Sony NWZ-A864 Touchscreen Unboxing

[JRMeriss]

Hi all,

Just got my new Sony touchscreen player and decided to post a few pics, plus an unboxing vid. I may even do a review.

Things that already have my attention are:

- this player really feels solid in hand
- the screen is really snappy! I didn't find anything regarding resistive or capacitive on the sony player or site, other than mentioning it's a 'High Response' touchscreen
- sound is very good, though I can only compare it to my previous D2. The OEM earbuds are high quality.

If you want a small touchscreen (screen is only 2.8") player, this is the one to get.

Unboxing on YouTube

Unboxing on YouTube

[Just Some Guy]

Still packing that lame old soccer video on the player, huh? I guess somethings never really change.

A full review would be awesome. Battery life especially.

I noticed that it seems to be quite a bit thicker than the A840 and A850.

EDIT:. Yep, there's a significant size difference.

NWZ-A840: 47mm wide x 105mm long x 7.2mm thick
NWZ-A860: 53mm wide x 97mm long x 9.3mm thick

Wider and thicker, but not as long, which makes sense. That touch-screen is going to take up a bit of room. I was hoping Sony put a bigger battery in to get more battery life, but I guess not.

[JRMeriss]

Originally Posted by Just Some Guy

I noticed that it seems to be quite a bit thicker than the A840 and A850.

EDIT:. Yep, there's a significant size difference.

NWZ-A840: 47mm wide x 105mm long x 7.2mm thick
NWZ-A860: 53mm wide x 97mm long x 9.3mm thick

Wider and thicker, but not as long, which makes sense. That touch-screen is going to take up a bit of room. I was hoping Sony put a bigger battery in to get more battery life, but I guess not.

It really doesn't feel that thick, both top and bottom ends on the back are tapered.
Also, I really like the dedicated volume and play buttons.
As far as the battery, it came fully charged, so we'll have to see how long it goes.

[Just Some Guy]

Originally Posted by JRMeriss

Also, I really like the dedicated volume and play buttons.

Is the play button underneath the hold switch? It's hard to tell from the video.

[nehrou]

can't find anything about this online.
any links available?.....what's the cost?

[Confispect]

Congrats.

[sjondenon]

stock buds are the same as the mdr ex300?

[The DarkSide]

I have 2 questions,...do the ff/rew & volume up/down controls work on hold (it should be user-selectable in the settings menu? And if the answer is yes, does the screen stay off when using the controls to change the volume, etc?

[JRMeriss]

Originally Posted by Just Some Guy

Is the play button underneath the hold switch? It's hard to tell from the video.

Top of the player to bottom: volume up/down, hold, frw/play-pause/rew

Originally Posted by nehru

can't find anything about this online.
any links available?.....what's the cost?

Got it from Sony Store online. It was released on Aug 23/2011. I had pre-ordered.

Originally Posted by sjondenon

stock buds are the same as the mdr ex300?

I assume so, I don't own the MDR-EX300 but they look the same from the pics I saw online.

[Olley]

I can't see a point to owning one of these for the price they are asking. No memory expansion. A relatively small low-res screen. Their specs even warn it might not be good for movie playback. No video output strategy. A Cowon J3 is far more capable and can hold far more media.

[Confispect]

Place it in Best Buy it will be brought.

[el maco]

Does this thing have album cover based browsing, like the X series used to have (I don't mean small thumbnail-sized images but bigger covers like this http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjI4NDIyMjIw.html)?

[The DarkSide]

@JRMeriss: Um, you didn't see my questions?

[JRMeriss]

Apologies to all if I haven't answered your questions.
It's been a frustrating weekend, I filled this thing full with mostly songs and some videos, and that's when the trouble started. Lots of random reboots when playing songs, so I just got done talking with Sony and will have to do an RMA tomorrow.

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

I have 2 questions,...do the ff/rew & volume up/down controls work on hold (it should be user-selectable in the settings menu?

Yes, Settings>Common Settings>Hold Settings>All Operations Disable or Touch Panel Disable. So changing default to Touch Panel is what you're looking for.

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

And if the answer is yes, does the screen stay off when using the controls to change the volume, etc?

Unfortuantely no, but the minimum it stays on can be changed to 15 seconds. This is indeed a bummer as it may hurt battery life if you just want to change songs or volume inside your pocket.

Originally Posted by el maco

Does this thing have album cover based browsing, like the X series used to have (I don't mean small thumbnail-sized images but bigger covers like this http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjI4NDIyMjIw.html)?

Yes!, please see picture.

Originally Posted by sjondenon

stock buds are the same as the mdr ex300?

Just checked the manual and it's listed as mdr-ex0300.

A few other notes:
- White color seems to be a Europe exclusive. Not listed for US.
- Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR allows for wireless headset pairing plus receiving of audio/video/photos.
- great radio reception, I was able to pull in a bunch of stations.

[Confispect]

It's nice but damm the storage it would be a nice knock around player.

[The DarkSide]

Thanks bro, much appreciated!!!

[el maco]

Originally Posted by JRMeriss

Yes!, please see picture.

Thank you for the info & picture! I was almost on my way to local Sony retailer but then I saw this. If A865 is anything like A845 in terms of sound quality then I'll have to pass.

[danimoca]

Originally Posted by el maco

Thank you for the info & picture! I was almost on my way to local Sony retailer but then I saw this. If A865 is anything like A845 in terms of sound quality then I'll have to pass.

Wow! That really isn't very good at all

[tienbasse]

Originally Posted by el maco

Thank you for the info & picture! I was almost on my way to local Sony retailer but then I saw this. If A865 is anything like A845 in terms of sound quality then I'll have to pass.

And you conclude about sound quality based on a graph showing only two IEMs, and one of them showing a weird drop ?
Are you really surprised that some specific player-iem combination don't work well together?

From a A847 user, the sound is very nice, I even like it better than a Cowon D2 or S9, better mids and excellent clarity.

If the A86x are anything like the A84x soundwise, that'd be good enough.

I'm just disappointed that there seems to be some stability issues. Unusual for Sony to release unfinished products...

[jergen]

hey guys i have a problem. this sony walkman is really impressive i love it, but when i go to an album or all songs of an interpret, the songs aren't sorted alphabetically. do you know how i can fix that? i use "media go" for synchronization. when i go to all songs the songs are listed alphabetically, but in all the other folders not

i'm sorry if my english is bad..
thank you very much!!