More cell phone choices for Christmas

More cell phone choices for Christmas

Zatni Arbi, Contributor, Jakarta

How do you know Christmas is approaching?
Well, we all know it is already November. Another sign will be
that electronic gadget-makers are releasing their best products
in hordes, so that people will have something to look forward to
when hanging up their stocking.

Cell phone makers are no exception. If I were to test-drive
each of the models that are thrown at us between now and
Christmas, I would not have enough space to write about them.

Besides, there are other equally exciting gadgets to look at
--including several cool new digital cameras from Canon and the
first non-black ThinkPad notebook.

For now, let us just have a quick glance at the latest crop
from the cell phone leaders. Late last month, Sony Ericsson (SE)
launched its fourth Walkman phone, the W900i. Unlike the W800i,
W600 and W550i, the new one is the first UMTS (3G) cell phone
from SE that has all the music features found on any Walkman.

The swivel model -- you have to rotate the screen panel to get
to the keypad -- has several good things that the W550i did not
have. You can download music files over the air (OTA), provided
the service is available from the operator or its partner. It can
also record and playback video clips at 30 frames per second
(fps), which produces smooth video.

To store music and other stuff, it has 470 MB internal memory.
This can accommodate between 120 and 240 songs. The W550i, in
comparison, has only 256 MB internal memory capacity. Better
still, the W900i's total storage capacity can be expanded with
Sony's Memory Stick Pro Duo, which will boost it by up to another
2 GB. Just imagine how many hours would you need to listen to
1,000 songs!

Transferring music and image files to and from a PC can be
done with a USB cable. And, yes, this model comes with a two
megapixel (MP) digital camera with LED light, as opposed to the
1.3 MP found in W550i.

Accessories

At the same time, SE also launched two interesting accessories
for its Walkman phones. First, if you still find the speakers on
the unit too feeble -- you most likely will -- you can buy the
MDS-70, which is a set of speakers to allow you to listen to your
music collection.

It is a Walkman phone's docking station with large box
containing the speakers. All you have to do is drop your Walkman
phone into the cradle and start your playlist.

Giving a total output power of 25 watts (RMS), this Home Audio
System for Walkman phones can be operated with a remote control.
It incorporates Sony's S Master digital amplifier, which helps
produce full sound from small speakers. Another nice feature is
that it will recharge the cell phone's battery as you play the
music.

Unfortunately, this speaker system will not be ready for
Christmas, though. It will become available in the early part of
next year.

Now, what if your car audio system does not have an MP3
player? On the market there are FM transmitters that can be
connected to a portable MP3 player. We choose a frequency on the
transmitter, and then set the car's FM radio to the same
frequency. Bingo! You now have an MP3 player in the car.

In fact, my friend Wiyanto Kodrat just e-mailed me that he was
playing around with a transmitter for USB OTG (do you still
remember what it stands for?). According to him, this solution
still does not give the same sonic quality that you normally get
from a CD, because there is still a lot of interference.

Nonetheless, SE has also thought of car owners who are still
using the old radio-CD-cassette head unit on their cars. SE's
MMR-60 plugs into the bottom of a SE Walkman phone and will
transmit music tracks (MP3 and AAC) over the FM frequency.

SE claims that the transmitter will produce enough power to
cover a 10-meter area. They did not specify how the transmitter
is powered -- whether it uses its own battery or draws the power
from the cell phone's battery. That will be an interesting issue
to check out when we see the product later on.

Even if the sound quality is not on a par with CDs, there are
times when the FM transmitter will come in handy. For example, I
can record an interview with a Sony Walkman and listen to it
while traveling in my car. Honestly, though, I still prefer a
pair of noise-canceling headphones when listening to my
interviews.

From Nokia, too

The world's top handset maker has a lot of new models for
Christmas, as well. Just one day after SE launched its W900i,
Nokia launched three new cell phones -- the 3155, 6111 and 6270.

The Nokia 3155 is a CDMA cell phone with a clamshell design.
It is a mid-range CDMA cell phone, and the feature set is not
really as impressive as Nokia's offerings in WCDMA or GSM.

For example, the Nokia 3155 has only a one-megapixel camera
and 12 MB internal memory capacity. A feature that is not
available in most other cell phones is perhaps the video
ringtone.

You can personalize the cell phone, and each time you get a
call a videoclip will automatically start playing. Well, say
welcome to another source of noise pollution.

The Nokia 6270 -- and its WCDMA-ready Nokia 6280 sibling --
are more mouth-watering, at least for a sliding-keypad fan like
me. This GSM/GPRS/EDGE cell phone has a two MP camera with a LED
flash.

Like most high-end cameraphones today, you can use the entire
screen as the viewfinder in the landscape mode. There are FM and
visual radio features, too. By the way, this cell phone belongs
to Nokia Series 40 group, and therefore it is not a smartphone.
Yet, it supports a MiniSD card, and I have heard its great 3-D
audio reproduction capability.

The Nokia 6111 is another tri-band GSM cell phone. Like the
8270 (and the 8280 that has not been launched here yet), it has a
sliding keypad. Besides, it has FM, visual radio and Push-to-Talk
(PTT) features.

Because it has only a one megapixel camera, I would consider
it a low-end cell phone. Surprisingly, though, it can record
video for up to 60 minutes.

From RIM

BlackBerry 8700, the latest product from Research in Motion
(RIM), is also very exciting. I have not seen the real thing, as
this operator-offered gadget will only be available in the U.S.
(from Cingular) or Canada (from Rogers Wireless).

They both have a very sleek design with a complete QWERTY
keypad, a light-sensing screen, BlackBerry's very popular push e-
mail and a slew of other features.

We will probably never see BlackBerry 8700 and its brother
BlackBerry 7100 in Roxy Mas, Jakarta, but they certainly reflect
how far smartphones and PDAs have developed.

Anyway, these are just some of the possible choices for your
Christmas gifts, should you decide to give your loved ones new
cell phones.

Of course, given exorbitant fuel prices today, you will have
to be really selective in choosing your gifts. Each model has
different emphasis, but music seems to be the universal need that
they all cater for.