09/10/2007, 8:20am, EDT
Monday, September 10thSanDisk remakes View as iPod nano rival
SanDisk today announced its final shipping version of the Sansa View, the flash memory maker's first video-oriented media player. Following several months after the company scrapped the old model, the new version is aimed at the same audience as the third-generation iPod nano. Though it boasts one of the largest screens for a pocketable player at 2.4 inches, the device is just 8.8mm (0.35 inches) thick -- as thin as a pencil, SanDisk says. Unlike the Apple player which has received similar comparisons, however, the View adds an FM tuner with 20 presets and a voice recorder.
The slightly larger dimensions of the View allow it to play up to seven hours of video in H.264, MPEG-4, or WMV form, while music is supported in "most audio formats" for up to 35 hours. SanDisk also plays its nature as a memory supplier to its advantage: every View includes a microSDHC slot that lets the device store at least 8GB more than its built-in memory -- an extra 12 full-length movies at the player's native 320x240 resolution, the company claims.
Two players are expected to ship by the early fall. A basic Sansa View with 8GB of internal flash memory will ship for $150 and should be accompanied by a 16GB version for just $200, which can be expanded up to 24GB thanks to the expansion slot. Using the player officially requires a Windows system with Windows Media Player to sync music and videos.
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Wonder how good the UI is - anyone tried one?
In contracst, iPod Nano is 6.5mm thin all around. No "thinnest part" bs.
It looks like these guys are the only ones giving Apple a run for their money.
However, there is a major factor that is easily skimmed over. Apple's iPods are made of metal and glass (these are also made of the scratch resistant glass, aren't they?). These things are much higher quality.
As for Radio and recorder functions, I'd have to witness how well that works. Those are nice features but if they don't work well, what good are they? Like the new Sony eReader which supports PDF—a would be very nice feature, but done so badly that it is pretty much useless.
I'd like to see both products in my hand before passing judgement, but as we all know, specs on paper don't always add up to the best product.
Here's the math:
Nano: 1.47 cu in, 8 GB, $199 Sansa View: 3.44 cu in, 16 GB, $199 iPod Classic: 4.03 cu in, 80 GB, $249
If you value storage enough to take the +2 cubic inch size hit for an additional 8 GB, then you will almost surely value value it enough to get an incredible +64 GB for a very small size hit (+0.6 cubic inches).
The only people who would be unlikely to do that would be really income constrained people (but then why are they shelling out $200 on a new MP3 player to begin with?) or Microsoft fanbois.
do you think it is pin-compatible with a Core 2 duo?