Gadget Review: Sony A845 Walkman

What's hot:

Enjoy a good dose of music mania on the go with the latest Sony Walkman A845 music player that can only be described as a sleek chic alternative to the uber-expensive iPod. Its mean screen, long battery life, in-box goodies and features by the dozen make it a ‘hot’ buy this festive season.

What's not:

Some of the reasons that may put you off the Sony A845 Walkman player include lack of a voice recorder and no support for commonly used video formats like DivX, FLAC and Xvid. Besides, the earphones that come bundled in-box do not deliver much clarity, while the player’s screen is quite small, making it troublesome to view videos and photos.

Remember Sony’s cassette Walkman, the first affordable portable music player that everyone had back in the nineties? Well, a few days ago Sony announced that it would stop the production of this now- obsolete piece of technology. After all, whoever uses cassettes any more, what with the ubiquitous iPod stashed in everyone’s pockets these days! That was just a bit of nostalgic trivia for you!

Now, if you aren’t so much of an iPod person, Sony has come out with an ultra-sleek Walkman music player, similar to Apple’s iPod nano. The only difference- it’s a whole lot cheaper!

The Sony A845 Walkman music player is one of the slimmest music players to have hit the market since the iPod. At just 7.2mm, this music player is almost as thick, or should we say thin as the newly launched iPod Touch.

Sony’s latest Walkman music player is similar to its previously launched players, except that it packs in a whole new range of amazing features. For one, its interface is much more organized. You can choose to jump between categories like album, artist, and genre or even browse through your music folder-wise. Another great feature is that when you enter a particular category, for example if you choose to look for music according to the artist, you can scroll vertically through this list or you can even choose to scroll sideways to move through different artists alphabetically.

What makes this music player stand apart from Sony’s previous Walkman players is its 2.8-inch OLED display, which has a resolution of 400x420 pixels. This means that you can view photos and watch videos on this player on the go!

The Sony A845 Walkman music player also offers a range of features that include the ability to choose between audio options like Studio, Live, Club, Arena, matrix and the hugely popular Karaoke, which means that you will be able to belt out your favorite songs! Another useful feature is the optional noise cancellation system that blocks out noise depending on where you are. So if you happen to be in a train, bus, airplane or in the office, you can choose to switch on the appropriate level of this feature and voila you will be able to enjoy you’re music sans any external noise!

Bundled in the Sony A845 Walkman box is a pair of earphones with three pairs of ear tips in different sizes. Also packed in is a USB data cable that transfers music from your computer on to the player with ease. You will also find another cable that will specifically come in handy when you travel in an airplane. And, if you plan to use this player on a sound dock, the bundled adaptor can be utilised.

VERDICT 3.5/5

The A845 Walkman music player plays music for 29 hours at a go and videos for around 9 hours. So you can get to enjoy an entire day of uninterrupted music wherever you are!

At Rs 8,990 for the 8GB version (A844) and Rs 11,990 for the 16GB model (A845), Sony’s latest Walkman music player is a  good buy as against Apple’s iPod Touch which is almost double the price.