OK, technically, I won a Beosound 6 (in the last Prize Draw). Unfortunately it went missing, and Lee offered a Serenata instead which of course I accepted. I'm told there's a few people out there who don't believe they can win a prize so I thought I'd let them know they can!!!
So, I'm now the proud owner of a brand new (security seal was intact!) Serenata. I already own a Serene (and before people start thinking 'not fair, he's rich and he won a prize!' I should mention I'm not rich and did have to stretch my finances quite a bit to get the Serene), and I absolutely love it. So it's great to have the chance to compare the two. I never knew quite what to make of the Serenata at launch, and I still don't!
It's a very odd product, a 3G phone with music player. The form factor is also odd, I don't think it looks as nice as the Serene but it feels very well put together and the materials feel great. The speaker is bizarre, not sure what I was expecting but the sound quality is good for such a tiny thing, even if it can't (obviously) provide much volume. The method of dialling numbers has been commented on before, it really is mad! It has a rudimentary touch screen as well as the scrollwheel and the way the two are used together is either genius or insane. Certainly it seems (and is) old fashioned compared to an iPhone. An example - you can touch the screen to select music, then scroll through the tracks using the wheel. Having used an iPhone, the temptation is to try and scroll using the touchscreen - but it's not a multi-touch screen, so it doesn't work! Of course in terms of functionality, and ease of us, the iPhone is light years ahead. But everyone and his dog has an iPhone.
Of course, the Serenata is now gone from the B&O product list, so I guess it never found its purpose or market. I can see why, but there is something appealing about it.
I haven't yet had a chance to play with it very much, or to get my own music onto it (although I quite like the jazz and so on that comes pre-loaded; I guess that illuminates B&O's - probably correct - assumptions about their traditional customers). It doesn't seem to work with a Mac, so I've dug out a copy of Windows XP (yuk) to put on my computer. I'll report back again when I've set that up and so had a chance to try Serenata out properly.
All in all, not sure about Serenata as a product, but feeling very lucky to have got one as a prize! So anyone that hasn't won anything yet, don't be disheartened, I never thought I'd win anything either!