The Nokia DT-1 Music Stand allows you to play your mobile's FM Radio or MP3 tracks through stereo speakers. Read our Australian review.
The DT-1 Music Stand looks good with a sleek design and black colour scheme that should suit most surroundings. It comes as a single unit, with a depression in the middle to place your phone. On both sides of the phone depression are stereo speakers. The stand measures 160 x 115 x 70 mm, and weighs 310 grams.
Nokia lists the mobiles compatible with the DT-1 as the Nokia 6800 and the Nokia 7250. We tested with the Nokia 6800, and it's worth noting that you can also plug in other devices, such as CD Players and MP3 players, although you'll naturally lose the symmetry of having a phone in the depression if you do go down that path.
The sound from the 50 mm diameter speakers is pretty good, and a dial on the base of the unit allows you to adjust volume. While it may have the look of a concert speaker, the DT-1 is strictly a personal device. Sound can be heard up to 10 m away, but it's of listenable quality only within a few metres.
When transmitting through the FM Radio the reception is reasonable, but you'll probably have to move the aerial (which is a wire that hangs from the back of the stand) to get the best reception. We found that accidentally moving this aerial caused a severe degradation in reception.
For a speaker stand designed specifically to enhance the features of Nokia phones, we found its lack of useful integration troubling. The big problem, as far as we're concerned, is that you cannot change the station the mobile is tuned to when it is plugged into the music stand. We reviewed the stand with the Nokia 6800, and found that you not only had to remove the phone to change the station, but also plug in earphones to do so. Once you've done both steps a few times you'll wonder why you shelled out the money for the speaker stand in the first place.
The music stand does act as a phone recharger via its own power plug, and it's also possible to make calls with the phone in place. The stand has an answer/end call button on its base, and the mobile automatically turns off the radio when a call comes in. Calls are made or received using the speaker mode of the mobiles, and on the 6800 this is loud enough to be effective.
The music stand is relatively attractive and mostly effective at its intended function. However, the niche it fills is fairly small, and at AU$145 it'd be cheaper and easier to simply buy a radio/CD Player.
Nokia DT-1 Music Stand
Company: Nokia
Price: AU$145
Distributor: Nokia
Phone: 1300 366 733
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