Hands-on Sony Walkman NWZ-S639F: yet another non-video Walkman

We don't know enough adjectives to really explain to you how Sony's latest Walkman sounds (will "good" suffice?). Nor can we show you in video. We can tell you that it's small, really small, with a crisp, clean display and UI familiar to you A820-series lovers. Even better, we can drop in a gallery of Sony's top of the line, 16GB, NWZ-S639F nuzzled up close to the NWZ-A828 as proof of its tinytude. As good as this player is, it's still just another dedicated Walkman player with an itty bitty, 2-inch display. We're so over dedicated DAPs Howard, isn't it time you produced a full-screen Video Walkman?

Gallery: Hands-on Sony Walkman NWZ-S639F: yet another non-video Walkman

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[StalematE @ Aug 28th 2008 1:48PM]

*cough* stupid *cough*

[Lars @ Aug 28th 2008 3:14PM]

Stop talking about yourself.


On Topic: this PMP seems alright, I guess. I don't like the circular button thing, they could come up with a better interface than that. I'd have to know the price to say whether it's worth it's weight.

[Gaz @ Aug 29th 2008 6:25AM]

that circular button thong has been on the walkmans a while now and its actually rather good...IMO....a simple press top bottom or either side does exactly what its supposed to do with the "ears" operating the menus...if its the same as the NW808 its really easy to use

[Dave Chappelle @ Aug 29th 2008 7:40AM]

dude you know your stupid and if you want video there is always the NWZ A82's. It all depends on what you want. and btw those drill the ipod.

its so weird reading through all the 'ipod this ipod that' comments on everything on this site, something so dominant does not need fkn fanboys swarming to its defence every SINGLE GOD DAMN DAY!

[Ryan @ Aug 28th 2008 1:51PM]

Does anyone know if the voice recording capabilities will be decent? I wanted to buy a digital recorder (one of the olympuses) and do you think that this would be a decent alternative?

[phanbouy @ Aug 28th 2008 1:52PM]

awesome! a low-featured, gimmicky device that's sure to be overpriced and have abysmal battery life from a wasteful, and likely fragile, screen!

[jekoln @ Aug 28th 2008 1:59PM]

sigh

[phanbouy @ Aug 28th 2008 2:06PM]

bah.. still seems like a gimmicky undistinguished trinket to me.

now, have it come in yellow like their old sport CD walkmen that'd more durable, water/sweatproof, etc, now we have a niche.

[Al @ Aug 28th 2008 2:10PM]

Sony usually has good battery life. The Sony A728 I purchased gets 34 hours of audio and 6 for video and that device has a 2.4in screen. I dunno about you but that pretty solid battery life. Is no Cowon D2 in the battery department, but the battery life is 10 hours more than the current Nano with a 2in screen.

[anonymousaversa @ Aug 28th 2008 2:30PM]

...and Murray, present.

[Ludovic @ Aug 28th 2008 5:41PM]

Actually Walkman are descently priced, have usually the best sound quality, phenomenal battery life, and good quality build. Also all of them play video very well.

I mean, I still use iPods, but these are right next to them.

[Anonymoose @ Aug 28th 2008 3:01PM]

surely you feel deep shame after a low ranked post and low ranked comment to your low ranked post. surely you will need the soothing sounds of michael bolton to soothe you with sounds and with boltons on your soothing ipod.

[CT A @ Aug 28th 2008 4:07PM]

"awesome! a low-featured, gimmicky device that's sure to be overpriced and have abysmal battery life from a wasteful, and likely fragile, screen!"

Oh! You mean the iPod?

[Cunthor @ Aug 29th 2008 1:13AM]

For someone that has the A series walkman, you couldn't be more wrong. The supplied EX headphones are the best bundled headphones by any manufacturer today. Secondly, battery life is around 30 hours and I charge my player once a week (if not less). Lastly, unlike some other players with delicate screens and fragile bodies, I keep my player bare in the same pockets as my keys. So far, not even a single scratch on the screen, and even the body paint is still 100% black. You buy a walkman mp3 players for the quality of sound, and these little guys deliver. Have a listen actually, and prove me wrong.

