Tech: SAVVY - The best-kept secret:
Sandisk Sansa e250
published:
Saturday | June 21, 2008
Gone are the days when music players could store only music and people had to buy other devices capable of storing pictures, as well as videos. No longer are music lovers listening to songs on outdated CD players - they have evolved into more user-friendly and portable lightweight platforms called MP3 players and iPods, among others.
These are not as cumbersome as their predecessors, as they combine the joy of listening to music, watching videos and looking at pictures all in one tiny package. The Sansa e250 is quite adept at doing all of this.
- Payton Wilmott
Design
The design resembles an iPod's, which is not necessarily a negative, as its portability and manoeuvrability make it much more comfortable than the CD player. However, I'd love to have seen designers integrate greater creativity in order not to mimic the ever-popular iPod, though still maintaining its lightweight capability.
Nevertheless, the device is sturdyand sharp. It features a 1.8-inch screen, in comparison to an iPod Nano that features a 1.5-inch screen. The power button on the device takes you to the main menu and another press takes you back to your pre-vious menu, so there is no difficult navigation. On the spine, there is also a voice-recording button.
What's hot
Easily navigable device using the tactile wheel, and strong alloy casing which provides scratch resistance. Other great features are: FM tuner/recorder, voice recording, and photo and video playback.
What's not
No AC adapter, the buttons surrounding the Sansa's scroll wheel can be difficult to press and low levels of system noise can be heard through headphones at low or zero volume.
Specifications
Memory type: Flash memory
Memory capacity: 2GB
Song capacity: Up to 500
Battery life: 20 hours
Colour: Black
Supported audio format: WMA, MP3
Operating system requirements: Windows, Windows XP
Memory-card slot: microSD
Performance
In terms of the audio perfor-mance, picky listeners will find there is some system noise. In comparison to previous series, such as the m200 and the e100, the physical build is more appealing in terms of its beauty. The machine may also be powerful enough to rival the iPod in certain categories.
However, video and photo viewing are Sansa's downfall. Though the screen is bright, photo viewing ends up being cropped, usually with black borders, due to screen ratio. Overall, though, the performance is quite good.
Bottom line
Overall, the Sansa e250 is a superb music device in the e200 series. It has a sleek design and offers a user-friendly interface, as well as a wide buffet of features to choose from. Though there are a few problems in the audio, video and photo options, its other high points outweigh these negatives. The Sansa e250 deserves 4 out of 5.
Product courtesy of Royale Computers and Accessories; telephone: 906-1067, 906-1068,754-5048.
