So far, the Sony Walkman series has been simply incredible. We have been eagerly waiting for the release of the next one from Sony. And as always, Sony has not disappointed us. The new series is known as the NWZ-A820, which is the successor of the successful NWZ-A810 series. The new series has included a lot of additional features and improvements to an already hit series. Here we review the NWZ-A828 model of the NWZ-A820 series.
Sleek and stylish design:
Sony has never failed in giving us the best possible design making their productions a style icon. It was previously having curvy designs and has now come in refreshingly square architecture. It is extremely sleek with dimensions as, 50.2 x 93.6 x 9.3mm and hence can slide in your pocket easily and go unnoticed. Though the Sony NWZ-A828, is slightly larger than its predecessor, it is still very sleek and stylish with aluminium enclosure, posing as a direct threat to the Apple iPod Nano. This Sony MP4 player has a 2.4″ display with a terrific resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. With this kind of a resolution, you can expect nothing less than a great display with bright, sharp images with vivid colours and dark blacks.
Navigation and ports:
Sony Walkman NWZ-A828 MP4 Player has a four way navigational pad is slightly larger than its predecessor and is redesigned which is at the bottom of the screen with two buttons, the back and options at the either side of the navigational pad. This four-way navigational pad which was circular in its predecessor has reshaped as a square to match the overall shape of the device. This model also sports a dedicated Bluetooth on/off button in its side which simply erases the fuss of going into the phones settings and looking for the settings. The other buttons apart from the Bluetooth toggle available to the right of the MP4 player are the volume rocker and the hold switch. The bottom of the player sports the headphone output and proprietary USB connection. One “Be Careful” note is that this MP4 player uses a proprietary USB cable and so be careful that you do not loose it.
Supported formats:
The supported audio formats of Sony NWZ-A828 8gb Video Player includes MP3, protected and unprotected WMA, unprotected AAC, WAV, and DRM-protected subscription music files. Image format supported is JPEG. And the supported video formats by Sony in very restricted and it just includes MPEG4 and H.264 which is sized at a restricted 320 x 240 ratio. On a good note, since the popularity of iPods and video pod casts has increased a lot, the QVGA MPEG-4 type files have increased a lot and are abundantly available on the net. Album art is also supported.
Memory:
It is having a memory capacity of a whooping 8GB in which you can store up to 2000 songs or 30 hours of video.
Bluetooth:
Sony makes the whole process of Bluetooth pairing exceptionally elegant on the NWZ-A828 Digital Medial Player from Sony, both functionally and aesthetically. On a single press of a button, the Bluetooth is activated and a blue LED starts blinking on the top right edge of the MP4 player. Once the device has been paired with another Bluetooth device, then the pulse of the blink reduces.
Since the Bluetooth in Sony NWZ-A828 is built-in, it can be clubbed with some of the other Bluetooth devices like the car stereo or wireless headphones but sadly, you cannot sync it to a PC. Wireless Bluetooth headset is supplied in the box whose performance is just average. The standard headphones are also provided.
Sony NWZ-A828 MP3/MP4 Player encounters no problem in in purchasing Napster To Go with Napster. Syncing with windows media player and the “drag and drop” functions are simply painless.
Features:
Sony NWZ-A828 Digital MP4 player is very easy to use. The menus are very attractive and simple to use. The fonts are large and clear. It is stuffed with a lot of capabilities such as, music, video, photo and Bluetooth.
The music enhancement features that are added to this MP4 player includes dynamic normalization, five-band EQ, DSEE high-frequency restoration, Clear Bass, and Clear Stereo.
The photos and the videos are given the thumbnail and slideshow view, that gives a beautiful look to them. Organisation of your play lists can be done with the help of the media player but they cannot be created on the fly within the player itself.
The software bundle that is provided with Sony NWZ-A828 Portable MP4 Player is convoluted functionally. This is a wise decision but then, it handles your podcasts and even flickr feeds. Feed can be added very easily for your contact’s most recent photo uploads and their photos appear automatically in the player’s photo library when you connect it to a PC. The Podcasts are also synced in the similar fashion, but they just appear within artist or album lists as if they were music. Playback position book-marking feature is not available for pod casts and you will not find any support for Audible downloads, voice recording, FM radio or even gapless playback.
Performance:
The happy note is that even the very little inadequacies that we had seen above is overcome by its great performance of the NWZ-A828 MP4 player .
It has a great audio performance and is, in fact currently the best. The clarity and power with which the songs are delivered is simply superb. Coming to the video performance the great display and H.264 support. The videos are very clear and crisp. The 2.4” QVGA display in combination with a good battery life makes Sony NWZ-A828 one of the best video worthy walkman MP4 player we have ever seen.
The battery life of Sony NWZ-A828 is simply amazing, a thing which is very important for a MP4 player. It gives 36 hours of audio and 10 hours of video.
Verdict:
Sony Walkman NWZ-A828 is a terrific MP4 player and was one of the best of the year 2008. Its great style, mind blowing audio and video quality, beautifully designed menus and stunning battery life will not allow you to keep away from this MP4 player. The design and performance of this MP4 player is very similar to that of ipod Nano.
The exclusion of certain features like FM radio, memory expansion and voice recording is to be kept in mind while comparing it with its rivals. But the mentioned shortcomings are very tiny, taking into consideration its great features and performance. If you are not much cared about the Bluetooth, then you can opt for the Sony NWZ-A720 series that includes all the features of NWZ-A820 sans Bluetooth at a much lesser cost.
Check other Sony NWZ-A826K MP4 Player, Sony NWZ-S638F Reviews in our Sony MP4 Player Section.
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Sony Walkman NWZ-A828 8gb MP4 Player – Technical Specifications, Features
| Manufacturer | Sony |
| Model Name | NWZ-A828 |
| Media Player Type | MP4 player |
| Dimensions ( H x W x D) | 93.6 x 50.2 x 9.3 mm |
| Weight | 58 grams |
| Display | 2.4 inch QVGA display |
| Display resolution | 240 x 320 pixels |
| Backlight | Yes |
| Body | Aluminium |
| Colours available | Black, white, pink and golden yellow |
| Memory Capacity | 8 GB |
| Supported digital audio standards | MP3, protected and unprotected WMA, unprotected AAC, WAV, and DRM-protected subscription music files |
| FM radio | No |
| ID3 tags support | Yes |
| Playback modes | Random play, One track repeat, All tracks repeat, Program play/repeat, shuffle |
| Recording feature | No |
| Supported image formats | JPEG |
| Headphone type | 3.5 mm |
| Equaliser type | Digital Sound Enhancement Engine, Clear Bass, Clear Stereo |
| Operating system | Windows, Mac |
| Additional features | Stereo bluetooth Drag and drop file management Album art |
| Battery type | Lithium ion |
| Battery life | Audio:36hours Video:10 hours |
| Charging time | Three hours |
| Included cable | USB |
| Software bundle included | Windows Media Player 11 MP3 conversion tool Media Manager |
| Accessories included | Earphones Bluetooth earphones- DR-BT21G AC adaptor Stand |
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