[fanman @ Aug 29th 2008 4:04AM]

"have it come in yellow like their old sport CD walkmen that'd more durable, water/sweatproof,"

Sorry, did you just claim that the colour of a walkmen (more than one walkman?) dictates how durable and water resistant it is?

[jekoln @ Aug 28th 2008 1:53PM]

you can hate on these players all you want engadget, but after using a lot of mp3 players in my life, i love these because they're simple, small (without being too small), use drag and drop, sound great, have great battery life, etc.

[micklol @ Aug 28th 2008 2:03PM]

note the words he uses: sounds "good" , "small, really small" with a "crisp, clean display"

How is this hate?

[connor power @ Sep 11th 2008 6:12PM]

how do i put videos on it?

[Conor @ Aug 28th 2008 1:57PM]

I've never put a video on my iPod. Don't see the need to watch TV when I'm out and about.
The last Sony mp3 player I had was the NW-HD5 and never had a single problem with it. In fact if it worked with my Mac I would still be using it.

[phanbouy @ Aug 28th 2008 2:17PM]

sure but does it sync with iTunes, or another media player?

for me, the most important thing is streamlining song/library management with my main media player. i don't have time to manage it separately, drag/drop, etc.

[decypher44 @ Aug 28th 2008 2:21PM]

I'll give you a real-world application for video on the iPod:

For the last three years, I brought my iPod with me to jury duty. Waiting in the jury lobby for HOURS goes by a little faster as I watch Family Guy epis (and movies), South Park, etc.

[phanbouy @ Aug 28th 2008 2:58PM]

wow the sony fanboys are out in force today.

if asking if media player syncing gets you a low rank these days, then engadget's become nothing more than a brand-loyalty e-peen contest

[ScooterDe @ Aug 28th 2008 3:07PM]

@phanbuoy, try dragging tracks from iTunes (a glorified browsser) into your player. Easy, wasn't it?
Sort of like...dragging them into a playlist, or into your iPod within iTunes.

[Anonymoose @ Aug 28th 2008 3:29PM]

i agree with phanbouy. we should definitely low rank people for praising itunes and saying that it's the best and only way of music-life, which he so totally did.

[Nugent @ Aug 28th 2008 4:17PM]

The new Sony mp3 players (once they abandoned SonicStage) can sync with WMP, but not iTunes. I believe that they support a few other media players besides WMP too. I personally prefer dragging and dropping though.

[Josh Warner @ Aug 28th 2008 2:05PM]

For the sound-adjective challenged, here is a handy reference:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/describing-sound-glossary-220770/

[Christian @ Aug 28th 2008 2:13PM]

I too have been waiting for Sony to release a PMP more than a DAP especially since they got the small OLED already handled. I guess they wont since they got Mylo and PSP-3000 coming up. But I want a big storage like the iPod, Zune, Archos, etc...

[Rubicon @ Aug 28th 2008 2:15PM]

Yet another Fail

[helloUser @ Aug 28th 2008 2:19PM]

Awesome, a simple mp3 player that handles mp3s VERY well. This is exactly what I want:

small size, long battery life, drag and drop, amazing sound, customizable EQ. I dont care for video, radio, recording or the sorts, i just want it to do ONE thing: music. If this came in 32gb id probably be sold, but i dont want to downgrade (in terms of capacity) from my Sony HD5.

[non-video? @ Aug 28th 2008 2:21PM]

non-video? There's video, dummies. It's highlighted in the picture. I think the 1000th monkey at engadget broke its typewriter. Actually, engadget is probably more like 1 monkey with 1000 typewriters.

[decypher44 @ Aug 28th 2008 2:23PM]

I was thinking the same thing. Is the "Film" icon real or PShopped? If it's real, I can't imagine what it would be for besides video.

