The best music centric mobile phone is currently made by Samsung?

In what will probably be the most debated quote for cell phone audiophiles online, Eldar from Mobile Review said that the Samsung i450 is superior to the Nokia N91 in terms of sound quality; the N91 being the flagship music centric Nseries device. Shame the team who designed it had the last chapter of 2001: A Space Odyssey on loop jammed in their DVD player while tripping on acid and munching on wild Finnish mushrooms. The N91 was the phone to beat and when the N81 came out my inbox and many online forums were flooded with the same question: does it really sound better? The answer was a resounding no, but to hear that Samsung would take the number 1 spot is just a surprise to be honest.

The company isn’t trying to present this is a “do-it-all” solution or highlight some particular departments – all focus is on one feature alone, music. And it is a great thing, especially given the fact that the i450 is one of the market’s finest music playing offerings. Regrettably, it doesn’t pack a slew of music-related settings, which makes it somewhat dated in this sense. On the other hand it comes with all the essentials, and that’s exactly what many are craving for. As far as music quality is concerned, this smartphone is in fact the best thing you can get hold of these days. In my opinion, when put up against the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N91, the Samsung i450 comes out on top in this battle of music departments. The same goes for the Samsung i450 vs Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone derby.

Other things to note in Eldar’s review of the i450: N-Gage is a Nokia Nseries only thing, why isn’t it available to all S60 lisencees? Hell why isn’t it available on other Nokia devices running S60? An application called Shazam ID which is reportedly just as good as Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE)’s Track ID. If our UK readers can share the download URL that would be much appreciated.