Sony Walkman NWZ-W252 Review

The Sony Walkman NWZ W252 is a new type of MP3 player. It has a cord-free, wearable design, which is perfect for people who want a music player for the gym and unlike the previous version, it is water resistant. It can be quite uncomfy if in use for a prolonged amount of time as the ear buds are fairly heavy, which is understandable considering the controls and battery are attached to the side.

Despite the wearability flaws, the concept of the design is pretty good. It has no cables – meaning that you have more freedom to move – easy to master controls – featuring shuffle, pause, play and volume. It also incorporates ZAPPIN™ technology which allows the listener to scan through their collection of songs by listening to a small/long clip of each song, making it easier to find the song you want to listen to.

When fully charged (taking an hour and a half), you are provided with 11 hours of continuous playback, but if you are in a rush or you simply don’t want to be waiting around, you can plug it in to charge for three minutes for three hours worth of music. The product comes with a USB cable for charging and no AC adaptor.

It has a few songs on it to start with, and it is quite simple to transfer your own music files, (I didn’t need the instructions) and once they’re on, the sound is great! The background noise is blocked out very well and the volume can get quite loud! Compared to the iPod, I think that the Walkmans sound quality is better, but the headphones are not as comfy as the Apple ones as they are not as light. It has open format, meaning that it can accept WMA, MP3 and AAC files. You can transfer your entire library by dragging and dropping.

If you have long hair (like me), it can get irritating putting the device on as you have to move your hair out of the way, although if you’re at the gym (which is what it is intended for), you will most likely have your hair tied back so this is not a problem.

It is available in four different colours (black, white, pink and green) at £49.99 ($59.95) from Amazon and on the Sony website. The box contains:
● Holder
● Operation guide on software (stored in the built in flash memory)
● instruction manual
● Stand with USB cable
● Content Transfer software (stored in the built in flash memory)
● Earbuds (small, medium and large)