Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPod The New iPod Killer
- Thread starter BlueT
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Not bad. Despite this article's claims to the contrary, I don't think this is really an iPod competitor. After all, it has more than four buttons.
BlueT said:
One cannot "release the masses" without providing some kind of iTunes killer as well (and a iTMS killer to boot), which hardware alone won't do.
BlueT said:
No it won't. The ipod is a cultural icon and this thing is just another phone, and it's also going to cost a bloody fortune, even with a 2 year contract. And because of the two year contract thing, how often are you going to buy a new phone? Besides, I don't want to be draining my phone's battery all day listening to music because then what happens when someone calls and I need more than 10 minutes of juice?
It's nice, but it's a phone, not an ipod killer. You'd think we'd seen enough "ipod killers" by now to realize it's not going to happen.
I don't see why they can't fit a camera lens in there. I use my camera phone all the time and I couldn't imagine not having one anymore.
This phone can do everything Nano can, plus much more. It's replacement battery costs 5 times cheaper. Yet I don't see these two as competitors. If I want to listen to music, I'd choose a music player, and if I want a phone that can play music too, I'd go for the Sony Ericsson. Yeah a built in camera would be nice too but stil if I wanted to shoot photos I'd go for a camera (Canon, Minolta etc). I just wonder how much does this phone cost. Probably around $500.
P.S. Mad Jew. You were not serious abot the buttons were you? Who can you call with just four buttons? 911? Well you just need two for that
P.S. Mad Jew. You were not serious abot the buttons were you? Who can you call with just four buttons? 911? Well you just need two for that
Labi said:P.S. Mad Jew. You were not serious abot the buttons were you? Who can you call with just four buttons? 911? Well you just need two for that
Well, it's a pretty rare occurrence for me to take anything seriously, but I wouldn't want my MP3 player to have more than a button for each finger.
Between eight and ten...
mad jew said:Well, it's a pretty rare occurrence for me to take anything seriously, but I wouldn't want my MP3 player to have more than a button for each finger.
Between eight and ten...
Exactly. That's why we choose mp3 players to play music, and phones to make calls. By the way here's a photoshoped version of the SE W950 I bumped into. Now this was done with an iPod in mind.
http://www.mobile-review.com/forum2/attachment.php?attachmentid=6326&d=1138303457
Chundles said:
Look at who makes this phone. The same company that through the 80s and early 90s demolished the portable music market with their famous "WalkMan". If anyone has the track record of creating portable music devices, it's Sony...and the single function device will soon be on the way out as well. The technology to create a great portable MP3 player is out there and doesn't require, to my knowledge, a proprietary code.
Like I said above, there are some huge caveats. A major cell carrier needs to market this like hell. The price, including a decent camera, has to be around $400-450. And the software that runs this little gizmo needs to be simple, effective, and compatible with multiple OS's.
I can see the argumnet, that one device for music and one for talking on the phone, but I would like to only have one device in my pocket. So I really hope that the next nano is a phone
Besides the S/E phones have direct buttons for mp3 playback, very simple.-
Besides the S/E phones have direct buttons for mp3 playback, very simple.-
Labi said:P.S. Mad Jew. You were not serious abot the buttons were you? Who can you call with just four buttons? 911? Well you just need two for that
Actually, here we only need one. For 000. If we dial 911 we get a dial tone.
The walkman phone can't play my purchased music, can't sync (without hacks) with my iTunes playlists and can't get me excited about the packaging....
Sorry, but for this to take over from the iPod it needs a fantastic software suite, full iTunes compatibility and needs to cost A$300 outright, not with some rip-off plan. I'd expect to pay about $150 for one on a pre-pay scheme. Phone's suck. The plans are too exxy with the good phones and the pre-pay phones are crap.
The Sony walkman phones have a long way to go to beat the iPod and you're kidding yourself if you think this is the model to do it.
Chundles said:
I agree with you 100%. I saw this phone yesterday and it looks really nice but I can't wait to see the price for it...
Not an iPod killer.
Why?
1. Well, iPods do not lock you into contracts. You pay the same price for a new iPod whether you just bought an iPod 6 months ago or 3 years ago. If you just bought a phone a year ago, chances are you will have to pay full price for it. Or you will have to sign a new 2-year contract in order to get a price near an iPod price.
2. iPods will work with iTunes on a Mac or a PC. Certain cell phones are usually only released to certain carriers (usually Cingular). So this eliminates all those with the other carriers. And by the time they decide to release that phone to Verizon or Sprint or whomever....the phone is now old and the new-excitement has worn off, so no one wants to pay the HUGE $ to upgrade to a phone that's been out 6 months to a year with another carrier (and that costs a lot less with the other carrier now).
3. When you buy a new iPod you can put all of your current music on it. These phones that sell you songs right now will most likely not be compatible with the phones you purchase in the future. So you'll probably lose your songs and ringtones that you buy when you upgrade.
4. iTMS is not compatible with them.
Why?
1. Well, iPods do not lock you into contracts. You pay the same price for a new iPod whether you just bought an iPod 6 months ago or 3 years ago. If you just bought a phone a year ago, chances are you will have to pay full price for it. Or you will have to sign a new 2-year contract in order to get a price near an iPod price.
2. iPods will work with iTunes on a Mac or a PC. Certain cell phones are usually only released to certain carriers (usually Cingular). So this eliminates all those with the other carriers. And by the time they decide to release that phone to Verizon or Sprint or whomever....the phone is now old and the new-excitement has worn off, so no one wants to pay the HUGE $ to upgrade to a phone that's been out 6 months to a year with another carrier (and that costs a lot less with the other carrier now).
3. When you buy a new iPod you can put all of your current music on it. These phones that sell you songs right now will most likely not be compatible with the phones you purchase in the future. So you'll probably lose your songs and ringtones that you buy when you upgrade.
4. iTMS is not compatible with them.
dejo said:
So true.
I think the little market share Sony even has with their MP3 Walkmans would dwindle down to almost nothing if people actually tried out Sonic Stage software before buying one. Are the others (like Creative's, etc) as bad?
Two Xmas's ago I lost the battle with my wife regarding which music player to buy -- iPod or Sony. She doesn't give a toss about style and trends. We lined up spec vs. spec and I couldn't find any "objective" arguments to not get the Sony: for the same price it was just as small, nice-looking, held 50% more songs per GB (with ATRAC) than the iPod, etc, etc. (Of course, with all the new iPod features now I would've won the argument, but back then the nicest hardware claim iPod had was the click wheel -- no videos, album artwork, etc).
Had I actually known how miserably complicated Sonic Stage was, I would've won flat out (the interface is also really ugly). I finally ended up getting the iPod shuffle just so I could keep all my stuff on iTunes. Now my wife keeps the 20GB Sony with her full-time, but she doesn't know how to use the software. I've used it so much and I still can't figure out how to add a new folder. Oh yeah, and there are no short cuts to buying songs. On iTunes it's litterally with two clicks. With Sonic Stage I have to interpret weird messages, click yes a lot, and then go find my credit card each time.
rebhaf said:
Further proof that "the devil is in the details". It is not just the specs that determine the quality of a product. There are other factors. Too many people tend to get mired down in the numbers, especially when it comes to comparing competing MP3 players or computers.
Sweet, a bluetooth phone without wasting the resources of having a camera in it. I'll take it! If I need pictures I will just use my SD400 which is the same size as the cell phone but takes really good pictures.