Sandisk is a well-known and respected name in the solid state storage market. Up until recently, it was not really known at all in the media player market. They are, however, obviously a quick learner: recently they became the number two seller in the market, behind Apple, with the SanDisk Sansa 6GB.
The design of the Sansa will be nothing new to anyone who has used an MP3 player in the past. There is certainly a homage to the iPod in this device with the rotating wheel.
The Sansa is thicker than Apple's Nano, but this is no bad thing, as what it lacks in miniaturisation, it makes up for in its screen and abilities.
The Sansa has the ability to play video, as well as display picture slideshows. This is great for watching music videos and the like; however, I would not like to watch a movie on it as the screen is just not large enough. That said, the screen is a good one; it shows a good level of clarity on the device's menus. There's also the ability to record audio using either the supplied microphone, or the device's built in microphone.
The player is well bolted together as well. The back of the device is metal, and the front seems to be fairly resistant to scratches and scuffs. The left hand side of the device has the slot for a MicroSD expansion card, a great idea if you need a bit more space.
The interface itself is quite intuitive and easy to navigate, but it is not without its issues. For one thing, it would be nice to be able to tell the device to play an album, rather than having to select first the album, then the first track. The playlist functionality could also do with a tweak or two.
There are a couple of little niggles in the hardware as well: the record button - used to activate the microphone - is unfortunately set on the left top of the device; if you use it with your right hand, it is very easy to press by accident. You do get used to it, though. There is one other technical issue that is not so easy to solve - there are four buttons around the scroll wheel, and because of the height of the scroll wheel it is sometimes difficult to easily press them when needed.
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
You review just makes me want to buy an iPod. It seems as if one doesn't hate iTunes, as you do, the iTunes is better all around, point for point.
Built-in radio? Yeah, 'cause I want a device that gives me static. No thanks!
2 - Ashleigh
You miss my point, on the whole the Sandisk Sansa is more feature complete. There is no one thing that it is any worse than the iPod (besides perhaps design), and it has many advantages over the nano, like the video etc.
The device to my mind IS better than the nano, better value, and featured.
My point was that people will buy the iPod because it is an iPod.
3 - JB
GREAT REVIEW!!! You've answered all my questions and more! I'm planning to buy a Sansa e280 and was just fishing for a REAL review, rather than all the good stuff, so that I know what I'll be facing. Now that I know the bad side of it, it's really not that bad, at least for how I plan to use it. Again - GREAT REVIEW!!!
4 - Ashleigh
No problems, I hope you enjoy using your new Sansa ;)
5 - Matt
Good stuff, one thing about the charging issue, if you have a usb hub that has an AC adapter connection, you can use that when its not connected to a PC to listen to music while the Sansa charges!
6 - Ashleigh
Great idea! That means you should be able to plug it into pretty much any 'non-inteligent' USB port to charge it.