Battle of the Music Phones

Well, the days of the standalone Digital Audio Players is over now. They served us good since 2001, in the form of Creative Zen, Sandisk Sansa & iPod. They still hold the majority of market because you can buy from a verity of devices but here is the thing, Mobile Phones now are much more capable then in 2001. They have a lot of storage memory & much more feature which makes them a better buy compared to a standalone DAP which costs a lot

So, here are the latest contenders in Mobile Phones which are also a DAPs & DVPs. They are meant to play audio basically, but they can play Videos despite of having a small screen. Watching Video is not worth while on these devices duo to small screen. But still for those who need it, it will do the job just fine.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Nokia N77

*i.gsmarena.com/w/pics/nokia/nokia-n77-00.jpg

The upcoming Nokia Phone for the masses, it’s a Smartphone actually cos it has Symbian OS 9.2 which means you can install from a verity of applications. I included this phone as there soon will be a N77 ME, & N77 is better then N73 so far. The specs are (related to use of Multimedia device only)

1) Dimension of 111 x 50 x 18.8 mm, with 114 Gm weight

2) 16 Million Color based 2.4 inch screen with a resolution of 240X320, which means VCD like quality on the mobile phone itself.

3) Expansion in the form of Transflash card 20 MB internal memory

4) GPRS, EDGE, 3G & HSCSD but Bluetooth 1.2 only (what was nokia thinking)

5) MP3/M4A/AAC/eAAC+/WMA player
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Sony Ericsson W880i

*img138.imageshack.us/img138/65/4023720070306sp8.jpg

Sony bought audio to everyone in the form of Walkman in 1970s. They recreated the music industry at that time & there walkman brand is still the biggest success. They came with the same walkman branding for their Digital Audio Phones & boy was this a success. It sure is, these walkman phones now hold recognition in a market dominated by Standalone DAPs. The specs are

1) Dimension of 103 x 46.5 x 9.5 mm & 71 gm, talk about power in a small shell

2) 256k TFT screen, not the best around. SE could have easily given a 16m color this time as this phone is already using a nVidia chip inside for displaying video, resolution of 240X320 with a 1.8 inch screen. This phone does lacks in video playback, but then again Walkman brand is made for Music playback not video

3) Expansion with Memory Stick M2 card, which right now goes up to 2 GB & is supposed to go up to 8 GB in a few years. 1 GB Card included with 16 MB inbuilt memory which acts as the RAM

4) No Wifi & EDGE here, but it has 3G with Bluetooth 2.0+EDR

5) MP3/M4A/AAC/eAAC+/WMA player
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Motorola Ming

*i.gsmarena.com/w/pics/motorola/motorola_a1200_01.jpg

One of the first phones with a Linux OS. Moto Ming supports numuras features & a really big screen, it's can very well have the potential to be a video phones. It's specs are

1) Dimension 95.7 x 51.7 x 21.5 mm, look like a Pro device weighing in at 122 gm

2) TFT Screen with 256K Colors & 320X240 resolution display, with full screen Video playback

3) 8 MB user memory & 3.5 MB Phone memory. Comon Motorola, what were u thinking, it's a smartphone for gods sake, give more inbuilt memory. Expension is in the form of MicroSD card

4) MP3/MP4/AAC+ player, however weather it playes mp4 videos is still skeptic
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Sony Ericsson W950i

*i.gsmarena.com/w/pics/sonyericsson/sonyericsson_w950_00.jpg

More like a smartphone, cos it has 3G, touch screen, Symbain OS but no camera, not even a VGA Camera, comon...whast the use of 3G then. Its specs are

1) Dimensions 106 x 54 x 15 mm, 112 gm

2) 256K TFT LCD with 240X320 resolution

3) It's symbian so you can install from many media players out there

4) 4 GB internal Memory with no expension. Well, Sony Memory sticks go upto 4 GB right now anyway, so lack of expension is not something to miss. 4 GB is a lot anyway.

5) GPRS, EDGE & 3G

6) MP3/AAC/MPEG4 player, with full playback of H.263 mp4 files at 256kbps, 30X240 full screen resolution & 30 frames.

The phone is meant more like a multimedia device cum phone. I do agree that inclusion of even a 1.3 mp camera would have made this phone perfect out there. Beats P990i hands down (other then keypad).

Read review from GSMArena
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Nokia N91 8GB

*i.gsmarena.com/w/pics/nokia/nokia-n91-01.jpg

The first Nokia N series Phone. It was meant to be a fusion of Music Player & Mobile phones, but failed due to bad camera & bulky looks. The concept took over though & we are seeing ME phones from Nokia now.

