Review: Sony NW-A808 Video Walkman portable audio player

Although Sony has made some fantastic-looking portable media players, it's only recently that the mp3 format has been allowed to work on its models.

Sony has obviously realised that, otherwise, it had no chance of denting Apple’s massive iPod sales. But if any company could challenge Apple’s stylishness, it's Sony.

The NW-A808 uses flash-memory, like the iPod Nano it’s seeking to confront. This takes up much less space than a hard disk (that has moving parts), but is pricier, which is why it’s limited to players with 8GB capacity or less.

Like the Nano, it’s slim and pocketable. In fact, the Sony NW-A808 clocks in marginally thinner than the nano, but has a bigger 2in screen. That may not seem much, but given that the bigger iPod only has a 2.5in screen, and the Nano just 1.5in, it’s a good compromise. This bigger screen comes at a price, mind. While an 8GB Nano costs £170, the NW-A808 is £30 more.

What’s more, although the Nano screen can display photographs, it can’t deliver video, which this Walkman does. Of course, you wouldn’t want to watch a movie on it, but the high-quality screen is great for short bursts of video such as podcasts.

The trailer for the latest Sony Pictures blockbuster, Spider-Man 3, looks very impressive here. The screen is portrait format but video appears landscape, which fills most of the screen.

Transferring video files to the player is a simple matter of drag-and-drop from a computer. If only music were as simple. Like previous Sony digital players, this one is let down by the unnecessarily fiddly Sonicstage software.

Still, battery life is good – 30 hours of audio between charges is claimed, though less, of course, for video, though still up to about eight hours. The sound quality of the NW-A808 is excellent, with additional refinements such as bass and preset options ranging from pop to jazz. Decent-quality in-ear headphones help, too.

While it may lack the excellent and stylish usability of the iPod clickwheel, the buttons on the Sony Walkman are easy and simple. The screen shows the menu items as icons, like its mobile phones, which also adds to usability.

Overall, the NW-A808's excellent sound and video quality, neat design and strong battery life mean it deserves to make decent inroads into the digital player market.