Hands-on with Sony’s new NWZ-S610 DAPs

August 30, 2007 – 9:55 am

Filed under: Features, Portable Audio, Portable Video

We got to spend a few brief moments with Sony’s new NWZ-S610 and we sort of liked what we saw. While there’s nothing really standout about the interface, design or feature set of the players, the mere fact that these represent Sony’s long-overdue entry into traditional format support and the death of ATRAC has admittedly biased us toward the diminutive players. The interface is simple enough, certainly nothing flashy, and not at all a departure from current Sony players. At least it’s responsive, both in loading movies and browsing through music, so that’s always a plus. Just for kicks Sony added in a “time machine shuffle” feature that zooms through the years to select random songs from a certain era. Video playback was smooth, and while the screen isn’t the brightest we’ve seen, it’ll certainly get the job done. Overall the player feels nice in the hand, but in a world of ever decreasing millimeters of thickness, the DAP looks downright chunky. Check out all the angles of both players — the photo version features the silver face, the video edition features black — in the gallery below.

Gallery: Hands-on with Sony’s new S-series DAPs