In a nutshell...

You’ve got the storage, you’ve got a built in microphone and you’ve got some pokey-ass recording software that’s about as useful as a slap round the chops. Time to turn your phone into a decent dictaphone then, but can Alon cut it with the clip artistes? Seems it just might…

Judgement time…

Most Nokias come packing a sound recorder, but it’s not a patch on ALON’s MP3 Dictaphone. Nokia’s system records in uncompressed format, and doesn’t give much control over settings. ALON’s effort is exactly the opposite.

Supporting AMR and WAV formats, as well as recording in compressed MP3 format, it’s a veritable audio toolbox or your blower.

Tap record and it’ll suck up sounds while letting you tweak the gain of your mobile’s mic so everything’s audible. A 3 minute MP3 recorded with the default settings weighs in at an impressively svelte 700Kb. What’s more, when played back on a PC, it sounds surprisingly clear.

Let’s not kid ourselves though – the microphones in mobiles aren’t built for quality recordings. Sound is inevitably muffled and far from studio quality.

For quick recordings, however, ALON MP3 Dictaphone does an admirable job. It’ll act as an MP3 player too, letting you create and save playlists as well as loading up playlists from Winamp software for PCs.

It’s ideal for anyone recording podcasts on the move, even if the quality isn’t amazing, it’s better than using Nokia’s default recorder, and because files are compressed you’ll get more on a memory card too.