More cell phone choices for Christmas<\/p>\n
Zatni Arbi, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
How do you know Christmas is approaching?
\nWell, we all know it is already November. Another sign will be
\nthat electronic gadget-makers are releasing their best products
\nin hordes, so that people will have something to look forward to
\nwhen hanging up their stocking.<\/p>\n
Cell phone makers are no exception. If I were to test-drive
\neach of the models that are thrown at us between now and
\nChristmas, I would not have enough space to write about them.<\/p>\n
Besides, there are other equally exciting gadgets to look at
\n--including several cool new digital cameras from Canon and the
\nfirst non-black ThinkPad notebook.<\/p>\n
For now, let us just have a quick glance at the latest crop
\nfrom the cell phone leaders. Late last month, Sony Ericsson (SE)
\nlaunched its fourth Walkman phone, the W900i. Unlike the W800i,
\nW600 and W550i, the new one is the first UMTS (3G) cell phone
\nfrom SE that has all the music features found on any Walkman.<\/p>\n
The swivel model -- you have to rotate the screen panel to get
\nto the keypad -- has several good things that the W550i did not
\nhave. You can download music files over the air (OTA), provided
\nthe service is available from the operator or its partner. It can
\nalso record and playback video clips at 30 frames per second
\n(fps), which produces smooth video.<\/p>\n
To store music and other stuff, it has 470 MB internal memory.
\nThis can accommodate between 120 and 240 songs. The W550i, in
\ncomparison, has only 256 MB internal memory capacity. Better
\nstill, the W900i's total storage capacity can be expanded with
\nSony's Memory Stick Pro Duo, which will boost it by up to another
\n2 GB. Just imagine how many hours would you need to listen to
\n1,000 songs!<\/p>\n
Transferring music and image files to and from a PC can be
\ndone with a USB cable. And, yes, this model comes with a two
\nmegapixel (MP) digital camera with LED light, as opposed to the
\n1.3 MP found in W550i.<\/p>\n
Accessories<\/p>\n
At the same time, SE also launched two interesting accessories
\nfor its Walkman phones. First, if you still find the speakers on
\nthe unit too feeble -- you most likely will -- you can buy the
\nMDS-70, which is a set of speakers to allow you to listen to your
\nmusic collection.<\/p>\n
It is a Walkman phone's docking station with large box
\ncontaining the speakers. All you have to do is drop your Walkman
\nphone into the cradle and start your playlist.<\/p>\n
Giving a total output power of 25 watts (RMS), this Home Audio
\nSystem for Walkman phones can be operated with a remote control.
\nIt incorporates Sony's S Master digital amplifier, which helps
\nproduce full sound from small speakers. Another nice feature is
\nthat it will recharge the cell phone's battery as you play the
\nmusic.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, this speaker system will not be ready for
\nChristmas, though. It will become available in the early part of
\nnext year.<\/p>\n
Now, what if your car audio system does not have an MP3
\nplayer? On the market there are FM transmitters that can be
\nconnected to a portable MP3 player. We choose a frequency on the
\ntransmitter, and then set the car's FM radio to the same
\nfrequency. Bingo! You now have an MP3 player in the car.<\/p>\n
In fact, my friend Wiyanto Kodrat just e-mailed me that he was
\nplaying around with a transmitter for USB OTG (do you still
\nremember what it stands for?). According to him, this solution
\nstill does not give the same sonic quality that you normally get
\nfrom a CD, because there is still a lot of interference.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, SE has also thought of car owners who are still
\nusing the old radio-CD-cassette head unit on their cars. SE's
\nMMR-60 plugs into the bottom of a SE Walkman phone and will
\ntransmit music tracks (MP3 and AAC) over the FM frequency.<\/p>\n
SE claims that the transmitter will produce enough power to
\ncover a 10-meter area. They did not specify how the transmitter
\nis powered -- whether it uses its own battery or draws the power
\nfrom the cell phone's battery. That will be an interesting issue
\nto check out when we see the product later on.<\/p>\n
Even if the sound quality is not on a par with CDs, there are
\ntimes when the FM transmitter will come in handy. For example, I
\ncan record an interview with a Sony Walkman and listen to it
\nwhile traveling in my car. Honestly, though, I still prefer a
\npair of noise-canceling headphones when listening to my
\ninterviews.<\/p>\n
From Nokia, too<\/p>\n
The world's top handset maker has a lot of new models for
\nChristmas, as well. Just one day after SE launched its W900i,
\nNokia launched three new cell phones -- the 3155, 6111 and 6270.<\/p>\n
The Nokia 3155 is a CDMA cell phone with a clamshell design.
\nIt is a mid-range CDMA cell phone, and the feature set is not
\nreally as impressive as Nokia's offerings in WCDMA or GSM.<\/p>\n
For example, the Nokia 3155 has only a one-megapixel camera
\nand 12 MB internal memory capacity. A feature that is not
\navailable in most other cell phones is perhaps the video
\nringtone.<\/p>\n
You can personalize the cell phone, and each time you get a
\ncall a videoclip will automatically start playing. Well, say
\nwelcome to another source of noise pollution.<\/p>\n
The Nokia 6270 -- and its WCDMA-ready Nokia 6280 sibling --
\nare more mouth-watering, at least for a sliding-keypad fan like
\nme. This GSM\/GPRS\/EDGE cell phone has a two MP camera with a LED
\nflash.<\/p>\n
Like most high-end cameraphones today, you can use the entire
\nscreen as the viewfinder in the landscape mode. There are FM and
\nvisual radio features, too. By the way, this cell phone belongs
\nto Nokia Series 40 group, and therefore it is not a smartphone.
\nYet, it supports a MiniSD card, and I have heard its great 3-D
\naudio reproduction capability.<\/p>\n
The Nokia 6111 is another tri-band GSM cell phone. Like the
\n8270 (and the 8280 that has not been launched here yet), it has a
\nsliding keypad. Besides, it has FM, visual radio and Push-to-Talk
\n(PTT) features.<\/p>\n
Because it has only a one megapixel camera, I would consider
\nit a low-end cell phone. Surprisingly, though, it can record
\nvideo for up to 60 minutes.<\/p>\n
From RIM<\/p>\n
BlackBerry 8700, the latest product from Research in Motion
\n(RIM), is also very exciting. I have not seen the real thing, as
\nthis operator-offered gadget will only be available in the U.S.
\n(from Cingular) or Canada (from Rogers Wireless).<\/p>\n
They both have a very sleek design with a complete QWERTY
\nkeypad, a light-sensing screen, BlackBerry's very popular push e-
\nmail and a slew of other features.<\/p>\n
We will probably never see BlackBerry 8700 and its brother
\nBlackBerry 7100 in Roxy Mas, Jakarta, but they certainly reflect
\nhow far smartphones and PDAs have developed.<\/p>\n
Anyway, these are just some of the possible choices for your
\nChristmas gifts, should you decide to give your loved ones new
\ncell phones.<\/p>\n
Of course, given exorbitant fuel prices today, you will have
\nto be really selective in choosing your gifts. Each model has
\ndifferent emphasis, but music seems to be the universal need that
\nthey all cater for.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/more-cell-phone-choices-for-christmas-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}