Phones becoming iPod killers? There are fewer than 99 Problems.. in fact just one
My alarm at present is my phone - playing Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” (a suitable way to start the day..). In fact my phone (from Orange; it has good reception, which sorts the problems I referred to earlier) could replace my iPod shuffle, because it can hold quite a few songs, play them at random, has a screen (that’s a plus) and will hold the songs while a call comes in.
So what’s the problem? Why can’t I quite see them killing iPods? Read my latest Netimperative column for more.
- These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
- '1,000 songs is enough' (5 May 2005; score: 53.69%)
- Act three in the iPod nano screen drama (28 September 2005; score: 42.96%)
- In The Independent: why we're all reading slower than 10 years ago (9 November 2005; score: 42.81%)
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June 17th, 2005 at 5:19 pm
I briefly subscribed to the phone as iPod killer heresy when I got a Sendo X last year. For long enough for me to jam it full of memory and source an adapter that’d let me use ‘proper’ headphones. But the UI issue is a problem, and possibly not one that’s fixable - the optimal controls for phone and player functions are so wildly different, that I find it difficult to see how, aside from fitting TWO sets of controls, they can be overcome.
But here’s another reason, the one that left me most crestfallen. As I need the phone for work, I repeatedly found myself not using the music player when on the move, because I didn’t want to drain the batteries. Curses…
June 17th, 2005 at 6:08 pm
I like your point about not being able to text while listening to music. What a ridiculous limitation!
They’ve all got a way to go yet I think. The only compelling reason would be if everything else was equal (battery life, size, storage, UI, download/sync from home, purchase music at 79p etc)) AND it could be used simultaneously for texting/internet etc AND switch easily between phone and music eg when a call comes in. If they can’t even get the latter functions right, then no hope
Ian
June 17th, 2005 at 9:13 pm
Given that the slider-phone (Nokia 7110-esque) is still with us - apparently - then someone may fit a mini ipod-style scroll wheel to a phone with the number keys underneath the slider. Would let each be thumbed.
You could then have an interface where the music playlist info sweeps into view like OS X’s Dashboard when you substantially touch the scroll wheel, and then fades away again unless you lock it in some way or….something else that Sony/Nokia pay a GUI designer £50 / hour to dream up. That doesn’t address the myriad of other problems above though.
I also like being able to accidentally drop or lose my phone and not have the same heart attack I would have if the same happened to my ipod. That said, this worry would abate if decent music-phones ever slide into the Orange annual freebie range.
June 17th, 2005 at 10:10 pm
I’ll bet Apple has very robust patents on the scroll wheel - wasn’t there something at Slashdot about it a while back? - so that piece of UI copying is out.
Something like the Blackberry roller might do it. Actually, the Blackberry has a better chance, to my thinking, of taking over this sector.
Interested you could feel unworried about losing your phone. I’d think most people are more worried at that… though I suppose you can usually get a replacement free, can’t you, either by insurance or threatening to change provider. Not like the iPod at all.
June 22nd, 2005 at 9:33 am
Remember when Nokia introduced headsets, which automatically created a new profile in the phone? I think this may hold the key - phone manufacturers who look to specifically sell on the MP3 playing capabilities of thier phones should perhaps look to supply specific, different headphones with the player controls hardwired into the headphones cable - like you get with top end walkmans. would it not then be a simple case of having a default phone setting, which then has phone plus music setting when the headphones / controller is plugged in, thus enabling the phone capabilities to remain, and enabling users to move thru thier music collections as they want to?
I also think one of thereasons people are so reluctant to converge two so obviously similar pieces of kit is the historical / cultural basis - Walkmans are older than mobile phones and people tend to like the fact they have a “new walkman” rather than an “integrated phone / music player” - it is easier to get your head round…
July 15th, 2006 at 8:40 pm
i have a problem with my sendo-x phone.after switching it on it goes off automatically itself.with the battery fully charged will need your help urgently.thanks so much.