Symbian Review

Our interactive life can’t be imagined without such software as MP3 player. This is one of the most popular software titles especially among young audience.
MP3 players add music experience to your mobile device. We expect from every player excellent music quality, convenient play list management and easy selection of desired music album.
In the process of our MP3 players testing we tried to check the features offered and the convenience of application use.

Here is brief information about the applications to be analyzed:

App name	Vendor	Price	Size, Kb
LCG Jukebox	Lonely Cat Games	Buy $24.99	597
ALON MP3 Dictaphone	ALONsoftware	Buy $24.95	925
Mp3Player	Viking Informatics Ltd.	Buy $9.95	309
MobiolaPlayer	Warelex	Buy $14.95	625

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Testing procedure

We have installed the applications using Bluetooth or data cable. We have evaluated all applications how they look and feel, whether they can be used without reading the manual and if the help is there at all.

When analyzing, we compared different aspects and application details, giving them the corresponding scores from 10 (the best) to 1 (the poorest). We analyzed:
•Installation
•Trial period
•Interface
•Settings
•Skins
•Help and Support
•Application in action
•Special features

•Summery of the test results
•Conclusion

More about our scoring procedure you can read here

Installation

All applications from the list above are perfectly installed, they are all Symbian Signed, and as a result receive the highest score 10 points.

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Trial period

LCG Jukebox (for Symbian) – no message about the trial period. It’s a pity!!!

Score given: 2

ALON MP3 Dictaphone for S60 3rd Edition – the free evaluation period expires in 14 days.

Score given: 8

Mp3Player (S60 3rd Edition) – the trial is not indicated during the installation process, which is really uncomfortable. But still trial version is available for trying this application.

Score given: 4

MobiolaPlayer – trial version lasts 3 days.

Score given: 6

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Interface

LCG Jukebox (for Symbian) – the main view of the application is simple, but a bit uninteresting. The main player interface includes song info, album image, volume, seek bar, time, visualization and others.

Left soft key Menu of this screen includes the following buttons:
• Track
• Playlist
• Equalizer
• Album Art image
• Lyrics
• Tools

Score given: 8

ALON MP3 Dictaphone for S60 3rd Edition – this application supports MP3 and WAV audio formats for recording conversations, gives opportunity to record phone calls in AMR and WAV formats and has built-in MP3, OGG, AAC/MP4/M4A, AMR, WAV player with equalizer, hot buttons and M3U playlists.

The menu can be opened by right and left soft keys, though the names of the soft keys are not indicated which is rather unusual.

Score given: 7

Mp3Player (S60 3rd Edition) – the main interface of this application shows the actually opened MP3 file, and the progress of the playback. It supports all phone-supported audio types, including MP3, AAC, MP4 files.

Left soft key Options includes the following buttons:
• Next
• Settings
• Help
• Exit

Score given: 5

MobiolaPlayer – the main application window has three tabs:
• First tab contains video

• Second tab contains audio

• Third tab contains recently viewed files

MobiolaPlayer has nice interface with convenient menu.

Score given: 7

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Settings

LCG Jukebox (for Symbian) – in this application you can configure the following settings:

• Shuffle – you can choose to shuffle playback of playlist
• Repeat – allows to repeat playback when last song in playlist finishes
• Display remaining time – displays remaining time (descending) if checked, or normal (ascending) if unchecked
• Draw on idle screen – draw player when the phone is in home (idle) screen

• Play at starting – continue playback in last position when player is started
• Access point – Internet access point to use for connecting to Internet
• Language – choose the application language (such as English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Magyar, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish and Turkish)

Score given: 7

ALON MP3 Dictaphone for S60 3rd Edition – allows configuring the following settings:

• Scan subfolders – this option can be turned on if user would like to choose folder and all subfolders for playback
• Record format: used for Dictaphone files
• Record file name: used for Dictaphone files

• Define rec. folder – here user can choose where to record the files from Dictaphone
• Auto record – before start recording you may choose automatic gain control
• Record gain – during the recording user can choose one of four positions of microphone gain before recording

• How to play list – here user can choose the way of playing the folder (for example Play track, Play list, Loop track, Loop playlist, Randomize)
• Scroll playback – if user turns this option on – the selected track will start to play, otherwise user will simply scroll it manually
• Show tracks’ end – here user can select how tracks will be shown at playlist; “On” means that user will see the end of the tracks and their’s formats, “Off” means that user will see the beginning of the tracks

• Show file types – user can select the types of files to be shown (user can choose among MP3, OGG, WAV, AAC, MP4, M4A, AMR and WMA types of files)
• Interrupt by message (if user chooses On the music is interrupted when an SMS comes)

Score given: 9

Mp3Player (S60 3rd Edition) – this application contains the following set of settings:

• Playlist repeating – repeat the playlist or stop when all files have been already played
• After a track ends – songs come in a random order after each other, or normally, or the playback stops
• Screen always on – the screen will not go to standby when playing
• ID3 charset – you can display special accented characters in the title/author of MP3 files

Score given: 5

MobiolaPlayer – this application is convenient in using, but still no settings option diminishes its functional possibilities.

