music

Samsung SGH-F400 is a new dual-sliding music phone, set to be launched first in France this month.

The phone will be available in your choice of black or white with a glossy finish, and will feature:

• 3Mpix camera with auto-focus and LED flash;
• microSD card slot with 1GB microSD card;
• standard 3.5mm audio jack;
• Dual stereo speakers using Bang & Olufsen ICEpower technology;
• ShazamID (pre-installed);
• FM radio;
• Bluetooth.

LG has introduced a new low-end music-centric handset in China with a model name KM380.

There's not much we can tell about it, just note that it has a 3.5mm headphone jack - exactly what any music phone need - and a clever set of external music controls.

Pity that it's a China only handset...

Verizon has released the Motorola RAZR MAXX Ve, a very affordable CDMA clamshell, pretty similar to RAZR V3m music phone in appearance and features.

It is now available from Verizon for a mere $19.99 with a 2-year contract. Call 1-800-2-JOIN-IN to find out if the phone is available in your area.

Some RAZR MAXX Ve features:

• Weighs 4 oz;
• 0.

Benq C36 is a recently announced candybar music-centric phone for Indonesian market (initially).

The C36 comes with dedicated music playback buttons in addition to stereo speakers installed around the camera. See more feature details below. No word on pricing and availability as of yet.

Specifications for the Benq C36:

• Network: GSM 900/1800MHz;
• Data: GPRS;
• Size: 108 x 47.

Starting today, the Nokia Music Store is accessible for music lovers in Australia.

Owners of the Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N81 8GB and the N82 smartphones will be able to purchase songs for 1.70 Australian dollars per track and albums from AU $17.00 and download them directly on their device. PC downloads are also available, and cost AU $10 per month for unlimited access.

Users can synchronize the music collection between the PC and a mobile via Windows Media Player 11.

Nokia introduced two new members of the XpressMusic line-up.

• The first is the HSDPA-enabled 5320 model, which features dedicated music and N-Gage gaming keys, a 3.5-mm headphone jack, up to 24-hours of play time, up to 8GB of expandable storage, and a "Say and Play" voice controlled playlist. It costs €220 (or $351).
• The second one is the cheaper 5220 model.

A couple of months ago Motorola presented its 2008 line up of phones, one of which was the Motorola E10.

Codenamed "Texel", the handset has recently appeared in the wild and apparently will be in the ROKR series. Some of the features of the upcoming device include touchscreen, 3G connection, 3Mpix camera, advanced music player, and probably Wi-Fi.

A Howard Forums member gave us the idea how the upcoming LG VX8560 music flip phone will look like.

You can see it on the photo to the left. It has a red-colored profile, dedicated music keys, and a small camera on top of the external screen. Unfortunately, no details concerning the phone's specs were unveiled so far.

The second handset you see on the picture is the LG VX9700 scheduled to be released by Verizon in May.

The new Nokia Xpress Music 5610 with T-Mobile branding has been spotted recently in the Web.

This is definitely good news for Nokia fans anxious to get their hands on this 9.5mm thick music-centric cell phone.

Currently we don't know how much it will cost and where it will be available, but we expect to see features like 3.2Mpix camera, microSD card slot, and enhanced multimedia functionality.

Samsung has declared the famous Lebanese singer Elissa as its brand ambassador of the new 2008 music phone lineup.

The first handset in this category is the Impulz i450, a music-centric phone packed with Elissa's three hit singles, including Ayami Bik, Bastanak and Moush Kiteer Aaleik.

The phone has a dual-slider design, and offers great sound quality, intuitive controls, dedicated music interface, and other cool features.