Best Music Smartphone

Placebo Effect

Hi all,

I tried the search functionality & couldn't find any recent thread so here goes.

I'm about to purchase my first smartphone,I'm not that much of a techy so my primary focus is for making calls ..what I really need as well is the best MP3 player available to me ( not overly impressed with the Iphone's sound quality), some internet searchs are saying the Iphone is the best MP3 player out there which I find very hard to believe..

I also want to have some basic apps like Paddy Power etc ...

Can anyone please help me?

PogMoThoin

You probably need an Android phone with a choice of music apps, I use the poweramp app myself.
Which phone is completely down to your budget

Placebo Effect

Is that an app I download to improve the sound quality?

Sorry for being thick

seanybiker

There is apps alright tobmess around with sound settings

PogMoThoin

Placebo Effect wrote: »

Is that an app I download to improve the sound quality?

Sorry for being thick

Its a decent music player that allows you change equaliser settings to your own liking. Unlike the iphone, android allows you to fully customise every aspect of your phone, what you don't like you get a better app for.

Placebo Effect

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Its a decent music player that allows you change equaliser settings to your own liking. Unlike the iphone, android allows you to fully customise every aspect of your phone, what you don't like you get a better app for.

Thanks Pog..so which android would you recommend or does it matter?

PogMoThoin

Placebo Effect wrote: »

Thanks Pog..so which android would you recommend or does it matter?

That completely depends on your budget and specific needs, there are so many to choose from, in various sizes, from many manufacturers

bd250110

I would say the iPhone is probably the best experience, overall. One thing to be aware of is the headphones that ship with iPod/iPhone are fairly poor.

I use doubleTwist on my SGS II, it's OK. I haven't noticed that the sound quality is noticeably better or worse than the iPhone 4 or 3Gs. I would say you would notice a lot more difference by changing your earphones/buds than changing the phone model.

G1032

Placebo Effect wrote: »

Hi all,

I tried the search functionality & couldn't find any recent thread so here goes.

I'm about to purchase my first smartphone,I'm not that much of a techy so my primary focus is for making calls ..what I really need as well is the best MP3 player available to me ( not overly impressed with the Iphone's sound quality), some internet searchs are saying the Iphone is the best MP3 player out there which I find very hard to believe..

I also want to have some basic apps like Paddy Power etc ...

Can anyone please help me?

The sound quality on the Samsung Galaxy S is good. But you can make it great with a little customisation.
There is a project group called VooDoo who have a kernel that improves the sound even further.
The VooDoo sound package, coupled with PowerAmp music player will give you a brilliant MP3 player from the SGS.

Note:
Applying the VooDoo sound enhancement will void your warranty.
It can be however unvoided again, so to speak, if the phone needs to go for repair.

My wife has a 16GB iPod Nano. The sound from the SGS is miles better.

srsly78

Nexus S has same wolfsson sound chip as galaxy, but is better phone.

obliviousgrudge

I know it's not an Android but the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music would do what you're looking for.

Has a great speaker, the loudest I've ever used anyway.

srsly78

Err mobile speakers are useless Plug headphones in.

PogMoThoin

Mobile speakers output in mono :eek:

obliviousgrudge

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Mobile speakers output in mono :eek:

Most output in stereo now.

Well my Nokia 5800 did and I assume most high-spec phones do.

srsly78

Tiny speakers are still useless tho.

BostonB

Theres 4 different generations of iPhones thay don't all sound the same. Also they tend to have a very clean sound vs that of say Sony. Not that one is better, but they are different. Some prefer one, some the other one. It will also depend on the quality of the headphones you use and also the quality of the files you've ripped. If you've low quality MP3's then nothing you do is going to improve that.

GSM Arena does a SQ quality test on the phones they review. http://www.gsmarena.com/

And of course theres frequent discussions of mobile SQ over on Head Fi
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/list/15/portable-source-gear

and also headphones....
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/list/103/portable-headphones-earphones-and-in-ear-monitors

pickarooney

I always assumed the sound quality of any device was purely down to the headphones/speakers you used to listen to it with and obviously the encoding of the audio files themselves. Besides a bog-standard hardware/sfoftware decoder what does one phone have over another?

srsly78

Various different hardware that uncompresses the music and streams it to the audio port (not standard at all). Is a very subjective topic.

Nexus S / Galaxy S has special Wolfsson sound chip that is supposed to be "professional" quality or whatever for example. This one I think: http://www.wolfsonmicro.com/products/audio_hubs/WM8994/

BostonB

Its not just the sound chip either. They may use a good sound chip but implement it badly so you still get poor quality. But a good sound chip is usually a good sign. Ultimately you are are going to have read reviews, and then the ones that know what they are talking about. Especially forums. Reviews on web sites are often generic and simply republished from other sources.