It has a unique keypad mechanism which looks dandy & cool. The specs are

1) Dimensions 113.1 x 55.2 x 22 mm with 164 gm, really bulky

2) A low resolution of 174X208 on a 256K color screen. Definately nothing compared to ther other phones.

3) 8 GB Microdrive, the one we see in Sansa & Zen etc.

4) 3G, EDGE & GPRS & even WiFi

5) Just MP3/AAC player, no WMA or RA despite of being Symbian OS

Even N73 ME is better then this phone. Though you cannot go wrong with 8 GB of storage, but you will have to live with low resolution
___________________________________________________________

Nokia 5300 Express Music

*i.gsmarena.com/w/pics/nokia/nokia-5300-00.jpg

During my recent trip to Gurgaon, I had a chance to use this Phone. The speaker is really good, alsmost equal to a W700i in sound quality. It's a slider so big screen, however despite of being 240X320 resolution based, the screen lacks the sharpness & crispness of even my K750i which runs at a lower resolution. Its specs are

1) Dimension 92.4 x 48.2 x 20.7 mm with weight 106 gm.

2) 256K color based TFT screen with 240X320 resolution screen, however it does lacks crispness compared to even a K750i

3) 1 GB memory card included, but only 5 MB internal memory.Again, what was Nokia thinking. Atleast 20 MB internal memory is required

4) GPRS & Edge

5) 1.3 mp camera

6) MP3/SpMidi/AAC/AAC+ player

You can read a review of Nokia 5300 from GSMArena
___________________________________________________________

Chose your poison

, which one you guys find better

P.S. - This thread is for the discussion of Mobile phones only. Do not hack the thread with iPhone. Macboyism strictly not allowed. If you have other contenders from Nokia & SE or Motorola or Samsung, let me know that will be added here too

well u cant actually make a thread on music fones and leave iPhone out...

btw imho n77 rox

Oh plz, iPhone is a PMP but I don't want to bring that in here due to the attitude of Macboys all over, I hope you can understand

i didnt like the keypad of w880i...
btw i wd prefer w888 to w880 cos in india we still dont hav 3G and it shd be a lot cheaper than w880i...

i'd go for W830... looks cool

n91(/8gb) the best..

I am planning to buy Nokia N95 as it comes in market in april... i think it would be the best time.. cant understand why the cell launched first in australia only.... as soon as it hitsmarket here i willbuy it..

shantanu, don't forget you will need to keep your soul on mortgage

cos that N95 is going to cost a bomb

cost is never a tension , but i should have some power that could help me out wear a ANTI-BOMB shell...

i think it will cost a $770 as i have enquired.. and a cingular connection will come in $320 so spending $1000 is well in reach for me...

Rs 50K for a phone, yo what job u do? tell me i m ready to switch to your job

hmmm , PMed you...

... gr8 tell me if you wanna switch over ..

ya sure

when should i join

you read my PM naa.. coool tell me when you want to...

15 days more i am on BED with fractures.. so after that till then i need free medication

hehe

hmm...Yogaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

whats this YOGA.. ru doing yogaaaa

Music Phones ...

he said YOGAAA and you music phones

whats happening...

cant understand

music phones DO YOGAAA

returning back to topic

nope, music phone play mp3 & 3GP of Achrya Ramdev

^^

*www.mobile-review.com/review/image/motorola/a1200/pic01.jpg
BTW Motorola Ming A1200 is also cool handset and it comes with linux, so they called it smartphone, have EDGE, BT, Touch Screen..... cool review here...
*www.mobile-review.com/review/motorola-a1200-en.shtml

I have myself used Moto Ming & kinda liked it. However despite of being Linux based application for Ming are limited. Prove me wrong, I haven't seen much of the application support for Ming so far

However the Multimedia capabilities are gr8. I am gonna update the first post with Ming too

K

Why don't you add N91 8gb and W950i to your list. These are the best sounding music phones out there and can not only rival proper music players in terms of sound quality and features, but also in capacity of music they can store.

Ok, doing that.

Isn't N91 8 GB phased out? with N93

nope... n91 8GB is still available... no other nokia fone hs a hdd... all inc. n93 hav flash memory..