Score given: 1

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Skins

LCG Jukebox (for Symbian) – to change the application skin user has to choose the left soft key Menu → Tools → Color setup.

Here user can adjust colors of the application’s items (such as Selection, Scrollbar, Main area, Title, Background).

And preset the skin from the list of available:

If user chooses to change the skin the interface of the application can have the following views:

Score given: 9

ALON MP3 Dictaphone for S60 3rd Edition – unfortunately this software does not give an opportunity to change the interface of the application.

Score given: 2

Mp3Player (S60 3rd Edition) – when user opens this item he will see the list of all .jpg files on the phone.

User has just to select file by pressing the joystick to use it as a skin. Then press Back to save the selected skin. On one hand under skin is only background understood. On the other hand one can change the application view enormously and personalize it.

Score given: 7

MobiolaPlayer – the application doesn’t offer possibility to change the skin of the interface.

Score given: 2

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Help and Support

Any application should contain the help file for user’s convenience, not to mention the user manual, which should include detailed information about the application and its settings.

One more important factor is the efficiency of the support department. To check this, we sent an e-mail with just one question about the application on the mail stated as a support mail.

None of the support departments answered to our very simple question. This is not a good quality rating for these applications. That is why the scores are not high.

LCG Jukebox (for Symbian) – the application has no Help file, which is rather uncomfortable; but it has an e-mail (support@lonelycatgames.com) to contact a developer in case of any questions or suggestions.

Score given: 5

ALON MP3 Dictaphone for S60 3rd Edition – the application contains Help file, but this Help is a bit inconvenient. The information is mixed, and user has to look for it by himself. The application also has an e-mail (support@alonsoftware.com) for customers’ support.

Score given: 5

Mp3Player (S60 3rd Edition) – the application has the Help file, which is comfortable, besides the Help file is available for separate app’s items, what is now widely spread in most of applications; it has an e-mail (info@viking.tm) for customers’ support.

Score given: 5

MobiolaPlayer – the Help available in this application is concise, but contains all necessary information; the e-mail for customers’ support – support@symbianon.com The support department reacted to our e-mail in the course of 2 business days.

Score given: 9

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Application in action

LCG Jukebox (for Symbian) – user can add entire folders or individual tracks to the playlist with the help of integrated file browser.

Clicking left soft key Menu of the main screen user can perform the following actions:

• Manage playlist – add, remove, delete, load or save
• Equalizer – 10-band equalizer with manual adjustment or predefined presets
• Sleep timer – switching off player after desired time
• Album Art image – search album art image on the Internet and view in built-in image viewer
• Manage favorite Internet radio stations
• Lyrics – search lyrics on the Internet on many lyrics servers; watch lyrics as the song is being played

Score given: 7

ALON MP3 Dictaphone for S60 3rd Edition – first of all the disadvantage of the main interface is that its soft keys are not displayed and it is a bit confusing to use the application at the beginning.

Generally user can open the menu by right and left soft keys.

Left soft key contains the following buttons:

• Registration (for entering the registration code)
• New rec. folder (to create a new folder)
• Settings
• Hot keys
• Call rec. settings (to adjust the settings of call recording)
• Help
• About
• Exit

Right soft key contains the following buttons:

• Play (to start the playback)
• Record (to start the record)
• Volume (to change the volume)
• Playlist (to load, save or delete the playlist)
• Manage playlist (to add/remove tracks, add folders, add stations and clear playlist)
• Equalizer

To assign hot keys for various application action user has to press left soft key, then choose Hot keys button:

User can see the list of the recorded phone calls by pressing left soft key and choosing the Phone calls button.

The Call record settings allow to configure the following options:

• Storage memory (to choose the type of storage memory; Phone memory/Card memory)
• Actions (to choose phone calls recording action; automatic/manual)
• File format (to choose file format; AMR/WAV)
• Rec/Stop by Joystick (this allows automatic phone calls recording with opportunity of manual stop)

Score given: 9

Mp3Player (S60 3rd Edition) – to see the list of MP3 files on the phone and to choose the needed one user has to press the joystick right:

Left soft key Options of the main screen contains the following buttons:

• Next (to switch between the MP3 files)
• Settings
• Help
• Exit

This application is unlike the previous two very simple. On one hand this is good for those, who don’t like stuffed software, but on the other hand it doesn’t offer possibilities given by other applications of such kind.

