Sony's NW-A800 launches

We were expecting the A800s March first, and with the ides of March marches in Sony's NW-A800 flash Network Walkman. Outfitted with up to 8GB of memory and a supposed 30 hour battery life (surely that's playing ATRAC files, as always), the A800 also has a 2-inch QVGA display -- not too bad, especially considering it plays back H.264 video. Audio codecs are the usual: AAC, WMA (sorry, no PlaysForSure support -- maybe Sony's being forward thinking here), MP3, and ATRAC. Models listed on Sony's Euro sites are A808 for the 8GB, A806 for the 4GB, and A805 for the 2GB -- what, was A808, A804, and A802 too hard to name 'em? Whatever their reasoning, we're a little baffled by the price: £199 for the 8GB, which is close to $400 US (that kind of pricing sound familiar?). Seriously. Granted, these will probably get a little cheaper when they head stateside, but we're definitely shaking our heads at you, Sony, on behalf of our European readership.

[Via Engadget Japanese]

[Richard @ Mar 1st 2007 3:04AM]

Why single out Sony for overcharging Europeans? The majority of consumer electronics companies doe it. I was comparing the prices of a Sharp LCD TV and a Pioneer DVD player and in both instances they were just under double the price of the US models. It’s the same with just about everything and cars that are manufactured in Britain can be bought cheaper abroad than they can in the UK.

Corporations know the British are stupid enough to pay these prices so there’s no reason to lower the prices. I personally import everything and cannot understand why people buy things like games consoles in the UK when the PAL versions are not only considerably more expensive but are often inferior (no component output on Xbox, no progressive scan Gamecube games, no backward compatibility in PS3, virtual console games that run 17.5% to slow and with big boarders on Wii).

Don’t blame the companies, blame the idiot consumers who buy the cut down over priced crap sold in Europe and particularly the UK. With a recent UN report showing that Britain has the lowest standard of education out of the 21 most economically developed nations the situation isn’t likely to change since most children couldn’t even calculate the price different to realise they’re being exploited.

[Veritas II @ Mar 1st 2007 3:13AM]

Engadget, and especially Ryan, doesn't like Sony. Nothing to do but get used to it.

[Revels @ Mar 1st 2007 7:23AM]

Way to paint all of us with the same brush there, bud. This is why I import most of my electricals, either from Japan(via Hong Kong) or the US and Canada. You can get stuff almost half price this way. Of course sometimes theres a tax charge but still it's waaaay below UK pricing.

[Lyris @ Apr 11th 2007 9:02PM]

Richard: I thought I was the only one. I'm sick of people over here just blindly accepting inferior stuff.

BTW, I have the Sony NW-A808 from Japan. It is absolutely fantastic, has a great interface, comes with astonishingly good headphones in the box, and most importantly of all, sounds brilliant.

[David @ Mar 1st 2007 3:19AM]

Ides of March = March 15

[joseyhasaboyfriend @ Mar 1st 2007 4:20AM]

You do realize they make their money in pounds over there right?
£5.35 ($10.08) an hour is their minimum wage over there...

[Archietype @ Mar 1st 2007 2:14PM]

£5.35 an hour really doesn't go that far considering how expensive everything is over here.

[A.A. @ Mar 1st 2007 4:31AM]

Cam it handle podcasts as easily as the iPod? Also appears to not offer any built-in games.

[Nick @ Mar 1st 2007 4:54AM]

Europeans have social services, high taxes and expensive everything. Americans make more money, have lower taxes, crappy social services and lots of cheap good stuff. Rock on, Wayne!

[Micha10589 @ Mar 1st 2007 7:19AM]

helloUser: You do realize that your sister wants a Nano, right? Get her a 4GB Nano (Product)RED and you will be her hero! And remember: Nothing beats the simplicity of the iPod GUI and the iTunes synching intelligence.

[Castle @ Mar 1st 2007 8:39AM]

The 8GB iPod nano is £169.00 in the UK. The NW-A800 is 30£ more expensive but adds Mpeg4 AVC video and WMA support.

Juvenile Engadget commentary aside, the price isn't entirely out of line compared to prices in Europe; Remember it contains VAT which is around ~20% sales tax.

[keith waddington @ Mar 1st 2007 9:56AM]

nick:

Americans make more money? LOL. Yes, what's the minimum wage there? I say there because you know so little about the rest of the world that you surely must be American.

And social services include not getting refused hospital treatment--cos you have no insurance--and dropping dead. Try spending that in your low tax paradise.

Keep smiling
waddo
http://www.waddo.net

[Tim Burns @ Mar 1st 2007 10:33AM]

"Americans make more money? LOL. Yes, what's the minimum wage there? I say there because you know so little about the rest of the world that you surely must be American."

Minimum wage doesn't matter, every per capita income list will have the United States in the top, well above the UK. Seems the US doesn't have the exclusive on ignorance.

"And social services include not getting refused hospital treatment--cos you have no insurance--and dropping dead. Try spending that in your low tax paradise."

You can't be refused treatment at a hospital with a life threatening condition, insurance or not. Besides that, only about 16% of the population isn't insured anyway.

[keith waddington @ Mar 1st 2007 11:22AM]

Mr Burns

The USA has a many more billionaires and millionaires than other developed countries, hence per capita numbers do not reveal the true levels of poverty. I would suggest you take a long trip in the deep south, preferably with your eyes open. Or maybe check out an Indian reserve in Montana. Hell, just look downtown where all the blacks are forced to live.

i was myself refused treatment in a US hospital many years ago. My problem was not life threatening, but I was not examined. Spot the problem? I sat on a bus for 2 days to get to canada and the safety of a country that considers health care a human right .So crash goes your seconds point.

