Hands-on Sony Walkman NWZ-S639F: yet another non-video Walkman
By Thomas Ricker 
posted August 28th 2008 1:40PM
posted August 28th 2008 1:40PM
posted August 28th 2008 1:40PM
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boo i don't see the silver/orange one on the website.... that one looks pretty nice
Is there actually a market for those? am i mistaken in saying that such piece of crap will only serve to sink the company?
"We're so over dedicated DAPs Howard, isn't it time you produced a full-screen Video Walkman?"
In spite of using the phrase "DAP," I think maybe the gist here is a lack of full-screen display (which I guess means a screen that covers 75-99% of the face?). Talk about your all-time confusing posts.
Anywho, I rather the looks of these. I'm actually in the market for a 16GB-ish, durable, great sounding, simple, pocket-sized DAP. I don't care about video, but I do want an LCD screen of some kind. Long battery life is nice. Something that I can use running or at the gym, but also sounds like a piece of HiFi equipment. Preferably in the $100-$150 range.
Minus the stupidly small HD's on these Sony's, they seem to fit the bill? Thoughts? Alternatives?
Agreed. My first thought when I saw this was: Finally, somebody out there decided to compete with the iPod, and isn't doing a half bad job of it. These are pretty, simple, small, and judging from the review, just work with minimal fuss.
This one doesn't pander to the "I hate the iPod" crowd, it doesn't have an FM radio or other niche feature to differentiate - instead it takes on the iPod head on, it's going for the exact same market.
Aside from the kick-ass LCD TVs, this shows that S is on the rebound.
I think it actually will have an FM tuner, er, at least some of the current similar models have that.
It just occurred to me that this doesn't have an SD expansion slot though... that's kinda weak. That would add much cost or real estate. Why they wouldn't include that is beyond me.
I have an A829. 16 GB
Sound qualty is great, so is battery life, its very light and small enough to fit into the small pocket of my jeans, will work on Mac or Pc with drag and drop or (when on windows) with nearly any media player that supports mtp or msc - windows media, winamp, media monkey etc.
I don't know about this one, but my samsung t10 has incredible recording. The mike is so sensitive that i can listen in to people's conversations from far away. I'd consider that if you want an mp3 player that can record.
I'm surprised no one commented on how much it looks like the Zune.
I think they didn't because it doesn't.
And, as others said, it plays video. What gives, engadget? Oktoberfest isn't happening for a few more weeks, what's your excuse?
I think Zephyr is referring to the mickey mouse button layout.
But that's where the comparison ends.
If it weren't for me being tied so comfortably to the Zune software and the way everything works so well on the Zune, this would definitely be top on my flash MP3 player choice. This thing looks fantastic, and no doubt has an extremely sharp screen.
And their prices are not bad at all. I guess it needs some sort of touch based input to be relevant to people here. This thing is awesome for the class its in.
The button layout does, but the GUI doesn't. It also looks thicker.
Say... do you really absolutely need those 7 inches in your pocket every day? Why not get a EEE then? Its the best PMP I can think of (not the most portable though). I can think of watching a movie on a 15-incher (laptop) when I'm away from PC but watching movies on anything smaller is just... not my thing. I still prefer my 30-inch monitor for movies. My opinion - mp3 player is just for music.
What 7inches are you talking about?
what type of dockingstation is the one on the picture connected with the mp3player?
http://products.sel.sony.com/walkman/
1) love the large, convave BACK and OPTION buttons. Nice change from small crappy buttons cylindrical or rectangle buttons.
2) love the convex PLAY/PAUSE button
3) love the concave-ish dpad
All good for in-the-pocket tactile feel.
Linear PCM (wav) support is good, but c'mon Sony, do what you did with Vegas Video, Sound Forge, etc...support FLAC natively:
http://flac.sourceforge.net
Would buy if it had removable storage & batteries and FLAC support (isn't fixed storage and embedded batteries and tagless lossless audio so 1997?).
Just curious... what happened to your 'Sports' S2 range?
Are you ever going to be offering better than 5mW+5mW (into 16ohms) amps with these things? Tis quite puny to drive bigger headphones at home. Some more substantial improvements in future, I hope.
Seriously, engadget, you can go back and edit the incorrect title of the post and we won't laugh at you. It's aggravating to see it just staring at us, all wrong and everything. This device plays video.
There is a video icon in there you imbeciles.
I get the feeling they were being sarcastic with the title. A small screen makes this less than optimal for video viewing. HOWEVER, I still love Sony players for their sound quality so I'll be getting this anyway.
Sony. Please, please build a iPod Classic 160Gb competitor. Forget about the PC software, iTMS competitor and so on and just make it USB mass storage. In fact forget about the PMP software and just use Rockbox.
Focus on making it simple to use, with high quality sound while fixing all the minor annoyances on the iPod like the hardwired battery, proprietary connectors and so on.
"1) love the large, convave BACK and OPTION buttons. Nice change from small crappy buttons cylindrical or rectangle buttons.
2) love the convex PLAY/PAUSE button
3) love the concave-ish dpad
All good for in-the-pocket tactile feel.
Linear PCM (wav) support is good, but c'mon Sony, do what you did with Vegas Video, Sound Forge, etc...support FLAC natively:
http://flac.sourceforge.net"
first of all flac at flash capacity is pretty silly at this point.
as for the buttons, yes its nice to be able to change songs and volume while in pocket. i don't like touch controls for music, just not convenient in actual use.
the bad.... the slow seeking of all the units i've tried from 61x 81x 72/82x slow seek. and such buttons have very little feedback so you kinda mash it down hard for a long seek, and its very easy to let up pressure and do a double tap by accident going to next track and totally screwing everything up.
battery, not all that important, by the time it wears out the thing will be worth less than the battery cost.
*FLAC is worthwhile to me because I don't care about carrying my whole collection with me. 12 albums per 4-5GB is fine by me. In fact rarely need any more, unless it's video storage (which I don't even find important now)
*removable battery is more than just about longevity/replacement issues. It's so I don't have to worry about charging the device, ever...and I never have to worry if it's low 'cause I always have a spare battery, wherever I am. I always carry spares with my current Hi-MD unit, which still can't be replaced with any of these poseurs.
Re: battery replacement and market value:
How much it's worth *to me* is what matters, not its market value. I don't subscribe to the "battery's dead, let's toss it and upgrade coz it's worthless, financially" way of thinking. Good devices I want to keep for at least 5+ years. It's against my nature to be that wasteful - good devices that don't have removable batteries and storage I simply don't buy. Which is weird because the phone market is all about removable flash & batteries while the traditional Walkman non-phones is all about embedded garbage.
you can see a test of Sony Walkman on http://www.ilogan.info/?p=804
Is it possible that the firmware of this player (with the SensMe feature on it) will be available as a download for the a820 series?