Sanyo MM-7400

If whiling away your time taking pictures or playing video games on your cell phone doesn't alleviate your boredom, or if checking the news on the wireless Web doesn't fulfill your mobile news habit, keep reading. You can now watch TV or listen to digital music on the Sanyo MM-7400 from Sprint PCS.

The first non-smart phone that offers audio on demand gives you six live music channels (R&B and Hip-Hop, Rock, Hit List, Country, 1980s, 1990s) and music news and features from MusicChoice, the same folks who bring you the digital cable music channels. Accompanying the music is an animated eight-bar equalizer, but no track or artist information. The cost of the service is $5.95 per month.

The phone's 2.5-mm headset jack won't take a standard stereo headphone jack, so even if the music was streamed in stereo, we could listen to tunes only through the included earbud or the phone's earpiece. It was loud, but hardly comparable to even a cheap flash MP3 player. The music stream was surprisingly stable, though, even more so than typical FM reception is on a city street.

Regardless of how you listen, you'll be unable to receive calls while channel-surfing or grooving to the tunes. To save battery power, you'll be prompted to hit a key to keep the music playing after 5 minutes.

The MM-7400 is also compatible with Sprint TV. This $9.99-per-month service offers around 2 dozen channels, including both live feeds and pre-recorded clips from ABC News Now, NBC Mobile, Fox Sports, and CNN, as well as comedy and documentary channels, with more to come. Each clip lasts less than 3 minutes and is transmitted over Sprint's 1xRTT network. The video performance is not nearly as smooth as Verizon Wireless' VCast service, however, which operates on top of a much faster EV-DO network.

The phone itself is similar to previous Sanyo Ready Link models from Sprint, a solidly built if slightly bulky dual-band/tri-mode phone. The sound quality is clear as long as you center your ear canal precisely on the earpiece's sweet spot. The keys are backlit in blue and well spaced for easy dialing, and the external 1-inch color LCD shows the time and battery meter.

The built-in VGA camera includes a flash and takes above-average pictures, as well as 30-second 15-fps video clips. For beautification, you get both silver and red replaceable faceplates; an optional three-pack includes black onyx, deep blue, and ocean blue replacements.

You'll get 3.5 hours of talk time with the standard battery, but Sprint TV and Music Choice will cut into this substantially. If you subscribe to the TV and/or music options, we recommend springing for the 6-hour extended battery.

At $5.95 per month for music streaming, not to mention the cost for voice minutes, using the MM-7400 as your everyday portable audio player is an expensive proposition, especially when you can go out and buy an iPod Shuffle for $99. But if you don't have much of an MP3 collection, and would rather not carry multiple devices, this cell is worth a look and listen.