Looking at different options we come to know that we have the following options:
1. Samsung M3510 Beat - Price 9,400 PKR
2. Sony Ericsson W302 - Price 9,600 PKR
3. Sony Ericsson W395 - Price 9,800 PKR
4. Sony Ericsson W380i - Price 8,800 PKR
5. Nokia 5130 Xpress Music- Price 8,300 PKR
Talking about the five options that we considered worth trying to bring to you which provides the best value for money we have quite a huge competition from Sony Ericsson with 3 Walkman series variants under ten thous
and. Lets find out whether Sony Ericsson really gives tough time to Nokia and Samsung and who's the boss here in this category.
1. Samsung M3510 Beat
We start with Samsung Beat , which is quite expensive in our tight budget of ten thousand rupees but fits in well. |
| Solid built, Dedicated music keys are too small |
Its a light weight phone weighting just 68 grams though the display is rather small , just
2 inch. On the right side of the phone you can find the 3.5mm earphone jack and on the left are two buttons for volume control and scroll. The back has the 2MP camera lens which is unprotected.
It also has dedicated music buttons just below the screen though they are quite small and not easy to press with people having big thumbs its quite annoying.
The keypad is nice and responsive. Moreover keys are moderate in size and responsiveness is great. The phone is also equipped with accelerometer for auto rotation.
The Memory, Camera & Connectivity:
Camera is a 2MP without flash and auto focus. That means its a basic point and shoot 2MP , with a decent result, nothing to talk about. Though the pictures without natural light could be disappointing. Video playback format supported are 3GP and mpeg4.
It has USB, Bluetooth, GPRS and Edge. No WiFi though. Supports push email too.
Internal memory is 40Mb with additional support for 1GB micro SD card.
Document viewer is also on board .
The Music Experience:
Apart from dedicated music keys , Digital natural Sound engine DNSe , the Samsung m3510 beat also has motion play shake control which allows the user to control the music player with the gestures of hands . sounds fun? The phone comes with Fm Radio with RDS and Fm recording option to record your favorite FM programs.
The Bad Side:
- Small display for a music phone
- Supported 1GB memory limit is too limited for a music phone.
- Memory for Java applications cannot be increased to more then 4 MB
- Battery time could have been better.
One of the many direct competitors to Samsung Beat M3510 is from Sony Ericsson and that too from the Walkman series , The W302.
The Design and Feel:
Metallic Brushed finishing gives this fellow quite a good appeal for its price and is very easy to hold in hand and fits perfectly in pocket. The display is 2 inch which is okay. Due to its simple nature and aimed for budget minded market , W302 comes in simple yet striking design with a tiny keypad. There is no accelerometer though. It weights just 78 grams. The slim design and compact style is surely a definite positive of this phone.
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| W302 has a simple design but a bad bad stereo loudspeaker |
Memory,Camera and Connectivity:
Internal memory is a mere 20MB but it comes with a 512 Mb card while memory can be expanded upto 4GB without any problem.
Camera is 2MP with no flash or auto focus. The image gallery is responsive and camera result is also good which you can expect from a 2MP camera without any other add on feature like flash or auto focus. Nothing to talk about.
Bluetooth, EDGE, GPRS and USB are all available though there is no 3G.
The Music Experience:
The music player on the W302 is similar to the one found in W350. The loudspeaker is though not what we expect from a music phone although listening music yourself will surely be a good experience. Fm Radio with RDS is also packed in the phone.
The Bad Side:
- Keypad is too small and uncomfortable.
- loud speaker quality is below standard.
- Browsing experience is bad.
- Absence of dedicated music keys
- Synchronizing with PC cannot be done.
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| W395 has awesome looks and solid feel |
The Design and Feel:
Measuring 14.9mm thick as compared to its brother w302 which is 10.5mm its 4.4mm more, while the screen display is same TFT at 2 inches which is scratch resistant.
The right side of the phone has the usual volume keys and zoom keys combined and a camera button. The left has the slot for charging and 3.5mm jack for earphones. Micro SD card slot is on the top , surprisingly.! The back consists of speakers with a 2MP camera lens sitting nicely in between.
The feel of the phone is Solid although it is a slider but holds itself together nicely. The upper portion of the slider has 6 keys and the 7th key is in the center surrounded by D pad which has the play/pause functionality for music playing.
Memory,Camera and Connectivity:
Internal memory is a miniature 10MB which is expandable for upto 4GB .Its more then compared to Samsung's M3510 beat's capacity which is just 1GB. while its brother W302 also supports upto 4GB of additional memory.
Camera is a 2MP . Again. the camera lacks details and is only suitable for fun photography or for camera requirements on the go. Video player supports MPEG4 videos so any other video needs to be converted first to MPEG4 .
The Connectivity problems are well recognized by Sony Ericsson and are well addressed in this phone. GPRS, EDGE, USB and Bluetooth features are all on board. Browser has RSS reader as well.
MUSIC EXPERIENCE
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| The stereo loudspeakers add upto the music experience. |
THE BAD SIDE
- Keypad a bit uncomfortable for big fingers.
- Display should have been larger
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| Simple looks , awesome performance |
Nokia has its own series of music phones called the Xpress Music. It has many hit phones to its credit. The Nokia 5130 is the baseline phone in the Xpress Music series. The only phone which is closer to the music series from the Nokia 5130 baseline phone is Nokia 5030 Xpress Radio . Anyhow, lets dig deeper into the phone to find out what it has to offer.
