Ewan's been doing some hard thinking about the issue facing music on your smartphone, and, in summary, he's having a few doubts about the whole concept. Read the article (and the second opinion) and then let us have your thoughts in the comments thread.
Read on in the full article.
I'm not currently using a S60 phone but an SE K750i. It has pretty much replaced my digital camera and is now well on the way to replacing my MP3 player with Opera mini on board I look at my Palm and think why?. I find it hard to believe it wouldn't be the same with an S60 phone.
Copying music to a memory card isn't an issue. Find folder on computer, drag to memory card job done. Just where is the issue with getting music to the phone?
Battery, not really an issue I regularly travel to London for the day (round trip 12 hours) and can listen to my music use the phone to connect to a network do my calls and still arrive home with juice on the battery meter.
Headphones, nothing wrong with the ones that came with the phone but it is no big deal to get an adaptor for a 3.5mm socket and a microphone.
The only supposed "issue" I would somewhat agree with is that of navigation and folder structure once on the phone. Not quite what it should be, yet, but till you mentioned it not something I had thought of and certainly doesn't eat into the convenience of having 2GB of music with me.
I have been playing - and playing around with digital music on my P910 for quite some time now.
There are several limitations:
1. The amount of music you can store - even using Ogg
2. Hit on the phone's battery life - I can't fly across the USA and have battery life left when I land to make any calls or check e-mail
3. The 2.5 male/ in-line mic/ 3.5 female units I have tried involve far too much wire to be practical (wire for the adaptor/ mic unit + wire for your favorite set of ear buds)
Recently I saw a set of headphones for a digital music player that had an in-line Bluetooth unit with a microphone. I am thinking that may be a better solution as it lets me use the digital music player with everything stored on it and connects to the phone via BT when a call comes in. No hit on the phone's battery life or storage space. Now if only Creative will begin to support ogg format...
In fairness to smartphones, which can (say) play music (with screen blanked) for six or seven hours, going to any other mobile device doesn't produce a quantum leap in battery life. Even the much vaunted iPods run out of power after a dozen hours, and they don't have to worry about handling comms, playing games, taking photos etc.
For many people (including me), music on their smartphone means having ten or so fave albums tucked away on card for boring shortish journeys/commuting. If someone was a real music fanatic and regularly wanted ten or twelve hour entertainments, then yes, smartphones aren't the ideal tool. Ewan would recommend a minidisc player, I'd probably take along a dedicated MP3-style device to save my smartphone power for essential stuff like Virtual Pool Mobile.... 8-)
Steve Litchfield
Regarding the length of wires associated with headphones. You could try one of these:
http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/product/6866.htm
Or make your own from a piece of stiff cardboard.
Very good at keeping the wires under control and preventing terrible tangles when you put them in your bag/pocket.
convergence will never replace the real thing. i had a 6630 & a sony nw hd5 but traded them both in for an n70 & now im wanting the hd5 back. the n70 doesnt have the capacity like the hd5 even with mmc's i like to have all my music with me so if my mood chages i dont have to wait till i get to my pc to change my music.i have to charge the battery every night which is a bit ofa joke.on paper convergance is a nice idea, one devices does all the things of 3 devices but can one devices really take the place of your pda, your music player,your digi cam?
steff2632 wrote:convergence will never replace the real thing. i had a 6630 & a sony nw hd5 but traded them both in for an n70 & now im wanting the hd5 back. the n70 doesnt have the capacity like the hd5 even with mmc's i like to have all my music with me so if my mood chages i dont have to wait till i get to my pc to change my music.i have to charge the battery every night which is a bit ofa joke.on paper convergance is a nice idea, one devices does all the things of 3 devices but can one devices really take the place of your pda, your music player,your digi cam?
True, but that's missing the point slightly. In reality, you wouldn't take all those gadgets with you all the time. So if you just need a couple of hours of music ad-hoc, or perhaps a little video footage or some megapixel snaps, it's all there on the smartphone. It's a convenience thing. The smartphone is *gladly* a jack of all trades and master of none.
Steve Litchfield
well that depends how serious about the medium you are. if your a keen photographer then a 3 mega pixel camera phone isn't going to replace your digi cam. if your a serious music listener then a 2gb card isnt going to replace your 60gb ipod(just an example Im not a fan of ipods). if you like to be organised & have your calender up to date all the time then the calender on your smartphone isnt going to be enough to replace your pda. i agree with you steve that the smartphone is a jack of all trades & is very useful, i take more pictures now than i ever did before due to my smartphone & i remember bdays due to my smartphone but to someone whos serious about these aspects it wont replace the specialised device
I think that's the main point. Most people aren't power users and good enough is fine for them. On top of that the smartphone is improving all the time, so the number of people for who it is good enough is increasing all the time.