Sony NWZ B135F Walkman Review

Sony has created a niche for itself in the MP3 player market by launching its Walkman series of players. They offer much better sound quality than Apple’s iPod range, but aren’t as popular. Sony has just launched the new NWZ B135F Walkman player which is priced very low and offers decent features like a voice recorder and a FM radio. It offers nice sound quality and looks enticing at just $50. We will go into more details in the review

Sony NWZ B135F Walkman Specs:

• Connectivity: USB
• Color: Black, Pink, Red, Blue
• Memory: 1 GB / 2 GB Flash
• Dimensions: 3.5 x 0.6 x 1 inches
• Display: 0.75 inch LCD
• Audio Formats: WMA, MP3
• Music Player Features: Mega Bass, 5 band Custom EQ with presets
• Other Features: Digital Clock, FM Radio, Voice Recording
• Battery: Rechargeable Li-ion 170 mAh, 16 hours
• Price: $45 – 1 GB, $60 – 2 GB

The Sony NWZ B135F Walkman is a stylish new PMP with a nice design. It is very compact and portable at dimensions of just 3.5 x 0.6 x 1 inches. It is just about the size of a normal USB pen drive. It sports a tiny LCD display for displaying the PMP features like Voice, Music Player, FM Radio and Settings. The interface is very intuitive and won’t need much brain storming. You always have the manual if you need it.

Just next to the display, you find the Play / Pause, Forward and Reverse controls and a Back button. On the extreme left, you find the standard 3.5 mm headphone slot and on the right, the USB interface to connect it to a PC. On the top of the player, you find the Record key, the Volume toggle and the Bass Boost button. The whole thing is very easy to use and self descriptive. The build quality is superb and very durable, it can easily last for years.

The music quality was quite nice. The Sony NWZ B135F supports the WMA and MP3 music formats. You can copy music to the device using the USB interface, it is compatible with both Windows and Mac. It is definitely amongst the best PMP in this budget range, atleast in terms of pure sound quality. It comes with a 5 band EQ which you can customize to your taste. It also comes with the Bass Boost feature.

It also comes with a FM Radio which has nice reception quality. You can autoscan and save upto 30 channels. It also has voice recording, decent quality. It comes with a rechargeable 170 mAh Li-ion which is rated at 16 hrs of battery life. In reality, it lasts just about 14 hrs on a full charge. It would be nice if Sony would have included a more powerful battery.

Pros:

• Inexpensive
• Portable, Compact
• Easy to Use

Cons:

• Low Battery Life

Conclusion:

The Sony NWZ B135F Walkman is a very nice deal at just $60 for the 2 GB version. It has nice sound quality and offers a nice mix of features coupled with a stylish design.

Our Rating: 3.5 / 5.