The Design and Feel :
The Nokia 5130 is a simple music phone with no nonsense design and features. It would be right to say that its a music phone on the go. Its not very light weighting 71grams nor its very very thin at 14.88mm but it has definitely some things which are what others don't offer about which we will talk in a bit.
The Display is 2 inches but offers a good display output under direct sunlight. The feel of the phone is better and does not feel like its made of cheap plastic.
On the left side , there are dedicated music keys with light emitting indicators which help in telling which key has what function . It makes life a bit easier especially in the dark.The top has charging port , USB jack and audio jack. Back has a 2MP camera lens while the right side has volume keys and a slot for memory card.
Memory,Camera and Connectivity:
One of the most exciting thing in this phone is its memory capacity. While it has only 30MB internal memory but it supports 2GB of additional memory which is the official stance But we have used it with 8GB of micro SD and it has worked without any problem.Thats double then its competitors in this comparison test . Its 4GB additional then Sony Ericsson's either of the three phones support for 4GB. In a music phone we feel its a big positive to have a good large memory and 5130 has just got that extra which takes it apart from the other four under comparison.
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| The camera is 2MP but without flash or auto focus |
Connectivity options include GPRS , EDGE (class 32) , Bluetooth (A2DP) and micro-USB.
Music Experience:
Standard Xpress Music player can be found in 5130 . The audio player has all the options like sort by artist album or genre. The dedicated music keys are of great help and the light effects with music add up to the whole experience. A2DP Bluetooth can be utilized with ease for music listening through Bluetooth stereo earphones. The video player supports MPEG4 and .3GP formats. Videos can be made forward , reverse and can be paused. However for strange reasons the phone does not has stereo loudspeakers. FM radio with RDS is also present. The stereo loudspeakers are of excellent quality and deliver fantastic audio output. They make the whole music experience a whole lot better , which takes Nokia 5130 definitely above the rest.
Battery can play upto 21 hours of music.
The Bad Side :
- No document viewer
- Outdated S40 interface
- Mediocre camera
- No stereo loudspeakers.
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| W395 with Gesture Control, innovation without properly doing basics |
The last and final contender to the rest of the four and two from the same company , Sony Ericsson is W380i. Its a clamshell phone. Yes the only clamshell music phone in our review comparison and in our market under ten thousand rupees as well. Looks like Sony Ericsson has covered well the music phone market with its broad range of Walkman series phones . The W302 (candy bar form) , W395 (Slide) and W380i (Clamshell) , Sony Ericsson has something for everyone.
The Design and Feel:
At first glance, the design seems lovely and adorable . Weights a good 100 grams and measure 16mm. That's a bit heavy then the rest of the four we have compared. Any way the phone has a rather small display at 1.9inch which is not something to talk about and we feel rather disappointed to see such a small screen display in a clamshell and that too in a music phone.
Keypad is good enough even for users with big fingers and the D-Pad fits in nicely too.
Memory,Camera and Connectivity:
Internal memory is 16MB while it supports additional 4GB which is good as a music phone should support large amount of memory for it to be considered a music phone apart from the audio experience which is off course the first priority.
The camera is a meager 1.3MP without flash and auto focus. It's rather disappointing to see 1.3MP camera in a budget phone. Moreover the phone does not offer video recording.
Edge , Bluetooth, USB and GPRS are all on board. Browser also has RSS reader.
Music Experience :
W380i has a new feature which is gesture control. The gesture control feature responds to your hand gestures so u can stop, play , forward or rewind any song with the tap of your finger on the invisible OLED display without opening the clamshell. Sounds fun.!
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| The external hidden OLED display with dedicated music keys |
The Bad Side:
- Poor Loudspeaker
- 1.3 MP camera
- No video recording
- Small 1.9 inch display
Lets have an overview of what we found out in our review comparison. Weakest features in each model are highlighted with red.
FINAL VERDICT:
Winner : Nokia 5130 Xpress Music
Nokia 5130 Xpress Music is definitely the best buy in a budget still. It has many positives to it like large memory support (upto 8GB reported but unofficial), Dedicated music keys, 2MP camera and many other features with a price tag that beats all. Its so much better having all the needs fulfilled and still having some pennies left, feels great.!!
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| The Winner Nokia 5130 Xpress Music |
Runner Up: Samsung 3510 beat & Sony Ericsson W395
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| Sony Ericsson W395 |
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| Samsung 3510 beat |
Sony Ericsson W395 is a cool, stylish slider and is somewhat similarly priced to Samsung 3510 beat. It's music play battery time should have been more and dedicated music keys would have added so much more fun to this beautiful music phone but if you prefer some more style then you would definitely sacrifice some battery time for a more sexy design and looks. Its up to the buyer to chose now from a candy bar and a slider.
Some words about Sony Ericsson W302 and W380i:
Sony Ericsson W302 lacks a basic and thats battery time. It's very low for a music phone. Where as its camera result is also mediocre . Not that other music phones have a great camera phone but they do have an average if not perfect camera with an acceptable result. W302's camera is only better then 1.3MP of its brother w380i
W380i has gesture control but has many basics missing which keeps us away from giving w380i any good ratings. It has a very small and poor display, no video recording and weights much heavier then the rest. We love the gesture control thing but that love does not last long when you have so many basics wrong. Its got tough competition and therefore we put it on the last place in our comparison of a music phone under ten thousand rupees.
Cheers.!
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