Play that funky music (Philips GoGear SA3225 2 GB)

Member Name: loise007

Product:	Philips GoGear SA3225 2 GB
Date:	08/01/09 (239 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Affordable, stylish, easy to use

Disadvantages: packaging...possibly?

My last MP3 player that i had was the Ipod shuffle, and i mean the first version out, it lasted really well, just finally kicking out its last breath in november of last year, so being the music fan that i am, i felt lost walking around without noise blasting down my earholes, so i knew i had to do something about it, que this review.

Now i'm not the type of person to rush straight into buying things, so i had a look on the internet and in shops, and finally in Tesco I saw this little beauty, the Philips SA3225, smiling back at me on the shelf, it seemed to be saying to me "buy me, buy me", I was looking for something that:
Looked nice - small, black and silver, pretty sexy - CHECK
Pretty affordable - £44.96, great - CHECK
Plenty of room for the noise - 2GB, plenty for me - CHECK
It seemed to tick all the right boxes for me, so yeah you guessed it, i bought it. When i got it home i couldn't wait to have a fiddle with it.

*THE LOOK*
The MP4 player came in clear vacuum packed plastic, which is always a pain to get into, the type where you get the big scissors on it and end up with bits of sharp plastic all over the floor, or maybe thats just me? Anway after finally getting into it, i was able to handle my new little gadget. Upon first notice it was small and light, therefore easy to carry around in a pocket or in a bag, or infact carry around in your hand and show it off, (although not recommended with the yob culture of today), but as you've probably already gathered, it's a really stylish looking player.

The whole of the front is black, with just a small millimeter thick silver ring around the navigation buttons, and the whole of the back of the player is silver, (nice and shiny, can be used as a mirror, multifunctionality is the key). On the front is a nice big screen, 1.8" LCD colour screen, for easy viewing of pictures and videos , navigation of songs, and just ease of general use. The navigation buttons are easy to press, but not too easy, you won't just accidently change the song buy slipping your hand in your pocket and catching the buttons, even if that is the case, there is a lock switch on the botton edge of the player. Also on the bottom edge is a reset button, the plug hole for the usb cable and the plug hole for the headphones. The headphones supplied with the player are fully black, they are of real good quality and fit perfectly in the ear.
With the player came a CD rom, which i put into the computer and downloaded the programs off it. I plugged the player into the USB slot on my computer to chanrge it up. After charging my player for the recommended hours,(which i cannot remember for certain, but i think it was around 4-6 hours) i was able to switch it on, and immediately the crispness and brightness of the LCD screen was visible. I had a play around, it was simple to navigate, it was all really self explanatory.

*UPLOADING MEDIA AND PICTURES ON THE PLAYER*
Uploading the things you want on the player is really straightforward:

1. Plug usb cable into player (no need to turn it on)
2. Navigate to the (E:) drive in My Computer
3. Depending on the type of item you're putting on the player, navigate to the right folder, i.e Music
4. Copy and paste the music you want into that folder, also you can make folders of different artists/types of music or whatever you like, just make a folder in the Music folder (on the computer, not player) i.e make a folder called Katy Perry, click on the Katy Perry folder and then copy and paste the songs into that folder.
It also works the same way for pictures and videos. That is the easiest way of doing it, in my opinion.

Up to date i've put music, videos and pictures onto the player. The pictures are crisp and look just as good as they do on the computer, but obviously smaller. The videos are also just as crisp as they are on the computer, and the sound isn't distorted as i have found before on my friend's players.
*NAVIGATING THE PLAYER*

When switched on the player goes to the main screen with all different options:
Music
Pictures
Videos
FM Radio
Recordings
Text reader
Folder view
Settings

These are easily navigated to by scrolling up and down and with the push of a button.
Buttons:
Big round button: up/down/left/right
smaller round button in middle of big button: switch off/play/pause
small button in top right corner: back button

The battery life is really good on it, i usually use my player walking to and from work, and just around town shopping and things, and since november i've charged it around 3 times, so it has a decent battery life.
*ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES*

Well the advantages on this product for me was firstly the price, the look of the product, the ease of use, and the good brand that is Philips, which has been around for quite a while now.
The disadvantages are pretty tough for me really, as i can't see any. If i was going to be picky, i'd say the packaging could of been better (vacuum packed), but then again do we really need heaps of stylish packaging, box upon box, when it doesn't alter the product itself?

*BITS AND BOBS*
20 hours battery life
Li-Polymer battery type
FM Tuner and Radio
4 Hours of video playback
Holds upto 450 songs
Stores upto 2 hours of video

Product Depth 0.1 cm
Product Height 4.5 cm
Product Width 0.8 cm
Screen Resolution 220 x 176 pixels
All in all i feel the Philips SA3225 is a neat little Mp4 player, ideal for any ages. It's easy to use, stylish and does the job that it was built to do, play all those songs that we love, and a little bit extra. Classy and affordable, at a snip of £44.96 (prices vary at other shops) what more can a music lover ask for?

Thank you for reading.

Summary: A great little gadget

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Features:
Sound quality:
Download speed: