MP3 Cell Phone

With so many choices on the market, it can be a little intimidating, not only selecting the right musicphone, but also figuring out how to properly load the music and best enjoy your tunes. Hopefully, this guide will help you in your MP3 cell phone buying adventure. Look for a "how to upload music" guide in the near future on LoveToKnow Cell Phones.

MP3 Cell Phone Brands

Most cell phone makers offer a good selection of handsets that are capable of playing music and other media, with the entry-level phones coming with the most basic of features, whereas the more expensive, higher-end units can be just as powerful as a standalone MP3 player. In a sense, they are designed to replace your Apple iPod, for example, while coming with all the usual cell phone bells and whistles that you're used to, like sending text messages, using WAP mobile web, and sporting custom ringtones.

Here is a brief outline of four of the biggest names in the industry, giving you a good idea of what their music-centric cell phones are like:

Sony Ericsson

Sony's Walkman branding has a history that takes it as far back as 1979. From the days of cassette tapes to the era of compact discs (CDs), right up to contemporary times when MP3 player dominate store shelves, the Walkman line has always been at the forefront of portable music players. Sony Ericsson is taking advantage of this name recognition and has applied the "Walkman" moniker to a number of their cell phones, designed specifically with music playback in mind. That said, many of their other phones, like the K800i candybar, are also perfectly capable of blasting out your favourite hit songs. Models prefixed by the letter "W" signify that they are Walkman phones. Some only come with internal memory (like the 256MB found on the W600), whereas others have expandable storage via Memory Stick Pro Duo (like the W900). You can typically expect SE Walkman phones to come clad in black and/or "Vibrant Orange."

Samsung

Samsung may not feature quite as prominently in North America as Motorola or Nokia, but the electronics maker is an absolute giant in its home Korea. The company is known for producing a number of "world firsts", including phones with 8MP+ cameras, sub-9mm profiles, and high-resolution displays. Many of their slider phones (for which Samsung is perhaps best known) are also media players, such as the quad-band D600 with its microSD expansion slot for additional memory. The user interface is intuitive, the sliding form factor is attractive, and the designs are always pretty sleek. Most of Samsung's most popular phones are housed in matte black shells.

Motorola

Motorola is the world's second largest cell phone maker, and the phone that contributes the most to their sales is easily the RAZR in all of its incarnations. The bar version of the phone, dubbed the SLVR, has also been quite popular. The form factor has remained relatively unchanged since the RAZR first hit the market, but early versions were lacking in breathtaking features. If you want to get full MP3 playback -- and maybe even iTunes support -- you will have to look beyond the basic V3, and opt for the higher-end V3i or V3x (for GSM users on T-Mobile and Cingular, for example). If you are with Telus Mobility, Verizon, or another CDMA service provider, you are better off looking at the V3m (with a microSD memory card slot) rather than the basic V3c. If you prefer the SLVR, consider nothing less than the L7 (the L2 and L6 both lack internal media players).

Others

• Nokia is the biggest cell phone company in world, and while they don't explicit market their phones as MP3 players, many of their handsets do have this capability. Some of Nokia's most popular designs are variations of the candybar, while they also boast clamshells and sliders in their lineup as well. Typically, Nokia cell phones that have integrated media players take either miniSD or RS-DV-MMC memory cards.

• The Palm Treo range may be more inclined toward business uses, like checking emails, organizing schedules, and editing Office documents, they can also play music as well. Chances are that the internal memory will not be sufficient, so you will need to invest in a standard SD memory card.

• LG is perhaps best known these days for its "Chocolate Phone", currently offered through Verizon Wireless in the United States. The glossy black exterior, red highlights, and sleek sliding form factor are very attractive, giving this phone its primary appeal. Its memory is expandable via microSD cards, with a 1.3 megapixel camera, touch-sensitive controls, and high-speed EV-DO connectivity rounding out the main features.

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