While the world of portable media players may seem to be divided into two categories—iPods and non-iPods—Sony makes a strong case for adding a third with its X Series Walkman. Sporting a sexy design, gorgeous OLED touchscreen display, Wi-Fi connectivity, and 16GB of internal flash storage, the $299 Sony Walkman NWZ-X1051 (also available in a 32GB, $399 model) has all of the right ingredients to make it a formidable portable media player. The Web browser on this device disappoints, and you don’t get the iPod touch’s deep catalog of apps, but if you’re a media maven who wants top-notch audio quality, the Walkman X Series is a strong choice.
Design
Sony did a remarkable job of crafting an audio player with its own unique style. The X Series has more eye-popping appeal that the Samsung YP-P3, and doesn’t try to emulate Apple’s aesthetics. Instead, this 3.8 x 2.1 x 0.4-inch player sports a stone-like Geo Design finish around its perimeter that not only looks cool, but feels great to the touch. Its gritty surface enhances your grip when the player is in hand, and is a nice contrast to the polished front and back of the device.
The underlying aluminum construction gives the X Series a solid feel. The back of the 3.5-ounce player carries a lightly speckled finish highlighted by the Walkman logo—the same finish that surrounds the display on the opposite side. The only aesthetic downer is the large, white letters that identify the physical buttons on the right side of the device, which detract from the premium design.
The X Series utilizes a hybrid control scheme, which is Sony’s term for a mix of touchscreen and physical input methods. On the top of the device you’ll find playback controls, which help immensely when you have the player in a pocket and don’t want to pull it out to touch the screen; the back has a hold button; the right side contains a noise-canceling switch, dedicated volume controls, and a small hole for those unfortunate times when you need to reset the device. The front of the X Series has a grooved Home button that returns you to the main menu when pressed, and shuts down and powers up the device when held for a few seconds.
Great OLED Display
The bright and sharp 3-inch (432 x 240-pixel resolution) OLED touchscreen is the most appealing feature of the X Series. OLED displays offer two advantages over traditional LCDs found in most PMPs: increased image vibrancy, and longer battery life.
We were impressed with the variations in skin tones when we viewed an episode of The Life of Ryan that was downloaded from Amazon Video On Demand. In addition, the blacks, blues, and reds in people’s clothing really popped. Viewing angles were also quite good; the screen remained highly legible even when we held the X Series at sharp angles.
As OLEDs don’t require backlighting, they can eat far less battery power. Sony rates the X Series to play back nine hours of video playback on a charge, which is three hours longer than what the iPod touch’s LCD is rated to deliver.
Interface
The home screen contains ten monochromatic icons: Slacker Portable Radio, FM radio, YouTube, Photos, Music, Video, Noise-canceling, Podcast List, Internet, and Settings. All the icons are on one screen, as you can’t install any apps of your own. Compared to the icons on the iPod, they’re rather dull-looking, but when you press one, a yellow halo appears around it, indicating your selection.
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