Just read the W950i review on GSM Arena. Sony should make it the base for it's video Walkman infact, Take the same body, remove all "Phone features" which results in a big screen. Now, add to it a 2 MP camera, 4 GB is enough for starters, & a touchscreen nevigation. I guess I have a new Concept Video walkman in the works

. A pure multimedia device, & due to exclusion of Phone features it will get slim further

gx_saurav said:
This thread is for the discussion of Mobile phones only. Do not hack the thread with iPhone.

Oh, and the iPhone is not a mobile phone? LOL! :lol:

pathiks said:
well u cant actually make a thread on music fones and leave iPhone out...

Exactly!

gx_saurav said:
Oh plz, iPhone is a PMP but I don't want to bring that in here due to the attitude of Macboys all over, I hope you can understand

Yeah, we sure can!

gx_saurav said:
The moment you point out a flaw in Apple products you are decalred a terrorist & Anti-Apple, you are bombarded with rants all over

Not when you post something sensible like Macs' lack of proper support for TV-tuner cards. But when you post something as idiotic as iPhone does not support the IMAP protocol or that it cannot connect to Microsoft Exchange server, you kind of deserve that kind of pwnage, don't you!

Anyway, this is the phone that is the proper contender for the music phone category, the one that has the best features of all these phones and that looks the coolest among these:

Apple iPhone

*images.apple.com/iphone/images/techhero_multitouch20070109.jpg

iPhone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets you enjoy all your content — including music, audiobooks, videos, TV shows, and movies — on a beautiful 3.5-inch widescreen display. It also lets you sync your content from the iTunes library on your PC or Mac. And then you can access it all with just the touch of a finger.

Screen size: 3.5 inches
Screen resolution: 320 by 480 at 160 ppi
Input method: Multi-touch
Operating system: OS X
Storage: 4GB or 8GB
GSM: Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
Wireless data: Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0
Camera: 2.0 megapixels
Battery: Up to 5 hours of Talk / Video / Browsing; Up to 16 hours of Audio playback
Dimensions: 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm
Weight: 4.8 ounces / 135 grams

gx_saurav said:
iPhone does not support connection with Exchange Server. i never said it doesn't support IMAP, I said it only supports yahoo IMAP, now tell me, what good is such IMAP support?

Yes, I know you said that and that is wrong. Completely wrong.

I posted this in another thread and am posting it again:

gx_saurav said:
srya, your knowledge is really low. iPhone only supports Yahoo push mail, what about hotmail or a company's own mail server or even MS exchange server?

*img294.imageshack.us/img294/364/breakthroughinternetcomgl9.th.png

See the second line on the right column on the screen. Look at what it says:
"Any IMAP or POP3 email service"
Got it? I guess not. It means:
"Koi bhi IMAP ya POP3 email suvidha"

I am sorry I know only these two languages.

Now, have a look at this one:

*img172.imageshack.us/img172/9307/imapandpop3mr6.th.png

Now, look at the column in the middle. Steve is showing that it basically supports any email service that offers IMAP functionality and then uses Yahoo! Mail, Microsoft Exchange and .Mac Mail as examples.
Notice something? Yes, that is Microsoft Exchange, i.e. E-X-C-H-A-N-G-E.

Now, if I am the one whose "knowledge is really low", your must be pretty much non-existent.

I know you are a little slow, so here's a slight recap:

iPhone supports any ISP that offers IMAP service including, but not limited to, Microsoft Exchange.

I hope I won't have to spoon feed this again!

I am really sorry for falling to his level, but I just could not resist this time!

koolbluez, I never expected YOU to fall to his level.

N77 looks like a base version of Nokia phones. Only the larger screen gave away the higher number

My personal fav in Nokias is the N80 (ok... N73ME is another kool one). Based on the same look.. the N95'll b out soon.
_______________________

I'm not against u... arya... the word just came out seein ur intense passion towards the macs! Me 2 am a Sony/SE fanatic, but never attacked or imposed onto others my "ideals" as a superior one. If I did that, then I 2 would've bordered onto pestism.

U go on attacking anything which remotely seems to compete against Apple or any of its products. Ur bigottedness towards the Malus domestica is quite conspicious here. Remember one thing, the more hard u hit a drum, the louder noise it produces. If u go on beating other products, their fanatics (& even lesser wanting mortals)'ll charge against u.

And about stoopin ↓levels... well, i just wanted u 2 hear me out, so I stooped. U heard me, right

n80 isnt that good for music... n77me ll rock for sure...

gx_saurav said:
Oh plz, iPhone is a PMP

Rubbish. Read the last five letters.

