Marshall London: The Phone That Will Rock?

[dropcap size=small]T[/dropcap]o whoever has ever been inside close proximity of a live jam session, or any sort of musical stage performance, the name Marshall is forever going to ring a bell. [highlight ]Established in the 60s; the greatest era of Rock n’ Roll; the name Marshall has become synonymous with kickass amplifiers and speakers in the international music scene.[/highlight] Marshall is something of an authority on sound output equipment. It is responsible for the most iconic amplifier features introduced. Now, following the habit of niche Gods like Lamborghini and Tag Heuer, Marshall has decided to rub off some of its Rock vibes into the Gadget World.

[highlight ]Introducing the Marshall London; a phone which has appeared out of the Blues (pun intended) and seems to represent a union between the retro analogue world of musicians and the uber-cool digital world of geeks.[/highlight] The real question is: Can a phone really provide us with the same sense of nostalgia as hearing an intense guitar solo riff blasting off from a Marshall? Otherwise what’s it doing with that Marshall tag?

So here is a complete specs and features walkthrough to Marshall London and an analysis of the reasons you might want to consider buying it, other than being a being a nostalgic musician.

[divider]Basic Specs[/divider]

The London in itself is a pretty mid-range device when it comes to specifications. On the inside, it is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 CPU and a decent 2GB of RAM. It runs an Android 5.0.2 Lollipop OS and comes with a slightly unsatisfactory 16GB internal storage, albeit expandable using microSD. It sports a 720 pixel 4.7″ display, an 8 megapixel back camera and 2 megapixel one in the front.

[highlight ]Evidently, gaming and 4K video playback are not yet a priority for Marshall.[/highlight] In this sense, London is not a serious competitor this summer; but we have not yet talked about its “Marshall” feature.

Oh and by the way, it comes loaded with a 2500 mAh battery. Not at all ideal for long playback sessions.

[divider]Distinctive Features[/divider]

[highlight ]The most quickly observable feature of this handset is its black textured back cover: an imitation of the surface of an amp cabinet; and the brass volume control wheel.[/highlight]

London is popularly being called the “loudest phone on Earth”. As evidence for the claim, Marshall London does feature dual front facing speakers and the option to turn the volume to 11. For the uninitiated, volume controls on musical instruments are standardly marked from 1 to 10. [highlight ]The 11th volume level is a symbolic representation of this phone’s extra loudness.[/highlight]

Other musical features include a dual headphone jacks, which are modelled to look like amplifier jacks; you know, the kind that are used for connecting an electric guitar to the amp. [highlight ]The handset comes bundled with a specifically designed set of Marshall Earphones.[/highlight]

It has a large variety of music players pre-installed in the phone, each of which can be accessed quickly using the “M” button.

As a tribute to the early age of pop music, the London features a support for Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) files; which is more of a symbolic gesture than a useful feature; since FLAC files are now obsolete. You also get a system-wide equaliser; which basically means that you get to customize an equalizer on top of any media player’s own equalizer. [highlight ]You get a separate sound card[/highlight]; which in simpler terms mean you can pump up the bass really high.

[divider]Reasons You might Buy it[/divider]

In my opinion, buying this phone as a novelty rather than a device essential for life is more meaningful. It does not have a very impressive performance capability, and you would be better off buying a cool music player if you are that much of a music enthusiast. The internal storage just won’t do for the vast amount of media a phone is expected to handle.

It has an impressive retro design, all golden and black, all of which might amount to better maintenance requirements, if anything. With a price tag of $590, this is not a really sane choice to go for this year.

So in its entirety, Marshall London is an amp you can run internet on. I suggest you go for functionality over style.