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MP3 goes the phone

How do MP3 phones fare vis-à-vis standalone MP3 players? Anil Patrick R tries to find out.

Phones that can play MP3 files have been around for a while. Their growth has been slow yet steady over the years, and now the technology has matured to a level where they have started to compete with conventional MP3 players.

But this competition is still limited to phones using media card memory such as Memory Stick and TransFlash /microSD. The limitations of these media have kept MP3 phones from tackling MP3 players. However, the scene is all set to change with entrants like the upcoming internal hard disk-based Nokia N91 MP3 phone which promises memory in the range of 4 GB.

Convergence as a buzzword has been floating around for a long while. However, it is nowhere as evident as it is in the cellular phone arena. Remember the days when cell phones where just for talking to friends and family? Then Internet connectivity (GPRS/CDMA) and FM radio crept in, followed by MMS and digital cameras, and now it is MP3 playback capability.

Exploring the music phone

So what does the usual MP3 phone comprise? As of now, MP3 phones available in the market typically ship with in-built memory. Expansion slots for memory chip modules up to 2 GB are used for storage in these phones.

Media players used in MP3 phones include RealPlayer (Nokia models), iTunes (Motorola ROKR E1), as well as proprietary players. Colour screens, FM radios, in-built cameras, Bluetooth, GPRS/EDGE, and USB connectivity are some of the other standard features.

Time to be a ROKR?

One of the much-talked-about recent offerings on the MP3 phone front is the iPod phone from Motorola and Apple Once you have got past the ordinary looks, it will be found that the ROKR is basically iTunes installed on a Motorola cell phone operating system.

The usual MP3 phone-camera combo features are all present—MP3 playback, stereo sound over built-in speakers or earphones, colour display, Bluetooth, VGA camera with zoom/flash, and MPEG-4 video record/playback. In addition to these, the phone has a 1,000 contacts in-built phonebook, 6.5 hours talk-time, 260 hours standby-time, drag and drop for songs from iTunes, GPRS, and video/picture messaging.

The phone’s sound quality has got good user opinions with the in-built speakers doing an excellent job on the music playback and speaker-phone modes. User-friendly navigation is also a notable feature of the ROKR.

A closer look

ROKR presently sports a 512 MB TransFlash (MicroSD) memory card. This is in addition to 5 MB of internal memory. However, iTunes will allow playback of just 100 songs. Motorola tries to tide over this limitation by including their media player to play more than 100 songs on the ROKR. Although this gets the job done, it defeats the purpose of an iTunes phone.

The Motorola ROKR E1 can be synced with only one computer. If you try to sync the ROKR with another PC, existing MP3 files will be deleted. Song transfer between ROKR phones over Bluetooth or any other means is also not possible. Connectivity to PCs is through USB 1.1. This is one area where Motorola/Apple could have done better with the inclusion of the faster USB 2.0 standard.

In other connectivity matters, ROKR does not provide stereo playback over Bluetooth. This is due to the omission of stereo Bluetooth profiles such as A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) in the ROKR. The ROKR has only GPRS support; EDGE support is missing.

The ROKR is still not available in India; it is available only in the US through Cingular. It retails at $249.99 and has a two-year service contract commitment.

This is a triband GSM model that can work on GSM 850/1800/1900 MHz frequency bands. Getting one of these models from the US is not such a good idea since a major part of India still operates on the older GSM 900 MHz networks.

However, this is a minor setback that will be overcome when Motorola launches the Asian version of the ROKR that can work on the GSM 900/1800/1900 range networks. The Asian model ought to be available by end-December, though it may be better to give this model a miss for the next (improved) version from Motorola and Apple.

Noteworthy options

If you are not in the mood for waiting there are many interesting options. Some of the MP3 phone models from manufacturers such as Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and LG are worth considering.

Among the popular MP3 phone options, the Sony Ericsson W800i is worth a dekko. This ‘walkman phone’ sports features like included 512 MB memory stick duo modules, 2 megapixel (MP) camera, and video recording/playback. If the W800i is a bit too expensive for you, consider the Sony Ericsson K750i. This slightly older (a nd cheaper) MP3 phone comes with an included 64 MB Memory Stick Pro duo, 2 MP camera with autofocus, FM radio, and video recording/playback.

From the Samsung fold, the SGH-E730 is worth taking a look at. This trendy triband MP3 phone comes with a 1.3 MP camera, FM radio and video recording/playback.

The MP3 phone option from the Nokia clan is the 3230. This triband phone includes features such as a 1.3 MP camera, video recording/editing/ playback, 32 MB hot swappable RS-MMC memory, and an FM radio. Of course, if you have the budget for it, you can always wait for the Nokia N91.

anilpatrick@networkmagazineindia.com