Your bias against the iPhone and/or Apple is painfully obvious, Saurav - more so than Arya's bias for it. An objective "Battle of the Music Phones" thread would include the iPhone whether you like it or not.

Is it so wrong for others to have opinions that differ from yours? Everyone will prefer a different phone. I have a thing against Nokias - I don't, however, condemn the world for using them. Learn to be a little open minded.

You talk about the thread being hijacked. Apart from the flame war (instigated by you after the iPhone post), I see only posts pertaining to the topic at hand. But no - at the very mention of Apple, you go raising alarms. Grow up.

Arya - you're not without blame either. You border on troll behavior too.

Edit:
Keep the discussion to the topic. I'll be deleting irrelevent posts, and any flames following this post will result in a permanent ban - complete with IP ban if you're on a fixed IP.

And everyone, remember this statement: Don't Feed The Troll.

@ fatbeing

iPhone might be what u say it is, but I refused to include it here cos I know & everyone else does how Macboys act, you can yourself see from arya's first post how he is acting.

The problem with Apple is not there hardware or OS, it the attitude of Macboys & Apple towards the users of Other devices & products. Everyone knows how arya acts whenever somone points out a flaw in any of Apple product

M

It's not whether you think iPhone is a music phone or not. It's what it is supposed to be. Even if it's not a music phone but still others believe it is. World doesn't revolve around you.

tech_your_future said:
It's not whether you think iPhone is a music phone or not. It's what it is supposed to be. Even if it's not a music phone but still others believe it is. World doesn't revolve around you.

The only reason i excluded iPhone was the attitude of Macboys.

K

^^ Well by excluding iPhone, you actually invited 'macboys' to come and show you their attitudes!
__________
Btw you should also add N95 to the list. Its got 3.5 mm slot on the phone and also dedicated music keys. I think thats enough for it to be called a music phone.

come back to the fones discussion guys..

..

gx_saurav said:
The only reason i excluded iPhone was the attitude of Macboys.

FatBeing did point out who started the flame war.

Anyway, please return to the topic. I, of course, think the iPhone is the best music phone among these. Which one do you guys prefer?

i m all 4 the n77me

krazyfrog said:
^^ Well by excluding iPhone, you actually invited 'macboys' to come and show you their attitudes!

FatBeing said:
And everyone, remember this statement: Don't Feed The Troll.

Remember this.

krazyfrog

N95 is good, but not a dedicated Music Phone, that is what I m trying to discuss here. I m also going to add the Nokia express music edition 5300

I will love to own an Apple iPhone. How much it costs in india ???

it shd be around 30-35k..

K

Yes gx, N95 is not dedicated music phone. But it has enough music features to be called a music phone. As i said there is a dedicated 3.5 mm slot on the phone itself. Also N95 is world's first two way slider with the other way of sliding purely dedicated to music keys. This shows the importance of music in this phone. The phone also has a great music player and supports nearly all the formats. I don't understand why you don't wanna include it.
Btw 5300 is also a good option.
__________
Hey who says N91 can't support WMA and RA? N91/8gb has one of the most impressive format support in all mobile phones.

Just on the basis of music playback capabilites and music player features in the phone, I would choose the SE w950i. Anybody who has used the music player will fall head over heels for it (metaphorically speaking)

My dear (now) old SE W800i suffices for my portable music machine

I recently bought a 2GB card to put in more songs! And to think the 512MB I got, by default, with the phone wasn't enuf!

OK, I will add N95 but also add that it is not a dedicated music phone. It does provides solid support but not caterd towards music

koolbluez...whast was the cost of 2 GB card

pathiks said:
it shd be around 30-35k..

I hope it isn't.

Asfaq said:
Just on the basis of music playback capabilites and music player features in the phone, I would choose the SE w950i. Anybody who has used the music player will fall head over heels for it (metaphorically speaking)

Have you seen the demo of the iPod feature on the iPhone?

judging by $600 for iPhone 8 GB the cost comes to be arround Rs 30k, add to it the taxes & the fact that prices are always higher in India, & you can get an idea it will be near to 40K

40K for a mobile....

whose been making black money here

. I can buy a computer or even a laptop in that or better yet Geforce 8800GTS

drool)

Have you seen the demo of the iPod feature on the iPhone?

