Best music phones with standard 3.5mm sockets

Round-up by: Nate Lanxon

Last updated: 24 Oct 2008

If you buy a car, you'd be within your rights to take it back if the only way you could use the wheels was by using an adaptor. For that reason, we always mark down music phones that require some crappy adaptor so you can connect your own headphones. So here are our four favourite handsets, each ideal for music with standard 3.5mm headphone sockets.

Apple iPhone 3G
Whether you love or hate Apple, the iPhone is currently the best music phone on the market. With its iPod touch functionality, integrated iTunes Store and apps that allow Last.fm, Pandora and radio streaming, its release set a new benchmark for music phones.

Motorola ROKR E8
It's not the best phone in the world by any means, but the ROKR E8 gets a hell of a lot right as a music phone: great sound quality, a decent little screen and a well-placed standard headphone socket. You'll either love or hate the design, but if you love it then it could be the best current music phone for you.

Nokia's 5310 XpressMusic
Nokia's 5310 XpressMusic is one of the best-selling music phones in the world, has a standard headphone socket of course, heaps of music features and now is available SIM-free with a year-long subscription to Nokia's Comes With Music service.

BlackBerry Bold 9000
While still something of a corporate business handset, the BlackBerry Bold is the most consumer-friendly model yet and has some awesome media features and an extremely friendly graphical user interface. For business users who fancy more than just the classic old BlackBerry, the Bold could be a refreshing choice.

Edited by Marian Smith