Mobile Phone Blog:

Ooh, now here’s an intriguing story, from the pages of IntoMobile. It seems that Creative, world-renowned makers of music players and PC sound cards (yes, I’ve got on, mine’s an Audigy 2), are soon going to be entering the world of mobile phones, with what they’re calling their Zii Optimized Android Phone platform. Okay, that’s a bit of a mouthful compared to something like HTC Hero, but it boils down to this:

Creative. Android. Phone. ‘Nuff said.

And now, a bit of background on why this is such a good thing. Y’see, I really like Creative’s products. Like I say, I’ve an Audigy 2 Platinum EX in my PC (yes, I know that soundcard is showing its age now, but it still does the job beautifully for me), and I can speak from personal experience in saying that their mp3 players rock. In fact… cast your minds back to the early 21st Century, when people still bought standalone mp3 players like they were going out of style (which, let’s be honest, they now have, hence Creative wanting to make phones).

There were two big names in that particular rumble: Creative and Apple. And let’s put it this way, the iPod was in no way the better mp3 player…

Now, granted, Apple clearly had a better PR team, because the iPod was the one that went on to capture the imagination of the public. But there’s something Apple fans routinely refuse to acknowledge, and it’s this: the sound quality on the iPod is, and always has been, utterly, utterly rubbish. Like terminally bad. Put it this way, I know someone who has both a Sony Ericsson phone and an iPod that she never got rid of (which her phone has now pretty much superseded); we hooked up both through her car stereo, to compare the differences. The phone sounded rich, with loads of bass. The iPod sounded like a rat singing in a very small tin bath.

Apparently, what Creative will be making is actually a hardware reference design, rather than a nailed-down, ready-to-punt-to-consumers smartphone, essentially making a base platform for other people to licence, put their own shells on, and sell themselves. In other words, the complete antithesis of Apple’s iPhone business model, which shouldn’t come as a surprise since, y’know, it’s Creative doing it. I also find it interesting to see someone much more well-known for PC components jumping into the phone arena, just like Nvidia are doing with the Tegra chipset. Start of a trend, perhaps?

So, you can see why the idea of Creative making phones is such an appealing one, especially for all you audiophiles out there. And if it comes with the Amazon MP3 Store preloaded, as with earlier Android phones, we could have just found the all-time best, most perfect mobile music player…

More news as it happens! And be sure to subscribe now to get all the latest action from the world of mobile phones!