Updated 14 Feb, 2012, 6:01 pm IST

Sony NWZ-S616F Walkman Video MP3 Player

26 Jun, 2008, 3:50 pm IST | Shayne Rana | PMPs PMPs

As portable music players get smaller and smaller, manufacturers are paradoxically trying to incorporate as many features into them as possible. The big question is: can they sustain all the functionality and still offer the quality you’d expect for the price? A good example that will help us answer that question is the Sony NWZ-S616F Walkman Video MP3 Player.

Form Factor
When it comes to the design of a music player, personally I’ll admit I’m a stickler for style. But looks aren’t everything. The Sony NWZ-S616F is quite a neat looking device with a superbly clear 1.8 inch QVGA display sporting a 240 x 320 pixel resolution. It has a 3.5mm earphone socket on the top of the player, a hold switch for the keypad on one side, and volume controls on the other. For charging and PC connectivity Sony uses a proprietary connector located at the bottom.

What I liked most abut the 616F is the simplicity in the navigation controls. A single button for returning to a previous menu, a sub-menu key for accessing additional features in different modes, and a five-way nav-pad that's large enough for my fat fingers to use with ease. It’s also quite a slim player at about 11mm and weighs a measly 50 grams. Users will have no problem carrying this baby around.

Features and Performance
The NWZ-S616F is quite the little do-it-all PMP. From video to radio and images and a load of music-centric options, it's guaranteed to make your music experience more interesting. To start off, the interface and menus are large and clear, and the navigation is as smooth as a hot knife though butter. Feature-wise the 616F has a JPEG or image viewer, and with the resolution it has, the images look brilliant. Users have the option of viewing the images in a slideshow format, but that’s nothing new. It’s compatible with DCF 2.0/Exif 2.2 file formats.

The FM radio reception is really quite good. In Auto Preset mode, depending on the scan sensitivity you opt for, it takes the 616F no more than 15-20 seconds to locate and save all the available channels. Of course, you can’t expect crystal-clear reception while commuting, but in most places you’ll have no issues whatsoever.

Tags: Walkman

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