[Anonymoose @ Aug 28th 2008 3:13PM]

i think it's pretty clear that the icon is a picture of two ladders and platforms. a donkey game port, no doubt. just ignore those other pictures showing videos being played.

[WhoCares @ Aug 28th 2008 3:43PM]

By non-video, it probably means that the phone cannot take/record videos. Playing a video is a no-brainer.

[Anonymoose @ Aug 28th 2008 3:57PM]

o'reilly? then i have some more interesting news for you. this here phone doesn't even make phone calls. weird, huh? talk about no-brainer.

[Rhino @ Aug 28th 2008 2:21PM]

As a HD5 user, I am pretty much love SONY due to the long long long battery life(with ATARC3 definitely). I use my HD5 at least 10 hrs/week and I charge it less than once every month! I am planning to change the HDD inside to some kind of SSD in the future. Since SONY stopped to put ATARTC3 in US models, I guess I have to get my next mp3 player from my friends in Japan in the future.

[fred @ Aug 28th 2008 7:19PM]

battery life and sound quality were already very good with previous models.
question is whether the screen is 12bit color or whatever like the past walkmen

has the ui improved.can you alter the orientation of the gui. i have a 728 and long file names are a pain.
it also has trouble with mp3 date year:P
and no podcast/audiobook directory to make sure shuffle doesn't become useless.
and slow seeking.
and without an audiobook dir it really doesn't have bookmarking. oddly it does save position on video, but not really on audio as it only remembers position of last song which isn't much use.

and of course it supports video, even their two previous models of that size/line had video. if its similar its about 10 hours mpeg4,9 hours h.264 baseline..cabac off. makes using video something usable because it won't wipe out your battery:P

as for the guy that likes atrac, theres no advantage to using attrac in a modern device. importing an attrac device from japan is just silly. these newer walkman support high bitrate aac and mp3.

[helloUser @ Aug 28th 2008 2:22PM]

Why does engadget title the article of the sony mp3 player as 'non-video' when it clearly DOES play videos???

[sjdurfey @ Aug 28th 2008 2:33PM]

yes it does play video http://www.sony.ca/view/press_579.htm

[bandigolo @ Aug 28th 2008 2:31PM]

what the deuce?

all sony's new digital walkmans play video.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=16178

[bandigolo @ Aug 28th 2008 2:33PM]

sorry, wrong link

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644578901

[Darkstone @ Aug 28th 2008 2:34PM]

I, too, am confused as to why they say no video, and then post pictures of the device playing a video...

[754Boy @ Aug 28th 2008 2:45PM]

I was about to say the same thing. The article said no video but the picture clearly shows "Video Library". What's going on???

[Alex @ Aug 28th 2008 2:36PM]

it says Video Library....'nuff said.

btw, I have the A728, great player, great sq, great battery life.
but I'm selling it because I like my Cowon D2(8gb+8gb sd card) more.

[Nomi @ Aug 28th 2008 2:57PM]

Maybe it means they don't have a video of it yet... ;)

[Anonymoose @ Aug 28th 2008 2:59PM]

so like where do i put in my cassette tape? i'm trying to get my rock on to some whitesnake.

[phanbouy @ Aug 28th 2008 3:03PM]

i tried playing a culture club tape at the bike shop i was working at but it was all warbly and distorted. what a shame. i even did my hair just right for the occassion.

[Anonymoose @ Aug 28th 2008 3:31PM]

huh? what kind of hairstyle do people riding huffys sport?

[Wicker24 @ Aug 28th 2008 5:01PM]

A flock of seaguls haircut I assume!

[promar93 @ Aug 28th 2008 3:01PM]

I have a sony A series and I know it plays video. I wouldn't see any reason why this one doesn't. Oh, Oh and the fact it shows video. wait what this an attempt to get comments on this article

[Russ @ Aug 28th 2008 3:08PM]

i love how it looks like my w800i sony ericsson walkman phone.. i can only imagine how much better the sound is on this player.. yum.. do want..