Sony NWZ-X1050 16GB > Reviews (2)

Sony NWZ-X1050 may not have the sophisticated, posh and trendy looks of iPod touch but it definitely looks smart and scintillating in its black granite texture on either sides giving it a rough features which makes it very secure in your hands. At least it has impressed me very much and I’m quite sure there are not many who will disagree. It is stuffed with loads of features the highlight being Sony NWZ-X1050 is first standalone MP3 player in Sony’s array of walkman ushering in the era of human touch screen navigation compatibility.

MAIN FEATURES:

1. Touch screen navigation
2. Web browser (integrated)
3. Wi-fi
4. Active noise canceling
5. OLED screen

DESIGN:

A sleek 97x52x10mm gadget that slips into your palm snugly. Begin to look from the top, there you will find the physical Play/Pause, Forward and Reverse buttons. You can control the volume or noise canceling options, which is in the form of a slider switch on the right hand side. All user inputs on the controls can be disabled or the touch screen can be de-activated by pressing the Hold button situated right on the back side of Sony NWZ-X1050. The location of the Hold buttons require a note of caution for inconsistent user because one just might unwilling set it into action. The Home button is at the bottom right below the touch screen. This is the power switch too.

FEATURES:

I must say that the video and photo reproduction of the 432x240 pixel resolution WQVGA screen is superlative. The color sensitivity is excellent and looks quite natural, even in direct sunlight there is no problem and the text are quite distinct.

The touch screen is quite sensitive as long as you touch them with bear fingers (please take care to remove your gloves while using it in winter). The navigation through albums is fast and silky.

INTERFACE:

The interface has no hidden tricks; you can get accustomed to it in a whiff. I have crammed it with about 100 songs and access to them is frankly lightening fast. The best thing is that the indexing is simple, in alphabetical order.

But my point of contention and disagreement is Sony NWZ-X1050’s total dependence on MTP USB connectivity with Windows PCs but with Windows Media Player 11 (XP has Windows Media Player 9 as default and you need an upgrade here, which is simple if your XP OS us not pirated because in that case Microsoft will not validate your request for the upgrade) the machine allows easy drag and drop transfer option.

SOFTWARE:

Sony’s Media Manager software for Walkman is an intelligent performer to say the least. The unit allows you to hook up with Mac or other OS and automatically goes into UMS mode. Some technology indeed!

PERFORMANCE:

Since Sony NWZ-X1050 has loads of positive points, I would like to emphasize on a strange trait that is unique to this gadget. It is an established fact that Youtube is a flash based platform and it works perfectly but except Youtube client the web-browser needs flash to be installed! Why? As far as my knowledge goes flash based platforms are flash based platforms, then why it’s enamored by Youtube client?

(I’ll be very happy if any one can explain this to me, something I have been wondering about and trying to resolve the issue but in vain!)

Considering Sony’s reputation for quality audio reproduction, NWZ-X1050’s audio performance is at most can be rated at as OK, but it’s a cut above the rest. It has got a reasonably functional 5 band customizable equalizer. But I would suggest sticking to the default settings. Except the Clear Stereo and DSEE sound enhancer options, others make hardly any difference.

The noise canceling aspect of the player is excellent it does most of it while the supplied ear-buds shuts of quite a chunk of external noise. Another negative is that noise-canceling option is compatible with the ear-bud that it comes with it while its audio performance is hardly mind blowing. The response on the higher frequencies is very gloomy, meaning it is not shrill where it is required. I don’t mind saying that the ear-bud’s performance on certain frequency packets is inconsistent.

If you are prepared to do away with full sized web pages the Wi-fi and NetFront browser works perfect but otherwise it is exceeding slow and unresponsive.

The video search is very painful because of its incapability to select multiple characters. Probably there is room improvement.

CONCLUSION:

No harm going for it. It’s worth its price at £196 but its availability is a criterion that is to be kept in mind.