Smartphone as media player (no plan)?

C

csmith811

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 13, 2007
Messages
275
I'm curious:
Have any of you bought a smartphone to use as a media player and just not paid for the contract? Especially with the rate that people change cell phones, it should be a little less expensive to find a solid phone to use as a media device.

What I'd like to use it for:
-MP3 / podcast player
-Video player (not as important)
-Internet access via wifi

Do you guys have any thoughts or suggestions for reliable phones that would work? I'd love to spend less than $200 (new or used).
 
Actually. I would get a Blackberry playbook with Wifi.

1. It has amazing screen and speakers (speakers are by far the best I've seen in mobile)
2. It plays a lot of video codecs (and has a cool video app with 1080p output capability via HDMI)
3. It has Flash and the latest update browser is blazing fast.
4. It has a podcast app.
5. It can play MP3 and has a music player/cataloging app.

Problem? It's around 450-500$ for a base 16GB model.. but it is almost an absolute fit for you as far as media devices go.
 
The otherside of that though is an Ipod Touch or Zune HD will do it every bit as well, and will probably be less expensive.
 
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You could grab an Optimus V or the (upcoming) Motorola Triumph on Virgin Mobile. You could even pay for a month of data for $25 once in a while if you wanted.

Minus weaker accessory support, I'd take my Optimus any day over my old ipod touch.

I've heard of people buying older Android phones for this kind of purpose - you can get one with a bad ESN off ebay pretty cheap.
 
GreenMonkey said:
You could grab an Optimus V or the (upcoming) Motorola Triumph on Virgin Mobile. You could even pay for a month of data for $25 once in a while if you wanted.

Minus weaker accessory support, I'd take my Optimus any day over my old ipod touch.

I've heard of people buying older Android phones for this kind of purpose - you can get one with a bad ESN off ebay pretty cheap.
Click to expand...
Ah, the optimus looks like a good idea. And only $125 new before buying a memory card to throw in there.

I'm uninformed regarding this "bad ESN" stuff. Does that null the phone part but allow you to use it for every other feature (wifi, apps, etc)? If so, that'll be something else I can look into.

Thanks for the suggestions.
 
csmith811 said:
Ah, the optimus looks like a good idea. And only $125 new before buying a memory card to throw in there.

I'm uninformed regarding this "bad ESN" stuff. Does that null the phone part but allow you to use it for every other feature (wifi, apps, etc)? If so, that'll be something else I can look into.

Thanks for the suggestions.
Click to expand...

Yeah, a bad ESN means that the phone has been reported lost/stolen, so it just won't be able to be activated on a carrier. It will still function normally outside of not having a cellular connection.
 
csmith811 said:
I'm curious:
Have any of you bought a smartphone to use as a media player and just not paid for the contract? Especially with the rate that people change cell phones, it should be a little less expensive to find a solid phone to use as a media device.

What I'd like to use it for:
-MP3 / podcast player
-Video player (not as important)
-Internet access via wifi

Do you guys have any thoughts or suggestions for reliable phones that would work? I'd love to spend less than $200 (new or used).
Click to expand...

You can do this with pretty much any Android phone. The Nexus One is $244 atm, that's quite a good deal.

You can also get an app that blocks an Android phone from using cellular data so you never have to worry about accidentally using data without a plan.
 
That's not a problem to find a good player if you have 500$ to spend for it, but mention that the author needs a budget model!!! I would advice you to pay attention to Nokia Symbian smartphones, for example 5530, 5230 they cost about 170$ and have the functions you need.free flash mp3 players
 
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Do you like a ZTE V880 3G-Enabled Smartphone about $183 . Android 2.2 ,Capacitive Touchscreen,GPS Wifi, Bluetooth ,Camera ,FM and Radio can meet all you need for fund and watching.
But it that price is only for the one with english. you may pay more about $20 for other lanugages
 
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