Sony Walkman NWZ-A726

Sony products have always been objects of wonder for us, and we follow the company’s development pretty closely. For a company that's kept away from unnecessary hype (read: Apple and the bumchums), it does come out with enough products to keep the brand in the limelight. More than that, it’s the quality that comes across.

Sony was the company that created the whole Walkman phenomenon in the early 80s. While the company may have had its share of flops, the NWZ-A726 isn’t one of them. Perhaps the main thing that goes wrong is the price. Still, it does what it's meant to quite efficiently.

Featuring a sleek design and a large 2.4 QVGA LCD sporting 240 x 320 pixels, it’s got a shiny glass finish on the front. The back is more plasticky, but doesn’t look too bad. The 3.5mm jack is at the bottom along with the proprietary (shucks!) USB slot.

I like the five-way navigation pad, which didn't give any trouble at all. I also like the fact that Sony has refrained from having too many buttons. You will have to work with the Back key and the Option key, which can also be used to power the player off. The hold slider is on the right, along with the volume keys.