Music Phones You Can Buy Today

LG Fusic music phoneYou may already know that you can tune your productivity with music — why not make it easy on yourself and do so with your cell phone? I get excited when I see announcements about fancy new music-playing mobile phones like the twistingly cool Nokia 5700 Xpress Music and the Sony Ericsson W580 Walkman with integrated pedometer and hot orange accents. Unfortunately, neither is available today. Don’t even get me started about the iPhone, because I can’t buy that today either, even if I did want to spend almost $500 while locking myself into two years with Cingular.

There are some pretty nice music phones that you can get today, fortunately, and for a lot less than the iPhone. Here are four possibilities in the under $100 range (that’s with a service contract, natch), one for each of the major U.S. carriers.

LG LX550 Fusic (Sprint) — This clamshell phone (pictured above) looks quite a bit like an iPod with its circular music controls. It comes with three colored faceplates so you can customize its look. Offers EV-DO and Bluetooth support, a 1.3 megapixel camera, speakerphone, and even an FM transmitter so you can play your music using an FM radio. $79.99 with two-year service agreement.

Nokia 5300 Xpress Music (T-Mobile) — Slide it open with one hand to access the keypad, then slide it shut to use it as a music player; the music controls are arrayed along the side of the casing. It supports Bluetooth, offers a 1.3 megapixel camera, and stores up to 1,500 songs with an upgraded memory card. T-mobile offers it in black and lilac versions for $99.99 with a two-year service agreement.

Sony Ericsson W810i (Cingular) — It’s not skinny and it doesn’t flip or slide. It’s just your basic candy bar, with a bunch of nice features including a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth support, and an FM radio. You’ll want to invest in a memory stick as it comes with just enough space for 25 songs. $74.99 with two-year service agreement.

LG Chocolate (Verizon) — How can you resist Cherry, Mint, Strawberry, or White Chocolate? I don’t know that I want this phone after reading user reviews, but naming it after one of the most popular flavors in the world was marketing genius. This slider gives you a 1.3 megapixel camera, speakerphone, Bluetooth, and expansion with a Micro SD memory card to hold all your music. Not everyone likes it’s touch-sensitive keypad though. $99.99 with two-year service agreement.

These options don’t even begin to exhaust the possibilities. They do, however, suggest what you might find if you’re in the market for a phone that can make calls and play music reasonably well. If you want your phone to do even more, check out our feature How to Pick Your Next Smartphone. If you’re curious what phones other WWD readers use and what they think of them, visit the open thread What Mobile Phone Do You Use?

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