Finally, there are 82 million people without health insurance. Crash goes your 16 per cent.

I wouldn't smile if I were you.

waddo

[TrueDis @ Mar 1st 2007 11:56AM]

All of this US/Europe stuff aside, this thing looks weak... Poor showing again, Sony.

[�COM-4 @ Mar 1st 2007 11:57AM]

Sony's philosophy is this: Throw enough sh*t at the DAP market and eventually it'll stick.

[Flaco @ Mar 1st 2007 12:17PM]

Endadget is always negative about Sony, that's fully right. I haven't seen this product yet, except these pictures, but how can you judge if you haven't tried it ??? I am sure the picture and sound quality is much higher than any other brand, as this is their core. Their only problem is software we know that, but it seems this a photo/video drag-and-drop.
And for once, the pricing is not over the rest (179€ for the 2Gb in Europe). And again, you have to see what it's worth... before being always negative because you are an IPod lover.

[mark123uk @ Mar 1st 2007 1:12PM]

These DAPs do look quite good, its a shame that they pale in comparison to the ipod nano, or sandisc sansa. although it looks like a better screen than the stupidly small nano screens,

BTW what do you lot use to import your stuff to the uk? im unsure what would be best cause iv had enough of rip off britian

Plus im sure the uks education isnt that bad. is it? though my sixth form does suck though

[�COM-4 @ Mar 1st 2007 1:34PM]

To SONY: The sh*t aint stick'n but it sure is stink'n...

COWON sound quality beats SONY sound quality not to mention every other category including looks, size, software, interface, features.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpXW3hnd7F0

[Genome @ Mar 1st 2007 1:45PM]

It looks like a w800i, not an insightful comment, but what the heck.

[Brandon Humphries @ Mar 1st 2007 5:59PM]

A thousand and one reasons enter my head as to why this product with be yet another huge failure for Sony. Its clunky, which might be acceptable for game consoles and DVD players, but is a huge no-no for something that your going to be carrying around on a regular basis. Until someone comes up with an interface as good or better than an iPods clickwheel (iRiver Clix is a pretty good try IMHO, ditto for the SanDisk players), the iPod will continue to reign and the competition will either be relegated to a tiny portion of the market (again, sandisk), or will fade into obscurity and humiliation (Creative, and soon Microsoft). And what the hell is up with no music store support? Or does that "Sony Connect" store still exist?

[helloUser @ Mar 1st 2007 5:42AM]

This is one of the most ignorant replies/comments ive seen anywhere in a long time.

First of all, since you seem to be on the ipod bandwagon, why is this DAP with dimensions as follows: 88.0mm x 43.8.0mm x 9.1m considered clunky? Its barely bigger than the holy ipod. So how do you come to that conclusion?

Two, iPods interface isnt a clickwheel, its a GUI, and its Creative's, get your facts straight.

Three, I do agree that the clickwheel is fastest.

Also, how often do you actually buy mp3s online? With that purchase you can do less than if u were to steal it, or buy the CD itself. If I were, id hardly make a complaint about that. iTunes music store is a joke, especially how the artists get the stick when it comes to the share of sales.

In my opinion though, the white one looks dead sexy, im going to consider buying it for my sisters birthday since i dont want her getting a nano.

[Michael D @ Mar 1st 2007 6:00PM]

Considering that this is supposed to be competition for the iPod Nano Sony have sure screwed up their prices. Looking on the UK SonyStyle website they are selling the 8GB A800 for £200 which is £30 more than Apple want for a Nano of the same spec.

Okay, so the A800 has (supposedly) better battery life but you'll lose that bonus if your music library hasn't been ripped at ATRAC3plus 132kbps. The video capability is nice but considering the DRM restrictions that Sony will no doubt have in place I'm sure that the feature will not be as universally useful as first thought.

I so want this thing to succeed and Sony have played catch-up well. Making the hardware is the easy part, now they just have to improve SonicStage with improved functionality and better podcast support.

Those fanboys harping on about the freaking clickwheel? It's a gimic; and not a very useful one at that.

[Silvabokis @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:40PM]

There's a video preview of the NW-A800 that I created here: http://silvabokis.typepad.com/silva_bokis/2007/03/new_sony_nwa800.html

[DSP @ May 2nd 2007 4:41AM]

First of all,

stop that EU/US crap. Go play at some political forum or something.

Second, The only ting iPod has got wright is marketing. That's the magic word. Brainwash people so much that they'll think iPod is the only, holy and best DAP in the world.

The good GUI? Stolen from Creative. The concept? Bought from Tony Fadell (http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/news/2004/07/64286)
SQ? bought from Portalplayer and Sigmatel. So there's not much left that Apple itself really did ey? Yes, the design. That's all.

Sony makes their GUI, Designs, Audio chips and concepts themselves.
I Have owned an iPod nano and own an Sony NW-A805. Sony's Soundquality is FAR superiour to almost ANY DAP on the market. And I speak out of experience!!

And those stupid guys who are talking about it being clunky? Go play with your feet.
It's rughly the same size as iPod nano. Fraction thicker, and a bit shorter.

Both iPod and Sony's DAP's are very good DAP's. But I just DETEST those people who are over fanatic and say iPod (or Cowon) products are better then everything and the rest is just crap even before trying the other devices.

The golden rule:
First get some hands on expeience, then SHARE your opinion.

greetz