No one can, it's not out yet

@ gx_saurav, I got a fake one... there r two types of fake 2GB cards, one that is red & another that is white. The white one is newer & better, costs the same. I got it for 1600/- The real one is 4.5k.

gx_saurav said:
No one can, it's not out yet

Yes, you can because Apple has posted demo tours of most of the features of the iPhone on the official website. For the iPod videos, you can visit this link:
*www.apple.com/iphone/ipod/

You'll need QuickTime Player, of course. You can also download the Macworld podcast from the iTunes Store for free and watch it. Here's the link, it will open in iTunes:
*phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=212293773

iPhone's the best - it's got all the features of a video iPod, plus it's got Cover Flow. Sony Walkman phones are good too.

IMO the best feature on iPhone seems to be Multitouch...

Of course it is. I fell in love with Safari too. And the music, and the video, the phone itself, the slick animations, the design... OK, I love the whole of it!

if this fone does come out... then it ll blow off all da others...
n 97
*www.techepics.com/files/NokiaN97.jpg

*www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/leaked-nokia-n97-pictures
*www.engadget.com/2006/11/17/nokia-prepping-n97-multimedia-computer/

aryayush said:
I fell in love with Safari too.

The same browser is there on Symbian 9.1 phones.

N97 , abe pahle N95 apr to haat saaf karen

mail2and said:
The same browser is there on Symbian 9.1 phones.

What! How? Are you sure?

well its called the safari browser... cos it has a mouse pointer like thing...
but it isnt in any way created by apple...

pathiks said:
well its called the safari browser... cos it has a mouse pointer like thing...
but it isnt in any way created by apple...

It's called Webkit.

From the Webkit site:

WebKit is an open source web browser engine. WebKit is also the name of the Mac OS X system framework version of the engine that's used by Safari, Dashboard, Mail, and many other OS X applications. WebKit's HTML and JavaScript code began as a branch of the KHTML and KJS libraries from KDE. This website is also the home of S60's S60 WebKit development.

*webkit.org/blog/87/safari-on-the-iphone/

There may be minor UI differences between the two, but the underlying code is same.

I'm currently using Webkit on OS X, and apart from the icon and the browser version, Webkit looks and feels exactly the same as Safari does.

*img257.imageshack.us/img257/6360/picture89fm5.th.jpg

Clicky. Webkit on OS X. Same UI as that of Safari.

*img249.imageshack.us/img249/2011/picture92iv0.jpg

Different icons, though. The one with the golden rim is the icon of Webkit, and its poorer cousin is that of Safari

Guys, Music phones anyone.....I thought fatbeing told us not to bring internet capability or Mac talk here.

i was not wrong when i kept iPhone out of this thread. Look whats going on, any talk or word against apple & the wraith follows

^^^

^^^

How can there be any phone which is better than the iPhone at playing music? Is there something, anything the iPhone lacks?

K

^^ I think it lacks an fm radio. Music phone is incomplete without fm radio.

aryayush said:
^^^ ^^^

How can there be any phone which is better than the iPhone at playing music? Is there something, anything the iPhone lacks?

1) No WMA (cos Apple doesn't want it)

2) No OpenDRM (means playforsure is not compatible, not everyone is iTunes user)

3) Can't share music mp3s like we can between say K750i & W810i using bluetooth. (From what I know so far)

4) No support for RealAudio format (might piss off a few symbian users)

5) Sync only with iTunes. (Comon, iTunes in not a PIM)

6) No FM (as krazy frog said, think of so many himesh fans

)

7) W880i & other Walkman series phones (example) can play music without even starting in Phone mode. Which means longer battery of 30hrs. Not possible in iPhone so far

M

The last point applies to all W series phone AFAIK. My sister's W700i also has 2 modes, phone mode and music player mode. Or have I misunderstood the point?

tech_your_future said:
The last point applies to all W series phone AFAIK. My sister's W700i also has 2 modes, phone mode and music player mode. Or have I misunderstood the point?

Yup, it is aplicable to all W series phones. Actully exclusive to W series phones so far. I was comparing iPhone to W880i only cos both are new & serious competitors

gx_saurav said:
1) No WMA (cos Apple doesn't want it)

The iPod does not support it either, but I don't see that stopping anyone from purchasing iPods.

gx_saurav said:
2) No OpenDRM (means playforsure is not compatible, not everyone is iTunes user)

LOL! Even Microsoft's Zune does not support it and you expect Apple to! LOL! Do you have any song purchased through PlaysForSure, by the way? How many people here have purchased songs from PlaysForSure?

gx_saurav said:
3) Can't share music mp3s like we can between say K750i & W810i using bluetooth. (From what I know so far)