Score given: 6

MobiolaPlayer – when opening the application for the first time the screen shows no data.

To start using the application you have to click left soft key Options, which contains the following list of buttons:

• Open – to open the current video/audio file
• Recently viewed – to look through the recently viewed files
• Find new media – to refresh the file list in the video and audio tabs
• Help
• About

When playing file and holding the phone horizontally, you can perform the following actions:

• Left/Right – to fast forward and rewind
• Up/Down – to change audio volume
• Button “0″ – to mute
• Right soft key – to exit playing
• Press joystick – to pause

When playing video and audio files the screen has the following views:

    

The only disadvantage is that I haven’t found the option for removing audio or video file from the application (that is Delete button).

Score given: 8

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Special features

LCG Jukebox (for Symbian) – this application has its specific features, what makes it different from the others, they are:
• Shuffle – here user can shuffle playback of playlist
• Language – choose the application language
• Station manager – user can manage his favorite Internet radio stations
• Equalizer – 10-band equalizer with manual adjustment or predefined presets
• Sleep timer – switching off player after desired time
• Album Art image – search album art image on the Internet and view in built-in image viewer
• Lyrics – search lyrics on the Internet on many lyrics servers; watch lyrics as the song is being player

Score given: 9

ALON MP3 Dictaphone for S60 3rd Edition – the application offers the following list of special features:
• Scan subfolders – this option can be turned on if user would like to choose folder and all subfolders for playback
• Define rec. folder – here user can choose where to record the files
• Auto record – before start recording you may choose automatic gain control
• Record gain – during the recording user can choose one of four positions of microphone gain before recording
• How to play list – here user can choose the way of playing the folder
• Scroll playback – if user turns this option on – the selected track will start to play, otherwise user will simply scroll it
• Show tracks’ end – here user can select how tracks will be shown at playlist; “On” means that user will see the end of the tracks and their’s formats, “Off” means that user will see the beginning of the tracks
• Hot keys – user can sign all actions such as play, stop, record, pause, forward rewind, back rewind, on/off equalizers, switching between playlist and equalizer to hardware buttons

Score given: 9

Mp3Player (S60 3rd Edition) – this application offers such special feature as:

• Playlist repeating – repeat the playlist or stop when all files have been already played
• After a track ends – songs come in a random order after each other, or normally, or the playback stops
• ID3 charset – you can display special accented characters in the title/author of MP3 files

Score given: 6

MobiolaPlayer – the only special feature, which differs MobiolaPlayer from the others is:

• Find new media – to refresh the file list in the video and audio tabs

Score given: 4

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Summary of the test results

Having analyzed all components and settings and given them the scores from 1 to 10, we have multiplied the scores by a corresponding importance factor in order to get the total score value of the application.

We have used the following Importance factor (IF) values:
• Installation: IF 1
• Trial period: IF 4
• Interface: IF 8
• Settings: IF 4
• Skins: IF 8
• Help and Support: IF 2
• Application in action: IF 10
• Special features: IF 2

The total possible score for an application would be 390 points.

Multiplying the score by Importance factors we have got the following table:

	LCG Jukebox (for Symbian)	ALON MP3 Dictaphone for S60 3rd Edition	Mp3Player (S60 3rd Edition)	MobiolaPlayer
Installation	10	10	10	10
Trial period	8	32	16	24
Interface	64	56	40	56
Settings	28	36	20	4
Skins	72	16	56	16
Application in action	70	90	60	80
Help/Support	10	10	10	18
Special Features	18	18	12	8
Total	280	268	224	216

Test winner according to the overall application test is LCG Jukebox (for Symbian).

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Conclusion

LCG Jukebox (for Symbian) justifies itself as the best MP3 player among the three analyzed applications. It offers not only rich and theme-aware interface, but also interesting features, which other MP3 players don’t have.

ALON MP3 Dictaphone for S60 3rd Edition is also good, especially if taking into account its special settings options.

As I have mentioned already Mp3Player (S60 3rd Edition) is too simple for the application of such kind. But still it meets its engagements; and as it has been said “every good has its buyer”.

MobiolaPlayer has been released recently, perhaps that is why it has some imperfections. Maybe that is the way the application works, but still I can’t understand the impossibility to remove the file from the application. But as a whole MobiolaPlayer is good, simple and functioning.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 22nd, 2007 at 12:12 and is filed under Software Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.