know anything about the w850i? It done swivel an' stuff.
I like my swivel w600i and that's one of the reasons I haven't gone to the w810i yet. That and it costs me $264 that I don't feel like spending on a minor upgrade.
The w850i is 3G capable but doesn't have EDGE. I dunno, its not appreciably better than the w810i and it looks a hell of a lot more expensive. The same site that has an unlocked w810i for $335 has the w850i for $955.80 and the w900 for $569.
The w810i is really the better deal. Either that or the k800, which has a 3.2MP camera but uses insanely expensive M2 micro memory cards and lacks Walkman software (though it will play MP3s). The American version of the k800 is the k790a (with GSM850 and no 3G).
Cheers. 810i it is, then.
Also: While I'm here (and top of page) I may as well add something. Just occured to me now.
In about 6 months I'm going to be going over to the US for a 3 month period (visiting an old uni buddy who's out there, then dossing around for a while. There'll likely be another H/A thread for that when I get round to it). How is this going to affect my phone situation? Would entering into a new contract now mess me up? Will I be able to get my phone working over yonder? Would going 'pay as you go' work better in the meantime? Costs, jargon, jibberish?
A working phone is going to be vital, as I plan on getting really fucking lost. :P