| Nokia X3 Red |
The Nokia X3 Red and
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman are both marketed as music phones,
but in all fairness we're taking a bit of a liberty by comparing the
two. The Nokia X3 is a budget slider phone without 3G or wi-fi
whereas the Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman is an Android with a 1
GHz processor. They're in totally different leagues really, but they
are both marketed as budget music phones so we'll compare them on
that basis.
Specifications
Nokia X3 red
Size (HxWxD): 96 x 49.3
x 14.1 mm
Weight: 103 g
Screen Size: 2.2 in.
Screen Resolution: 240
x 320 pixels
Sony Ericsson Live
with Walkman
Size (HxWxD): 106 x
56.5 x 14.1 mm
Weight: 115 g
Screen Size: 3.2 in.
Screen Resolution: 320
x 480 pixels (180ppi)
They're No iPhones
The first thing to
consider, when talking about music phones, is how they compare to the
iPhone. Which is in a way the most unfair comparison of all. If you
have the budget to get an iPhone and you're looking for a good music
playing phone then check out the latest iPhone deals or a high end
Android phone.
These phones we're consdierting here are for folks on a budget, so don't be
expecting the best. Now, having said that, what do we get?
Budget Music Phones
| Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman |
It's been quite some
time since the brand “Walkman” had any cache with hip music
listeners, in fact if you're old enough to remember them then you're
probably too old to be truly hip anymore. For those of you who are
not old enough to remember them, you see in the old days you needed a
physical thing called a CD or cassette tape, and they only held about
an hour and a half's worth of music at most. If you wanted to listen
to them on the go then the Sony Walkman was one of the best devices
you could get.
Of course nowadays that
kind of hardware is practically obsolete and you can listen to music on just
about any mobile phone, so what do these self-proclaimed music phones
have that others don't? Well the Noika X3 boasts dedicated music
buttons to the left of the display, allowing you to pause, play,
stop, wind, etc. at the press of a button. There's also a 3.5mm
headphone jack, but again that's actually pretty standard.
When it comes to the
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman, its music playing capabilities are
actually one of the most disappointing things about it, considering
that it's been given the Walkman brand and is classed as a music
phone. There are no easy to use buttons that enable you to control
the music any easier than you would on any other phone, the supplied
headphones are poor and perhaps worst of all it only comes with a 2GB
micro SD card which, for anything but the most meagre music
collection, is going to be far from sufficient. It can handle up to a
32GB SD card though and if you intend to use the phone for music
primarily you'll probably want to make that investment.
As it stands then, when
it comes to being a dedicated music phone, the older and more basic
Nokia X3 actually is better in a way. At the very least it makes it
easier to control the music tracks than the Sony Ericsson does. But
there is of course more to a phone, even a music phone, than the
music.
Other Features
The Nokia X3 is only
two years old but you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a lot older.
It's design is clunky, it doesn't support 3G or wi-fi and it has a
small screen with a very narrow viewing range. What's more it's
camera only uses a disappointing 3.2 megapixels and there is no auto
focus function. Also, the call quality, usually excellent on
Nokia's, is lacking in this model, even in areas with a strong
signal.
On the other hand, when
you forget about the supposed music superiority of the Sony Ericsson
then you will find that it stands up very well to other budget
Android phones. The 1 GHz processor makes it powerful, it's compact,
there's a good build qulity and Sony's Timescape 4.0 user interface
is excellent. For Androids the screen is rather low in resolution,
making web browsing a bit tough; you're going to need to do a lot of
zooming. On the plus side though it has Adobe Flash capabilities so
watching videos on the net is perfectly fine.
Overall
If you're looking for a
cheap music phone then check out the Nokia X3 red deals available
because, although it is lacking in many places, it does stand up well
as a budget music phone. On the other hand, if you're new to Android
and you're looking for a good quality entry level device then it's
worth looking at the Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman black contract deals or Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman white deals.
If you're looking for an alternative to the iPhone then neither of
these phones are it, but if you're on a budget and you know exactly
what you want from a phone, these are worth checking out.
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