hey all, after some advice.

cant decide between buying an mp3 player, such as iRiver H10/Creative Zen Micro...or buying a new phone capable of playing a large amount of mp3's such as the SonyEricsson W900i (i need something to do at work, rather than listen to all the industrial machinery noise)

Any pros/cons people have would be appreciated.
i know the new phone will cost about $400 more (if i buy outright, but i can overcome that by simply going on a plan). also, i have never owned an mp3 player, so it would be more of a novelty, rather than the new phone which would probably be more practical (i can give my current phone to gf, who desperately needs an updated one)

things i would want from a phone:
mp3
expandable memory
at least 2m/pixel camera
decent sound quality
good UI
reliability
3G perhaps?


things i would want from an mp3 player:
2-10gb memory
very good sound quality (as far as mp3 goes)
reliability

I DO NOT WANT THIS TURNING INTO AN APPLE V. OTHER, OR NOKIA V. OTHER THREAD.

MP3 player. Phones that play mp3s are just gimmicky if you ask me. But do you need a new phone?

I bought a H10 about 6 weeks ago and use it at least 2-3 hours a day.

Pros:
Great SQ for an mp3 player (I bought some higher-spec Sennheiser earphones afterwards).
It's only frozen twice on me so far.
I didn't need to duplicate my WinMedia files to "that other program".
Good 'gig per dollar' ratio... I haggled the 20gb model down to $350.

Cons:
A battery charge only lasts about 10-12 hours... according to iRiver, the battery needs replacing after about 300 recharges.
Doesn't show the album covers... but I couldn't really care about that.

ummm, i like the look of the H10, but it has frozen on u twice already????

in my opinion, these things should NOT freeze at all if used correctly.

i am a noob when it comes to this stuff really....what do u mean "I didn't need to duplicate my WinMedia files to 'that other program'."????.......cant i just transfer my mp3 files directly onto an mp3 player?

he means import them into iTunes.

For the record, you don't need to duplicate or change your music at all to put it into iTunes. it is very happy for you to keep your music exactly where it is untouched and it will reference it in the library as such without any extra copies.

Of course, if you then move or rename a file, you can't expect your library of songs to know where the music went

As said, I don't think an mp3 player should freeze ever either!

Tough question but I think phone's are too gimmicky as it is. I gave up on buying new flashy phones and now if it makes calls and has a VGA camera (640 x 480) it does everything I need it to.

Get a good mp3 player and I think that will suit you, spend half the $400 you save buying your girlfriend a nice phone that does all of the things I mentioned I look for and what else could you want?

Also for the record, at Spyne's request, we are not going to have the iTunes debate here. He isn't asking about the functionality of your specific mp3 player, he is asking for mp3 player Vs phone and that should be the entire scope of the discussion.

thanks stazed, surge and brady....

saw a creative zen 20gb for $299 at local retra vision...the sales guy was kinda surprised when he checked the price and had alot of positives to say about it.
i think its going to be between this and the iriver h10, about $100 price diff and the h10 is a bit larger, but has colour screen and slightly better snr.

oh, and i think i might upgrade my phone soon anyway, just get a sony-ericsson k750i on a cheap plan.

thoughts?

Im a bit wary of Ericssons with the joystick thing. I had a T630 and after a year, the joystick broke and would "read" one direction out of four. But that said, a friend has a V600i and they seem to have fixed the problem on that model.

the V3x has all the features in a phone your after

cons are that you can only use motorolla head phones and slightly less sound quality...pros...2mp camera that is fantastic

i got the new phone cos i was in exactly the same situation as you...but i found the other day that i just took my iPod shuffle with me as i dont see the point of buying memory for the phone when ive already got the mp3 player

Nooo. I have a V3 at the moment. I wouldnt buy one again. Spyne feel free to PM me if you need more convincing and Ill reply a bit later on tonight.

yep agree with brady on two comment, don't trust ericson or V3. I know you didn't want to make it nokia vs other phone debate, but as you are still considering i would STRONGLY advise looking at phones other that the V3 (or sony/ericson). I've had two ericsons, first one was a bucket of s hit and swore i'd never get one again 5 years later i thought id give them another chance,,, worse thing i ever did! and i'm back using it now while my V3 is being fixed because when i call people they cant hear me, not great seeing it is a PHONE!
Anyway just my advice. Further i am happy for anyone to quote me for the rest of my life because "I will never have another mobile that is not a nokia"

lets put it this way, i have owned two s/e phones and been extremely happy with both. i find the ui excellent and features/cost very good.
i have a thing against nokias as everyone has them, and v3 i have never heard a good word about (reliability)....but then again, nokia do seem to be making better quality phones of late (read: n70)

I'll admit it only froze when I left it on pause for half an hour or so.

I stopped doing that and haven't had a problem since...


I also liked the Creative players (unable to haggle as much with them though), and also checked out the Toshiba Gigabeat... stylish and supposed to have good SQ, but a bit more complex to operate and requires 2 seperate programs.

My V3 worked fine, till I threw it at the ground to test its durability while I was slightly intoxicated a few months ago.

what about an ipod? nanos come in 1gb, 2gb and 4gb models. or get a full size video model in 30 or 60gb...

personally i have a 40gb ipod photo, which i use in the car and on long trips etc, and also have a nokia 6230i with 1gb memory stick for listenin to music on the go etc.

i fit about 250 songs on it and its plenty. i was gonna get the fone and a ipod nano, but then id have to carry the fone and the nano wen 1 does the job, and my fone is with me 99% of the time anyways. only drawback with the nokia is that u can only use the nokia headfones, but they are decent IMHO, but apparently nokia have released a "pop port (connection at the bottom of the fone) > 3.5mm jack converter" to use any aftermarket headfones.

the 6230i only has a 1.3mp camera and i think its great. theres a brand new6230i in the FS section at the moment. just go have a look at it so u can see the specs etc...

also see here, ive recommended my fone before to others. saves me typing it all again:
http://www.caraudioaustralia.com/forums/in...=59026&hl=6230i

and here
http://www.caraudioaustralia.com/forums/in...&hl=6230i&st=15

hope that helps ya a bit. any more questions bout the 6230i or any other fone, gimme a holla...

cheers
- mad89

What about something like an I-Mate Jam, KJam or SP5?
I own one and it does basically everything.
It has an SD card slot so you can put 1-2 GB cards in it. Nice big touch screen, Camera, Internet access etc.
I have also installed a DivX Player on mine so I can watch TV shows on the bus.
I have found it to be very versatile. Also with a Bluetooth GPS device, and the right software, it also becomes and good GPS navigator. there is also some good voice recognition software for it too.

Just upgraded to a V3x, think you can get em for about $600 outright but I got it on a contract - $49 with $250 worth of crap a month for two years (Thats the cap) with no handset repayments. I am usually loyal to Vodafone but couldn't afford a new handset so went with Telstra.

Expandable memory up to 1gb (the jump from 65mb to 1gb is $50 if done through ebay).

It is mpeg4 capable with motorola planning on using its inbuilt graphics/vid card for its mpeg playback. You can research this yourself if you like

Ohh, the 2 mega pixel camera is awesome.

well i went with the sony ericsson w810i....very nice phone -solid build, amazing screen quality and the sound is pretty good too (i havent tested with anything other than in-built speakers and also SE supplied headphones, which suck by the way)
2mp camera i very good and mem is expandable to 2gb!!

Lucky Bastard. Mine takes MicroSD which only goes to 1gb