Sony Walkman A845
With a profile of just 7.22mm, the slim-line Sony A845 is the Posh Spice of portable media players, and given Mrs Beckham’s penchant for top designer fashion, Sony’s latest MP3 is equally chic, albeit doesn’t cost as much to take out. Not that it matters, but it still doesn’t beat the Nano’s waif-like 6.2mm or curvaceous design.
User Interface – The User Interface is well organised and although it’s easy to navigate cannot rival Apples intuitive design. Nor is the Sony model as well equipped with Apps like the iPods Nano and Touch. Another minor weakness of the A845 is the buttons on the keypad sit flush to the player making it difficult to differentiate where the controls are positioned when trying to operate the device blind. This may not seem like a reasonable concern, but the next time you’re trapped next a larger than average person on public transport and unable to remove the player from your pocket, it will be.
Display – The 2.8 inch OLED display provides a sharp, clear picture and tilted horizontally has a reasonably sized widescreen which makes watching films just about bearable. One nice touch Sony has introduced with this MP3 is the wallpaper can be personalised with your own photographs.
Sound – Sony has always been synonymous with producing quality sound technology and the A845 is an audiophiles dream. Bundled ear buds are designed with a built-in noise reducing feature which promises to cancel out 98% of background interference. This innovative feature comes in three standards, train, plane and office, a touch of genius Apple designers can only dream about. The Clear bass, Clear Stereo and DSEE options ensure the low-end bass is hearty whilst the high-end picks up a remarkable amount of detail. Not only does the A-series support MP3, WMA, WAV and ACC files, together with software converting existing ATRAC files into MP3, the A845 is even compatible with iTunes.
Video – The high contrast ratio and sharpness of picture makes the A845, at the very least, comparable with its Apple rivals, if not slightly superior to the Nano. Where Sony definitely wins Brownie points though is the inclusion of BBC iPlayer and the super-quick response time. Having said that, this feature is only compatible with Windows supported operating systems, thus Mac owners will not see the benefit. Playback is silk-smooth and the impressive battery life and 16GB of memory makes the A845 an ideal companion for long journeys.
Memory
- Sony NWZ-845 16GB – 2000 songs, 8 hours video playback
- iPod Nano 8GB – 2000 songs, 8 hours video playback
- iPod Nano 16GB – 4000 songs, 16 hours video playback
- iPod Touch 8GB – 1750 songs, 10 hours video playback
- iPod Touch 32GB – 7000 songs, 40 hours video playback
- iPod Touch 64GB – 14000 songs, 30 hours playback
Battery Life
- Sony NWZ-A845 – 29 hours audio, 8 hours video
- iPod Nano – 24 hours audio, 5 hours video
- iPod Touch – 30 hours audio, 6 hours video
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