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Thursday January 8, 2009 12:46 PM AEST
Skip Navigation LinksPC Authority > Features > Mobile Phone Buyer's Guide
Mobile Phone Buyer's Guide
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Mobile Phone Buyer's Guide

by Alex Kidman  on May 2, 2008
Tags: Phones
Samsung i450
Samsung i450 - music phone with 3G and iPod-like toggle wheel
Multimedia
Multimedia phones cover a lot of ground, but the two most common features buyers look for is good music capability, and a decent mobile phone camera. Music phones will often have a larger screen, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a mircoSD slot means you can carry around lots of music in your pocket. Sony Ericsson has made much of its "Walkman" branded phones, which generally have quite good (for mobile) speakers in them. Samsung's SGH-i450 also has a slide out speaker.

Music playback varies quite widely, not just between phones, but also carriers and brands -- Nokia's recently launched all-you-can-eat $10 Music Store being a good example. Most phone carriers offer music buying services, but compared to iTunes, these can be very pricey, especially given the ropey quality and locked down nature of the songs.

Speaking of iTunes, if music is of particular importance to you, there's still nothing that compares to Apple's iPhone, but at the time of writing, you'll have to import and "jailbreak" an iPhone, with Apple remaining resolutely mum on the release date locally.

If you're a keen happy snapper, don't settle for anything less than a five megapixel camera on the back of your phone - such as Samsung's G600, or LG's Viewty. Just about every phone will come with a camera, and while on their tiny screens you may not see the difference between a VGA and a 5 megapixel model, when it comes time to print or share on other devices, you most surely will. We're getting closer and closer to the point where mobiles will entirely replace point and click digitals, with optics and flashes (Xenon is the cutting edge for flashes) getting better all the time, although optical zoom remains elusively difficult to do well.

For either photo or music capabilities, we recommend a phone that lets you shift files around -- whether it's just up/downloading to a memory card, or to YouTube for the whole world to see. Nokia's "Share on Ovi" service lets you upload 250MB per month to the Web.
Example: Nokia N96
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Comments: 1
austhome
Jul 23, 2008 10:42 AM
 I think that you can't go past a Sony Ericsson walkman phone as it's a good phone that stores music, takes photos and can access the internet. The only thing I don't like is there's no flash for the camera, there is a light you can turn on but that's not as good as a flash for night time photography


Comment made about the PC Authority article:
Mobile Phone Buyer's Guide?
Head into any mobile phone shop and it's easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer range of choices. This guide breaks down what you need to look for - and what you can safely overlook.

What do you think? Join the discussion.
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