Muve Music is more than a new music service for Cricket Wireless. It's also a musically inclined operating system that's deeply integrated with the phone's other calling and texting functionality. As a result, only compatible phones like the Samsung Suede (pictured) can take advantage of Cricket's $55 all-inclusive monthly plan.
An image of a music note in the center of the Suede's navigation array launches the Muve Music menu. You can also use it to access other features, like the home screen, which uses Samsung's TouchWiz 2.0 interface to personalize the phone with widgets. This is also the portal to the phone's tools, apps, address book, and dialer.
It's too bad there aren't hardware controls on a phone so dedicated to music, but the onscreen controls on this touch-screen cell phone worked well in our demo.
In addition to downloading full tracks and albums, you get recommendations, ringtones, and ringback tones. There's a song ID tool (Shazam) and streaming stations you can listen to by genre.
The 3-megapixel camera lens is on the back. A microSD card slot is beneath the back cover, never our favorite location; 4GB comes with the Suede and can hold around 3,000 songs. Unlike MP3s, however, the Muve Music services uses a Dolby Plus format that plays only on your mobile phone. You can't transfer songs to your computer.
