Sony NWZ-A818 MP3 Player

Product information:

Sony NWZ-A818 is a wonderful MP3 player with its sleek, nice black finish, large display screen and traditional Sony single icon display for features. It is sure to please its users to a great extent.

Design and features:

Sony NWZ – A818 has a very elegant finish though it is not so flashy and it comes in three different versions 2 GB, 4 GB and 8 GB. Sony NWZ-A818 has a 2-inch QVGA display. There are three circular controls on for navigation control.

First we could see a tiny power/option key and then we have a back/home button to the right. To the left we have huge play/pause key surrounded by four other directional controls. There is a volume rocker at the right edge and we have a hold switch and proprietary dock at the back.

There are numerous extra features. One such unique feature is to activate screensaver. Transferring data into this MP3 player is so easy. It could be done through any windows jukebox like windows media player and rhapsody.

JPEG file formats are supported for photos and MPEG4 and M4V formats for video. The player supports protected WMA files and ACC tracks as well and we have an array of easily customizable EQ options.

Specification:

Product type: Digital player

PC interface(s) supported: Hi-Speed USB

Amplifier total output power: 10 mW

Flash memory installed: 8 GB Integrated

Color: Black

Included accessories: Docking station adapter

Software type: Drivers & Utilities, Microsoft Windows Media Player 11

Supported digital audio standards: AAC, MP3, PCM, WMA, Protected WMA (DRM 10)

Playback modes: Continuous, Repeat all, One track repeat

Response bandwidth: 20 - 20000 Hz

Additional features: JPEG photo playback

Audio system built-in display: TFT

Diagonal size: 2 inch

Resolution: 240 x 320

Amplifier output channel qty: 2

Sound effects: Clear Bass

Amplifier response bandwidth: 20 - 20000 Hz

Video playback support: MPEG-4, M4V

Still image format: JPEG

Digital audio standards supported: MP3, WMA, AAC-LC, Linear PCM

Equalizer type: Built-in

Equalizer factory preset qty: 5

Headphones type: Binaural In-ear ear-bud

Cable(s) included: External, 1 x USB cable, 1 x Headphones extender

Connector type: 1 x Headphones Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1 x USB

Battery: Lithium ion Rechargeable Player battery Integrated

Mfr estimated battery life: 33 hour(s)

Recharge time: 3 hour(s)

Peripheral / Interface devices: USB port

Operating system: Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later

Performance:

Sony NWZ – A818 works wonderfully in all aspects. The battery life lasts 35 hours for audio and 8 hours of video. The overall speed of the device is quite good. The display is very good and the photos and videos look very good on the display screen.

Images are captured with utmost sharpness and good color saturation. The sound clarity is really excellent and all the instruments played are heard clearly. Most of the common extras like FM tuner, voice recorder and memory expansion slot are missing. But still we have some good features as well.

The headphone provided along with the set is of very good quality. In most of the MP3 player sets and iPods we need to use a superior quality iPod to get better results. But this is not the case here but the headset cord length is very small.We also have an application called funTime Machine Shuffle which allow us to play songs by selecting a year.

The good:

Sony NWZ-A810 is a very compact, slim player with excellent finish. The screen is so large and the interface is very easy to use. The main highlight is its audio quality which is superior to all the other MP3 players in the market. We have photo and video playback and WMA subscription as added advantages.

The bad:

Though the earphone is of excellent quality the cord accompanying it is very short. The physical design is very good to look at with three circular controls but not so convenient to use with hold button at the back. Traditional extras like FM radio, voice recorder and memory expansion slot are missing.

The bottom line:

Sony NWZ-A810 could be rated excellent considering it as an overall package. Though there are some drawbacks this is undoubtedly one of the best MP3 players available in market today.

Rating: 4 star rating ****

4 Stars (Excellent):

A product with 4 star rating scores high on its overall performance and usability. This product meets all of its intended users' needs and has no significant drawbacks.