4.0 out of 5 stars
It Needs Buttons... (A very biased review)
Reviewed in the United States on 19 February 2020
I really would like to give this MP3 player 2/5 stars, but because it is advertised as touch screen and does it's job, I give it 4/5.
Yes, I am that person that needs buttons on their electronics. I have a Blackberry Key2 as a phone, and before that, I had a Nokia E90... I refused for so long to get a smartphone because none of them had any buttons. I need buttons! So when the Blackberry Key2 came out, I grabbed it ASAP, and I just deal with the touch screen feature. With this said, my review will be pretty one-sided.
I'm coming from the Sony Walkman predecessor, the NWZ-E380. This is the one with buttons and no touchscreen. I loved it so much but with over-use, my headphone jack somehow got damaged. I couldn't use headphones with it because I'd only hear through one ear, so I opted for wireless headphones. Since the old MP3 player didn't have bluetooth capabilities, I bought a transmitter for the device. Despite everyone making fun of me, I was still having the problem of hearing only through one ear. So I went out and bought the bluetooth capable Sony Walkman NW-A55. An expensive buy, might I add.
After using it for awhile I found a lot of pro's and con's.
The device takes FOREVER to turn on. I'm not used to such lag. (I'm from NYC where I'm used to everything in a quick pace, just to give you reference). But every time you turn on your device it "creates the database". Why? Why every time? I don't get it.
The font is too tiny, and there's no way to change it. I have pictures up so you can see. I need reading glasses, and my poor eye sight will get worse just trying to read this tiny font.
I can connect via bluetooth with my headphones no problem. No need to sync every time, if you keep the bluetooth finder on, it'll automatically find it again. I was able to successfully connect with my car (Toyota Corolla), and it plays crisp. I'm happy with that. I have yet to drive through a tunnel and underwater, but I have driven on highways and crowded streets (being from Brooklyn/Bronx) and I have not had interference from other bluetooth users. Walking down the street, a did get a little static (not every time though), but it was probably how I was holding the MP3 player. I did not disconnect at any point. I have no need to use the "bluetooth receiver" function, so I didn't get to try that out.
The volume can get loud! No external speakers noted.
Now... when it comes to driving... I'm the type to always wear my seat belt, signal before switching lanes, etc. I'm super careful. I do not text and drive, and I do not like to scan through my MP3 player to find an artist to listen to as I drive. With my old MP3 player, because I had buttons, I was able to drive and hit buttons at the same time without having to look at the screen. I already knew how to navigate my MP3 player blindly. This is one reason why I miss having buttons. I could have multi-tasked. That's not the case with this newer MP3 player. If you're skilled and dangerous where you don't mind eyeballing the road and your MP3 player at the same time, be my guest... But if you like to be safe and keep everyone else safe as you drive, you'd be upset with the touch screen. You cannot scroll through your artists via car, like you could with your phone's contacts/messages. At least, not in my type of car. It would have made the touchscreen more tolerable if I were able to control the MP3 players using the screen in my car. But no. You can only scroll through via MP3 player... And I hate that; that's dangerous for me. Even when I walk, with my old one, I was hitting the buttons, changing artists without looking. And I walk fast. Now I can't, I have to slow down or stop to look down and change the artist. All because there are no button to do this. And I've tried using the side buttons. It doesn't switch artists.
Mind you, I upload my music via external microSD. Maybe it'd be different if I uploaded my music straight to the internal storage? I don't know, you try it and come back to me.
That's another thing, I love how you can play music from a microSD. I can store all my audiobooks on there.
Yes, you can have the screen shut off with the MP3 player still playing, so you don't risk accidentally changing anything.
No, you cannot have bluetooth headphones connected with wired headphones at the same time (I tried).
In addition, after charging my MP3 player, the playback settings always revert to default. It's super annoying!!!!
Oh one more thing; when switching to the next song, there is a bit of delay. It's not an immediate switch. Again, I listen to music via external microSD, so that could be it...? But I doubt it. It's just annoying. I'm coming from such a fast pace old MP3 player living my fast pace life, navigating my devices without looking... and all that changed with this MP3 player. Everything is a lot slower.
So ergo my 2/5 stars for no buttons and causing me to change my life... but because I knew this is a touchscreen and it is what it is... with some minor flaws, I give this a final score of 4/5 stars.
I'll update this review if I find something new.
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