CNET Asia’s Review of the NWZ-S545

Kelvin Low from CNET Asia has a nice review of the new NWZ-S545 up on CNET's website. Here is a quick recap of the review:

• Screen not always readable
• Battery life averaging around 30 hours
• Built in speakers are impressive but lack bass
• Unfortunately speakers are located in the back and not front
• Forced into MTP mode in windows
• Lack of on-device playlist creation

Rest of the recap and the link to the review after the break.Link to the CNET Asia review of the NWZ-S545

From the review it appears that the new E-Series and S-Series seem to share the same internals except one has a larger screen and speakers. The design of the S was highly praised with an impression that build quality is quite good. The lack of on-device playlist creation is something that has plagued Walkmans since the adoption of drag and drop and I agree it is a nuisance. I do hope Sony adds the feature for the next generation or as a firmware update for the current generation.

Regarding the ‘MTP mode’ issue, I do not agree with CNET since a person can easily force Windows to access the walkman in UMS rather than MTP mode. All one needs to do is change the driver that Windows uses in the device manager. I am wondering why there was no mention of the poor headphones which are bundled with the player when compared to the higher end headphones in the previous generation.

I will throw this in, a link to Kelvin’s review of the NWZ-E444, which similar to the NWZ-E344, except that it has voice and fm recording and a WM-port. I also noticed the red colour on the new E is not as vibrant as in the press photos when compared to real live photos. Maybe it is just these particular photos.

Link to the CNET Asia review of the NWZ-E445