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Best Music Phone For Me Under $300?

post #1 of 36
12/10/10 at 4:51pm
Thread Starter 

I was hoping to get a new phone for Christmas.  I would prefer the best phone under $200 that has a 3.5mm jack.  I currently have a very beaten up Nokia 5310 XpressMusic.  It was my first phone and I've had it for about a year.  I haven't taken very good care of it and need a new phone.  I really want a phone that can hold at least 4 GB of music without being completely laggy and freezy like my Nokia 5310.  I also don't care too much about extra features such as internet and apps.

 

Sooo let's go over this again.  I'd love a phone that has the following:

 

Great sound quality

 

3.5mm Jack

 

Can hold at least 4GB without being all freezy and laggy

 

Looks cool? :P

 

Maybe an SD expansion slot?

 

Under $300

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry if this was a noobish post but I'm a noob.

Thanks in advance! :D


Edited by HydroTurtle - 12/18/10 at 12:15am
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post #2 of 36
12/10/10 at 8:09pm

Off-contract? A second-hand iphone 3G/3GS. The 3G is notably slower than the 3GS, but for just music playback it's adequate. (I did own one) 

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post #3 of 36
12/11/10 at 2:39am

Nokia 5800XM sounds like a good choice, but never go for the N-Gage series, they aren't that good of a player. If you're looking something else than a Nokia, you can try Sony Ericsson Walkman series :)


Edited by RisingTide - 12/11/10 at 2:41am
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post #4 of 36
12/11/10 at 11:38am
Thread Starter 

I'm leaning towards the Nokia 5800 due to its 3.5 jack and included 8GB SD card and SD expansion slot.

 

I love how the Sony Walkman phones look so sleek and small.  The current Walkman phones look great but don't have a 3.5 jack or SD expansion slot.

 

Can I get some Sony Ericsson Walkman phone recommendations?  Should I be looking at previous generation Walkman phones? 

 

Otherwise I might just stick to the Nokia 5800.

 

 

 

I've heard some good about the Walkman w995. How's that?


Edited by HydroTurtle - 12/11/10 at 3:43pm
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post #5 of 36
12/12/10 at 2:07pm

Android phones are pretty good, I play flac on my droid all the time

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post #6 of 36
12/12/10 at 6:26pm

I'm using the W995 right now and love it :) Fair warning - It's more my music player than phone.

 

SQ: My music is ripped in mp3 320kbps and I stream it via Bluetooth to my MM550. SQ wise - I'm happy. The built in stereo speakers are not too bad in a closed room, but sounds airy otherwise.

 

Capacity: It was bundled with a 8GB M2 card which isn't quite enough for me but the M2 cards are rather pricey. I've checked and it'll take up to 32GB.

 

I have about 7GB of music leaving the rest for photos and whatnot. It does get laggy when I have music streaming via BT, Opera Mini with a couple tabs open and an sms pops in. But normally no, it doesn't freeze or lag.

 

They have a bundled application but I just drag/drop my music in. I create playlists on the phone by folders though you can also select individual files.

 

The bonus is the built in aGPS unit (Google maps built in is awesome enough for me) and the camera is much better than most other phone cameras - even has a flash :) 

 

What else do you want to know?

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post #7 of 36
12/13/10 at 4:25pm
Thread Starter 

How's the battery life when playing 320kbps mp3's on the w995?

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post #8 of 36
12/13/10 at 5:39pm

I keep my phone battery topped up whenever I can - relatively easy since I plug in every night and when I'm at the office.

 

I've had it stream music via BT non stop for almost ten hours (from a full battery), including surfing on opera Mini via GPRS, sporadic WiFi and GPS use. Then it started the annoying Low Battery beeps.

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post #9 of 36
12/13/10 at 6:04pm
Thread Starter 

hows the playback?


Edited by HydroTurtle - 12/13/10 at 6:31pm
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post #10 of 36
12/13/10 at 6:23pm

About 1.5s of air when I press either the phone's hardware forward button or my headphone's forward button, then the next song starts. 0.5s or so in between songs. The delay is when it's loading the playlist, and even that is not noticeably slow unless I have Opera Mini running in the background.

 

It preemptively loads a playlist when you are browsing the library... eg when I browse artists and open up "Aerosmith" then "All" it already loads up the playlist for all the Aerosmith songs even if I haven't selected a song to play.

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post #11 of 36
12/13/10 at 6:32pm
Thread Starter 

Hmmm.. this is tough... Hard to decide between the Nokia 5800 and Sony W995 right now.

 

 

Sony W995:

Much Better Looking and more unique (IMO) :)

It uses memory stick instead of MicroSD :(       - doesn't it come with an 8gb memory stick though?

More expensive :(

 

Nokia 5800:

Touch Screen :)

MicroSD expansion :)

Looks pretty common (IMO)  :(

Cheaper :)

 

Both have great sound quality and excellent mp3 player functions i'm assuming.

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post #12 of 36
12/13/10 at 6:44pm

I don't know what the current Nokia phones are like. The last Nokia I used was the 7390 and the music capabilities were subpar - the freezing or frequently updating library was the memorable problem. Being a prior Sony Walkman (cassette tape versions!) user, I moved from that to the W980 and then now to the W995. I like the dedicated buttons, the walkman look and feel (the buttons glow orange when in music mode heh) and I can easily forget it's a phone till a message comes in.

 

The M2 card is an issue... what size card does your provider bundle it with? I am considering a 16GB M2 card from Amazon.

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post #13 of 36
12/13/10 at 7:27pm
Thread Starter 

My provider is currently T Mobile but the contract expires soon so I was thinking of switching.

 

A 16GB M2 card on amazon is $25 which is reasonable I suppose.

 

I think I might get the W995 over the Nokia 5800 just because of looks xD.


Edited by HydroTurtle - 12/13/10 at 7:33pm
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post #14 of 36
12/13/10 at 7:40pm

Nokia n91, old but solid

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post #15 of 36
12/13/10 at 7:45pm
Thread Starter 

I've heard of the N91, but I'm kinda looking for something that looks cool and is great for music too, like the w995.

 

.....I'm 14  :D


Edited by HydroTurtle - 12/13/10 at 7:47pm
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