Best music phones

Round-up by: Andrew Lim

Last updated: 18 Sep 2007

Tired of carrying around an MP3 player and a phone? Then you're probably thinking about buying a music phone, but which one is right for you? Before you decide, here are a few points you may want to keep in mind.

For starters, make sure your chosen handset will play the music on your computer. This might sound strange, but depending on the format you've stored your music in, it might not play on certain music phones.

You can find out what format a track is in by right-clicking on it and then selecting properties. Typically it will be an MP3, AAC or WMA file. You can then check if it's supported on the phone you want to buy by looking at the specs section in our reviews.

The amount of memory available on a music phone is also important. Some come with a decent amount of on-board memory, some come with expandable memory slots and some come with both.

If a phone has an expandable memory slot, make sure to ask the retailer if it comes with a memory card and, if it does, ask how big it is. If it doesn't come with one, you'll need to buy one, and if it does, but it's not high capacity, you might need a larger one.

The other thing you will want to take into account is how good the music sounds, and whether or not you can use your own headphones. You should ask to try the phone out in a shop before you commit to buying.

If you do want to use your own headphones, check that there's a built-in 3.5mm jack or an in-line adaptor. Some phones come with a proprietary adaptor so that you have to use the bundled earphones, which may not be of very high quality.

Some music phones also come with a built-in FM radio, but not all of them -- if you like listening to the radio on the move, then double check it's there before buying.

Finally, don't forget that listening to music on your phone will drain the battery faster than usual, so the longer the battery lasts to start with, the better.