Sandisk - Sansa View
Sandisk’s Sansa e200 series of ‘Nano killers’ received rave reviews across the market last year, playing a large part in putting the memory specialist’s portable player range back on the map.
Despite the fact that it couldn’t trump Apple’s aesthetics, Sony’s sound or Archos’s adaptability, it taught all of these companies a lesson in value for money. The road to the next generation, the Sansa View, was a bumpy one, seeing Sandisk abandon its plans for an Archos-style PMP in favour of a more traditional Nano-type design.
After getting our hands on one, we’re not convinced that this was the best choice; the new Sansa is a pretty chunky player and, while this allows it to offer a 2.4-inch widescreen display and an excellent 35 hour (7 for video) battery life, we must admit to expecting something a little more compact. The dimensions (108 x 49 x 9mm, weighing 82g) are those of your average sized mobile phone.
In terms of features, you’ll find support for MP3, WAV, WMA, secure WMA and Audible formats, along with JPEG photos and improved video support that now includes DivX-encoded MPEG-4 in addition to WMV and H.264. There’s also an FM radio and voice recorder built in.
All of this is controlled by a traditionally styled mechanical scroll wheel and a single ‘Home’ button which allows you to quickly skip in and out of applications. (more…)