Unfortunately, you don't know much. Show me a link to the place where Apple has said that iPhone will not allow you to do that. And before you ask me to show you a link where Apple has said that the iPhone WILL support this feature, show me a link where Sony Ericsson has advertised this feature on the W950i. This is not a feature that needs to be advertised.
Anyway, let us wait and see. June is not so far away.

gx_saurav said:
4) No support for RealAudio format (might piss off a few symbian users)

How many phones in your list support RealAudio?

gx_saurav said:
5) Sync only with iTunes. (Comon, iTunes in not a PIM)

LOL! This makes it any less of a music phone. The great drawback: It automatically syncs with the software that is very easy to use and millions of people around the globe know how to use. Saurav's illogical logic!™

gx_saurav said:
6) No FM (as krazy frog said, think of so many himesh fans )

Damn!

gx_saurav said:
7) W880i & other Walkman series phones (example) can play music without even starting in Phone mode. Which means longer battery of 30hrs. Not possible in iPhone so far

I suppose Steve Jobs must have told that to you personally, because I haven't heard this anywhere on the internet so far.

That is a grand total of one drawback, no FM. I think I can say it fairly certainly that we'll never see it on an Apple product. So I guess those who want the coolest phone in the market will just have to live with(out) it. I'm not complaining. Who cares? I have eight gigabytes of songs at my disposal. But I understand it may be a severe drawback for some people.

I can predict gx_saurav's next post, BTW. "see, i said macboys ruin topic. that why i not mention iphone in my post. say one word against apple and they come after you. i gave a list of so good drawbacks (spent nine hours thinking and making it up) and he gave stupid reasons to defend his point. this is my last post in thread. bull**** alert." :lol:

aryayush said:
How many phones in your list support RealAudio?

all the nokia symbian fones support RA.. with/without 3rd party apps..

aryayush said:
That is a grand total of one drawback, no FM. I think I can say it fairly certainly that we'll never see it on an Apple product. So I guess those who want the coolest phone in the market will just have to live with(out) it. I'm not complaining. Who cares? I have eight gigabytes of songs at my disposal. But I understand it may be a severe drawback for some people.

thats a very big drawback atleast in india... cos i know many people who cant live without it..

pathiks said:
all the nokia symbian fones support RA.. with/without 3rd party apps..

Can you give me an example of phones that natively support RealAudio please? I am not challenging you, just want to know.

And I am pretty sure Real will soon release RealPlayer for iPhone. It is there for the Mac so I see no reason why it won't be available for the iPhone.

If it isn't though, you can increase the number of drawbacks to two.

But if we are discussing the drawbacks, shouldn't there be a discussion of the positive too? Cover Flow (in a way that's very useful), great interface, eight gigabyte storage, automatic iTunes synchronisation, gapless playback, support for full screen album art, standard 3.5mm jack, compatible with iPod accessories... the list goes on, doesn't it!

^^ He meant this, Arya.

Yeah, I know about the the separate application but I didn't know that some phones play it by default too. Do they?

Not the current ones.. Maybe in the future they ll..

OK, thanks!

K

RealPlayer has always been a built-in application in all Symbian phones firmware made so far (except N-Gage QD). It serves as the default media player in Symbian phones. And since it has always been there, Symbian phones have always been able to playback realmedia files. Its like supporting the format natively.
Btw gx, the ability to play music without activating the network part of phone is nothing too special and absolutely not something exclusive to Walkman phones. Its called Flight or Offline mode. Even my two year old QD has that feature. Although i'm surprised iPhone doesn't support it.
And as far as fm is concerned, i wonder why Apple insists on avoiding it in all its products. When even 4k phones now support fm, in a 40k phone people will have to shell out several more to get an fm accessory, that too if they ever decide to provide it. Having 8gb of memory is no excuse. They could've made better use of that 8gb by providing an fm radio and a recorder which could record fm broadcast directly onto memory. For a company introducing technologies like Multi-touch, such short sightedness is definitely not expected. Especially at the price they demand for their products.

krazyfrog said:
Although i'm surprised iPhone doesn't support it.

gx_saurav is the last person you should rely on for any information about an Apple product.

It might not have the feature, but no announcement certainly does not mean not there. You should wait till either Apple has confirmed that the feature is not there or the phone is released. Given that it runs OS X, I think it is quite a possibility that the iPhone will allow you to quit applications you do not want, including the Phone app.

Sorry! I have corrected it.