advice on phone...

[Eldorado]

coming up to my girlfriend's birthday.. she's been really hung up on wanting both an mp3 player and a digital camera..

I'd also like to purchase a new cell phone for her. the reception she gets on her phone now is beyond horrible..

so here's the question... have any of you had the pleasure to play around with these combo phones? cell phone/mp3 player/digital camera?

I've always been in a firm believer that if you want a digital camera and a cell phone, then buy a camera AND a cell phone.. dont buy one that's integrated...

but with what she'd use it for, a camera/mp3 player built into her phone i think would be ideal...

large enough mp3 player to carry a decent number of songs (256 ok, 512 prefered)

a digital camera that is half decent, but not professional by any means.. just something to capture those moments..

price range... the cheaper the better obviously.. but i can go up to as much as 300 bucks...

hit me with your best shot...

[Halm]

We do a lot of mobility consulting so phone selection is a big part of that. I agree with you about phones and cameras. Right now, keep them seperate. But phones and MP3 players are a great mix.

I don't know enough about the carriers up your way but I do know that one on them is GSM. For that network you can buy a phone like this plus a SD card. She will not only have as many MP3's as she wants but with a little mod'ing can watch DVD's too.

It is a great phone too. We have one and it may be the best pure "phone' we have tried.

HTH

[RickM]

I agree...keep them separate. I have a Samsung Phone/MP3 player/Camera and I only use the phone. What I really wanted was the smallest Verizon phone with Bluetooth and no external antenna. So, I ended up with other features.

The MP3 feature (with micro SD card) is OK, if I ever use, but the camera is absolutely nowhere near pic quality to a standalone digital....even bottom of the line models. Not bad for an emergency or catching a blooper but that's about it.

BTW, the phone is a Samsung SCH- a950 V CASTsm Music

[bryanthompson]

camera + phone, bad, but camera + mp3 player, good. I got a motorola SLVR a month ago, and love it. It's tiny, plays mp3s, and syncs well with teh macs. The built-in camera isn't horrible, but even the cheapest of standalone cameras will beat it.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Also have the Motorola SLVR. Great phone. Love it.

My ONLY gripe thus far is it won't run the real-time traffic map "cool tool", but I'd be willing to bet a compatible version is in the works.

The phone holds 100 songs max. in the iTunes library. Apparently this was a limitation put on it by Apple to prevent people from going out and buying 4GB cards and undercutting their profitable iPod market. Trust me though, 100 songs is PLENTY. I change my 100-song library out about once a week and never get bored. It's more than adequate.

Having a nice big memory card is good for more apps, games, pictures, etc. too. They're cheap now.

And it's not a flip phone which is a big plus in my book - I hate flip phones (always afraid of snapping/breaking 'em, plus what's the point of having TWO video screens to break?)

Since it's a non-flip, just be careful not to scratch the display (although it's pretty good stock). Don't put it in your pocket with your keys, etc. Or put a clear piece of vinyl over the screen.

[madmmac]

My daughter loves her Verizon Chocolate phone. 2gb card stores 2000 songs, gps and all that other cra#....uggh cool stuff.

[pmajka]

whats that choclate cost??? hows the battery life???

[bryanthompson]

madmmac - 2000 songs on 2gb?? 8 bit encoded or something?

Bar phones have a little bit more power as well, so if you're in an area with questionable signal strength, it's worth thinking about.

[madmmac]

Cost was $149.00 with a plan. She has the battery that came with it and an extended battery. I'm not sure on the duration though. She always seems to be listening to it and not complaining about the battery going dead.

bryan...my bad---2gb=1,000 songs or so...

http://www.verizonwireless.com/chocolate/

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I should make a clarification about the SLVR earlier - if you want to put more than 100 mp3 songs onto the phone, you certainly can just you'll be storing them as .mp3s and they won't load through the iTunes interface, you'll just be playing them as "sound files" instead. So in that sense, yes you can get a lot more than the 100 songs on there. . .

[Eldorado]

thanks guys.. you've been really helpful so far..

any other thoughts?
please keep in mind my budget.... cheaper is better, but no more than $300...

signing up with a plan is out of the question. She already has a phone and service...

oh, that's another thing... this phone needs to be able to accept a SIM card *and* unlocked, so that she can change phones from what she has now, hassle free...

and remember.. she *is* a girl... the phone will most likely be thrown into her purse with her keys, wallet, hair brush, and god knows what else...

[Dave L]

You might want to check pacific mall, especially if you are looking for unlocked phones. $300 is kind of low but see what you can find.

Cameras arent going to to approach the quality that you would get off a digital camera but I show pictures I took with my 1.3Mp 6682 printed on my little Canon photo printer and people are always surprised by the quality.

Mp3 is fairly easy, just get something with removable memory so you can get a larger card if needed. If buying a non rogers or fido branded phone be sure it has the 850Mhz frequency.

[gassy]

I love my slivr...Can't wait 'til Apple finally comes out with their own phone...anyone know if it's in the works?

[gassy]

didn't mean to hijack