MP3s on your phone? Good Idea, but...
Written: Dec 02 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The first really novel idea in a long time
Cons: It doesn't look like the implemtation is what it could be
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| 311Bud's Full Review: Samsung SGH M100 Cell Phone |
There are two things that we all love. Cell phones and music. Well, at least those are two things that I love. Guess What? Samsung has gone and given us the best of both worlds. An MP3 player and a phone....all in 3.4 ounces of pure bliss! Or is it?
I first became acquainted with the Samsung SGH M-100 via a television commercial. Have you seen it? It has a man in a park singing to his MP3 player, but he is interrupted by a phone call. It is his friend, informing him that he sounds like an idiot. Hey...did you notice that the same device did both things? How cool is that? Anyway, at the end of the commercial, the dorky guy hooks up with a beautiful girl with the same phone, and they walk away into the sunset, singing like fools. Don't you love the way commercials do this?
Anyway, since I love music and have 800 or so MP3s on my computer, I decided I had to get this phone. So, I went to the Samsung website to check it out. Bad news, it isn't available in the US yet. Also, no price has been announced. But, I did learn some interesting things about the phone.
First of all, and most importantly, the phone only sports 32 MB of space for MP3s. Granted, this is the most available in a cellphone (only because it is the only phone with MP3 playing ability). However, this only translates to about eight songs. That's according to the Samsung website. But that's an optimistic estimate. What it really is is about 32 minutes of music at 128 kbps. If your songs are longer than 4 minutes, or if you like your music at a higher quality than 128 kbps, you will be disappointed because you will get less than 8 songs.
But think about it. 8 songs. That's less than a single CD! Is that really anything to brag about? No way. There's also another problem. The rate of data transfer is only 14.4 bps. You know how frustrating it is to download MP3s at 56k? Well, multiply that by four, and you've got the frustration that you will experience with this phone. Not too fun, eh.
The phone also has more issues. It also touts a certain amount (again, 32 MB) of data storage. However, this is not 32 MB of seperate storage. If you have your phone full of MP3s, you will not be able to use the data storage at all.
One thing that seemed really cool to me is that the display looks like more of a car audio deck than a cell phone. On the website, it looks like there are equalizer bars on the screen. Way cool.
As for the rest of the phone, it seems to be on par with all other high end cell phones on the market today. It has games, room for 99 names, and 5 shortcuts.
Here's my analysis. When this phone first hits the market, it's probably going to cost an arm and a leg. On the other hand, the prices of quality MP3 players (much better than this one) have shot down during the past few months. So, for the moment, you're probably better off sticking with your current phone and buying a MP3 player. Or, do what I do. Just burn them to CDs. It's the most inexpensive way to do it.
However, if you are still enamored with this idea of MP3s on your phone, just wait a while. Right now there is no competition for this phone. But, if the idea is worth its salt, there will be competition. And with competition comes an increase of quality and a decrease in price. When that happens, buy what is best. But for now, hold off on the Samsung. You'll be glad you did.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
311Bud
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Location: Williamson, Ga
Reviews written: 82
Trusted by: 35 members
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