Sony NW-A800

Infobox Information appliance
name = Sony Walkman NW-A800 Series



manufacturer = Sony Corporation
type = Portable media player
ATRAC Audio Device [http://www.sony.net/Products/ATRAC3/special/audio_device.html]
display = 240x320 2" 262k TFT
LED Backlight
connectivity = WM-PORT
USB 2.0 Compliant
os = Sony Proprietary OS
power = Li-Ion Battery
non user replaceable
storage = 2 GB (NW-A805)
4 GB (NW-A806)
8 GB (NW-A808)
Solid-state Drive
dimensions = 44.5 x 88.0 x 9.6 mm
weight = 1.9 oz.
predecessor = NW-S700 Series
successor = NW-A810 Series
related = Sonicstage, ATRAC, Walkman

The Sony NW-A80x, is a series of network enabled video Walkman players, announced late 2006 and released on 19 May 2007.On 19 May 2007, only the NW-A806 (4 GB) and the NW-A808 (8 GB) model were released. On 13 June 2007, Sony announced that the NW-A800 (2 GB) will be included in the series and soon be available to the public.

The Sony NW-A80x and NWZ-A81x series start at approximately £89 GBP for the 2 GB model, £99 GBP for the 4 GB model and £129 GBP for the 8 GB model. In the USA prices start at approximately $119 USD for the 2 GB model, $149 USD for the 4 GB model and $199 USD for the 8 GB model although, prices may vary.

Design

The Sony NW A800 has a sleek design. The whole body is encased with high quality metal, and has a glass covered 2.0" LCD display. The three control buttons below display are arranged to make up the Walkman logo in the front. Additionally, there is a chrome-like strip made of polished metal surrounding the device. Overall, the design of NW A800/810 is in the same style with Sony's preceding Walkman model, NW-A1000/3000, which did not come to sale in United State. Both of them features a surrounding metal strip and deliberately arranged control buttons to mimic Walkman logo. The available color for NW-A810/800 model are black, white, purple and pink in Japan.

Operation

Navigation is handled via three circular controls on the front of the player: a power/option key, a back/home button, and a four-way control pad surrounding a central play/pause key.A dedicated volume rocker sits on the right edge of the player The walkman contains a 2" QVGA LCD screen, of which can be used horizontally or vertically.
The interface is composed of nine icons organized in a 3X3 square. Icons will be highlighted and magnified as you scroll through them. The operation system offers searching function, letting user be able to search for a song based on artist, album, release year and genre. This player is an ATRAC Audio Device [ [http://www.sony.net/Products/ATRAC3/special/audio_device.html Sony Atrac AD] ] , which relies on Sonicstage program to manage music. For music management and song transfer, this unit have to use Sonicstage.

Performance

The NW-800 well inherit the quality from Walkman family. This model use CS42L51 audio chip from Cirrus Logic.
The sound character of this player mentioned as strong but not overwhelming bass with warm and enveloping mid combined with good and clear highs. [ [http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/musicplay/0,39050466,40337085p,00.htm CNET Review of NW-A808] ] EX series headphone supplied together with the NW-A800 give better soundstage and rich bass out of the box. The headphone is rating as excellent with a distinctive quality among other bundled headphones. [ [http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/digitalmusic/0,39029994,49288721-2,00.htm| CNET Review of NW-A808] ]
Thanks to the use of flash memory, the NW-A810/800 exhibits speedy processing without any lag. Battery life claimed to provide 35.5 hours of audio play and 8 hours for video, which is above average of this class. [ [http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665366458 Specification on SonyStyle] ] This player marked as a Sony return to MP3 Player war with its cutting edge features, slim and high quality casing, handy controls, Sony’s trademark sound quality, and brilliant display. [ [http://www.mobile-review.com/mp3/review/sony_A800-en.shtml Review by Mobile Review] ]

Specifications

Notes and references

See also

* Walkman
* Sonicstage
* Sony
* ATRAC

External links

* [http://www.sony.co.uk/ http://www.sony.co.uk/]
* [http://www.sony.com/index.php http://www.sony.com/index.php]