The folks over at Tech Digest report that Samsung has debuted a cell phone, the SPH-V5400, with a built-in 1.5 GB hard drive. As well as an integrated 1 megapixel digital camera, it also includes an MP3 player and an FM transmitter. Yes, transmitter! It can transmit those MP3 files over FM to a nearby receiver, such as the one in your car. This is a feature that other MP3 players could do with.
So, why buy a standalone MP3 player? Well, I can still see a couple of good reasons:
- It is still a very small hard drive; the iPod mini is 4GB and the new Creative MuVo2 is 5GB (it will also be shared with the camera, so it is going to fill up fast too if you use both features a lot)
- I don’t want to have to convince the aircrew on my next flight that the cell phone is off while I listen to MP3 tracks from it (even assuming it has a mode where the phone portion is off)
Engadget has pictures of the new phone for those interested.