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W800i walkman capabilities discussion |
masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
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I'm fairly happy with the walkman (i.e. music) capabilities of the W800 but do feel its missing some things (apart from decent headphones as these seem very tinny/metalic compared with the K750 headset)
For a start, the categories of Artists, Tracks and Playlists is good but it needs an Album category too as I often like to listen to a whole album, or at least the tracks I have loaded from a single album, and that should not be hard to do.
I was also miffed that when I inserted my existing memory sticks full of MP3s with full tag info, the phone was not able to give me the Artist list even though it could see the artist if I select a track and click on "information". In order to get the Artist list I've had to copy all the memory stick contents off and copy it all back to the memory stick using the disc2phone application. what a waste of time!
I'm also dissapointed to find that I can't manage my phone playlists from the disc2phone application
I've also noticed that if I select the "Tracks" option and click up on the joystick to get to the end of the list it actually takes me to some apparantly random point in the list. although initially there is no more tracks listed beneath the currently highlited track but then suddenly more tracks appear beneath my current position meaning that I am not at the end of the list! This seems to be due to the large number of tracks I have and the time the phone takes to build the list but that still not good.
Finally, I notice that choosing the "Artists" option I am positioned to the last artist I viewed (even if I have played a track from another artist, using the "Tracks" menu, since the last time I went into the Artists list) whereas if I click "Tracks" I am always at the top of the list. This is inconsistant and somewhat annoying.
While most of these are not really a big deal, all in all I feel a little more thought and testing could have gone into this, the first  walkman product
any comments or other thoughts?
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Unless I'm very much mistaken...
my reviews: V800 K700i
[ This Message was edited by: masseur on 2005-08-15 22:47 ] |
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peeta
Joined: Apr 14, 2003
Posts: 147
From: Scotland
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you'd think they would just look at the ipod menu and copy that. no harm in coping something that works, could even have improved on it.
(\_/)
( O.o )
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cheap thing no good, good thing no cheap |
masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
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to be honest, and this might surprise one or two, I have never used an iPod so have no idea of what its menu offers. In fact I haven't used any dedicated MP3 type player before as I've always used an iPAQ or the i-mate JAM with large SD cards for my music and videos
But I do know what I want... 
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DCUK7
Joined: Aug 01, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Liverpool, UK
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The iPod menu system is genius, although it is really suited to the jogwheel navigation.
I am surprised at the omissions, especially the Album thing, what a major oversight by SE!
Perhaps a newer firmware will fix many of the things you mentioned!
This is the problem with SE these days, we have come to expect firmware updates to fix the problems missed by poor QA! |
mustafabay
Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Egypt
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Copy and paste isn't always the best idea. PC Mag MNE has just chosen the Creative Zen as its editor's choice and said its interface is even better than the iPod's so the iPod definaitely isn't the best that will ever happen.
Actually Even Sony's Network walkmans have a few not so convineint features, so we can't complain about SE effort. PC mag did love the the NW-H5's menu navigation, so SE should definaitely stay in-house with its devlopment.
I expect the W600 to have a better media player. And next year's Walkman phones should really rock.
Might as well say it here too, PC mag also awarded the K750 with its Recomended award. |
~lozishere~
Joined: Dec 18, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: York, U.K.
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yes, and that magazine isn't neccesarily right... I personally hate the creative interface, and that's the opinion of most when compared to that of the ipod!! |
starkisttunalover
Joined: Nov 26, 2003
Posts: 77
From: CA, USA
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Screw Ipods, the zen is better! 
I love my W800i, although I do have to agree with masseur on all of his valid arguments!
P910i *R5A* Unbranded and Unlocked
K750i *R1N035* Unbranded and Unlocked
W800i *R1L002* Unbranded and Unlocked
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masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
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well lets hope SE is reading this for future firmware upgrade and for their follow up walkman products
any other thoughts or issues on the walkman functionality?
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batesie
Joined: Feb 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: London, UK
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just from what youve said masseur, it sounds quite dissapointing.
i have a Sony HD5 walkman and having used it for a few months now i'm very happy with the menu on it. and quite suprised about the problems you have listed, and how Sony owner of the 'Walkman' has let these happen.
well lets hope an online update service will fix these problems eventually 
[addsig] |
masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
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don't get me wrong, its quite usuable as a music player and I do like the way it navigates between the screens, but its not of the level I would expect of a product being thrust upon as bearing the Sony Walkman label. To me its almost like an after thought on top of the music player in the K750.
I'm really sure now that the phone itself isn't using the information in the tags instead relying on the disc2phone software to create folders and files named appropriately for each artist and track and the phone gets it details from that
its also a shame that it doesn't support wma or ogg etc
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batesie
Joined: Feb 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: London, UK
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does it support Atrac 3/plus/type-s?
http://www.sony.net/Products/ATRAC3/
[addsig] |
max_wedge
Joined: Aug 29, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Australia
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I'm not suprised. It is just a marketing ploy. To be honest i never expected the w800 to have any great advantage over k750's simple media player. All phone media players will improve in time. I don't feel se will differentiate the walkman phone much from other phones in the line up.
This message was posted from a K750 |
sapporobaby
Joined: Sep 14, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Finland. Kuwait maybe :)
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Quote:
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On 2005-08-15 23:54:42, starkisttunalover wrote:
Screw Ipods, the zen is better!
I love my W800i, although I do have to agree with masseur on all of his valid arguments!
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What a well thought out comment. Had to take all of 2 seconds to come up with that.
The iPod was designed to provide a music experience. Nothing in its design stated that it was ground breaking technology. By using a tried and proven delivery system, hd and cache, it provides fewer things to go wrong and also provides for a basic user self service. This is the same argument that non-iPod users continue to use over and over and over to their detriment.
As for the w800i, it is a decent device but it is a compromise device. A combo phone, music player, camera. It does all of these okay, but none of them extremely well. Price is probably the deciding factor. An example are the headphones that come with it. They are not great, not even good, but for the average person, they are okay. I am also sure that the output stages of the audio are basic models as well. To get higher quality requires money and space, which is at a premium in a cellphone. Not to mention the amount of shielding to isolate the radio from the analog audio sections.
*edited on a Mac of course. Mac: There is no substitute*
N82(YES), iPhone 3G, Shure es530, Nikon D300, more stuff. No more SE stuff, why am I still here? |
MINDSCRIBE
Joined: Jun 26, 2004
Posts: 37
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Have people on this forum forgotten that it was Sony that introduced jog dial navigation to consumer products long before Apple & that the Ipod is just a first generation Rio design with a hard disc, hardly original! Its the marketing that Apple have got right!
This message was posted from a K700i |
batesie
Joined: Feb 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: London, UK
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indeed Mindscribe, but this is a W800i walkman capabilities discussion.
[addsig] |
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Posted: 2005-08-15 21:42
