Accessories - My Sony Ericsson FM Music Transmitter review

This will be the first ever accessory review I've ever done, aside from my previous reviews on my Treo's premium leather Vaja case here.

In this day in age where mp3 players have become the norm, and with car makers like Mercs, Hondas, Fords etc all jumping onto the bandwagons providing connectivity options for iPods and such, more and more people are finding it so much more convenient to just play their song selections through these so called FM transmitters.

I never really paid much attention to this trend really, because for me, I'm still the standard conventional cd player-in-my-car kinda guy, not too keen on venturing into the messy world of plugging in some iPod and funny iTrip or iLove fancy smancy device just to listen to my mp3's in the car. Yes yes, I actually PREFER physically taking out my single cd's and choosing another from my cd holder to pressing "Next.... next.....next" on any mp3 player anyday.

Until, I was introduced, to a nifty lil invention that's (apparently) been around for a while, Sony Ericsson's Music FM Transmitter MMR60. When I saw the size and its package, I knew I had to try it for myself.

The package
The lil'MMR 60

• The MMR 60 comes in a very simple package, and is enclosed in a neat little tin container about the size of a lady's compact mirror probably.
  
• In my hand, its even smaller, being slightly larger (only slightly) than my big thumb. Its also as small as iPod's latest version of the Shuffle. Amazing.

MMR 60 with SE w810

• After I took it out, I was dying to test it out with my SE w810 and since I was heading out for a drive somewhere, I decided it was as best a time as ever.

MMR 60 - Setting up

• Reading the package, its clearly stated that the MMR 60 is meant for use with (SE) "devices incorporating Fast port e.g. D50i, K750, W550, W600, W800, W900, Z520". If you noticed, my W810 wasn't even mentioned there! But, let me assure you, it worked all the same. The MMR 60 will also work with the newer SE models like K610, W880 etc, as long as there's a Fast port (which a majority of SE phones have anyway!)
• An attached mini booklet gave further instructions on syncing the MMR 60 with your car's radio frequency; (1) In phone mode, open WALKMAN, (2) Receiver: Tune into an unused ("white noise") frequency channel, (3) Attach MMR 60 to your phone, (4) Phone: In the pop-up, select the same frequency as for the receiver. To select the suggested frequency, press OK. To manually enter a frequency, Edit. Delete the suggested frequency, enter the frequency you want (use * to enter .) and press OK twice.
  

• The MMR 60 is also powered by the phone's battery, so this makes it SO much more convenient than sticking anything into the car charger or with any wires lying about here and there.
• Once connected, the MMR 60 emits a pulsating glow as long as its connected to a phone. The instruction booklet does give tips on how to switch this "glow" off but I didn't bother with it. It makes the MMR 60 look cool in my opinion.

My Experience

• It did take me quite a while to set up the MMR 60 with my car's radio receiver, but I fault that to the fact that in Brunei, its apparently difficult to find an unused frequency!? It seemed as if most frequencies I thought were unused, had some sort of interference from a radio channel somewhere else. So, its not MMR 60's fault.
• Plugging it in, the default frequency (as you can see from the photos) was 101.8. After messing about with some frequencies, I decided to try 87.00. It worked!
  
• With my fully charged w810, I set off on my morning drive (I was off that day) at about 6.45am, listening to my choice of about 50 songs I had in my W810's memory stick, right up to about 2.00pm. No, I wasn't in my car driving around Brunei that long (where would I go? Kuala Belait and back 4 times?), but I did let the W810 with MMR 60 play continuously as I went about running my errands and doing my own thing during that testing period.
  
• The sound quality is what you'd expect from listening to your radio. Not CD quality, but quite clear nevertheless. I was impressed!
  
• At 2.00pm, when I checked my w810, the battery had only gone down to about 41%. Quite a good result I'd say. Because seriously, here in Brunei, when will the average daily Bruneian EVER sit in the car or go for a journey that's 7 hours long!
  

Conclusion

• What I really loved most about the MMR 60 was the fact that there weren't any wires to be hassled by. This made it so much more convenient for me to listen to my mp3 songs which I carry in my W810 anyway. And we all know how reliable SE's battery life is, so I really didn't have any complaints about the phone not being able to handle this output. A couple of calls did come through, and cleverly, the MMR 60's stops and starts where it left off too.
  
• Of course, the limiting factors for you to consider is probably the size of your SE's memory stick (Its not iPod beating in terms of song capacity) and the time it takes to fiddle about with finding "unused" frequencies (but then, maybe its just me).
  
• With the cool tin container that houses the MMR 60, I found myself looking forward to bringing it out everytime I went out for a drive (in my case, that's quite often).
  
• I would definitely recommend this to any of you SE owners out there. Its convenient, its small, its not overly priced too. Selling at BND78-00, its quite a cheap investment for a device that'll let you listen to your mp3's in your car, FROM your phone! Go and get one!