It was outrageously ‘different’, yet stylishly designed, when we first reviewed the predecessor of the NWZ-W252, the W202 it was pretty difficult to predict how well its interesting ergonomic design would be welcomed. But a sequel one year and a few months after, its initial release have proven it to be somewhat a popular choice. We were recently sent the new W252, water resistent version of the W202 and we’ve been trying it out.
Design
If you read our NWZ-W202 review in April last year, this part of the review will be nothing new to you because nothing clearly noticeable have changed on the surface. You still get the heart shaped like design of the original W202 Walkman and the accessories to go with it. Pictured below is the one we received.
The Sony Walkman NWZ-W252 is a sporty Walkman and its been designed to do its job for a marathon runner or an athlete who is committed to his / her training. It weighs just 1.6 ounces, making it extremely lightweight, though it does take up abit of your space.
For example if you keep it in your purse, your rug sack or your sports holdall, it becomes bulky simply because it needs to be maintained in its ‘heart shape’ using the included plastic clipper when in standby mode. If you don’t, you’ll find that your W252 will have exhausted its battery by the time you need it. Here’s what the clipper looks like, if you saw it before in the W202, you will notice that Sony has ’shrunk’ it this time round to make it more elegant.
The plastic clipper wraps round the back of the W252 too, like so…
A vital component of any music player that has to be done right is its buttons and control keys, this is especially so for the W252. In the W252, the main controls, ie the volume, play / pause, forward and backward are all located on one side leaving just the play option on the other. You can sense Sony have done this purposefully, to avoid inconvenience and increase ease of use for the type of users that are most likely to use the W252.
The buttons aren’t very large but they have plenty of space in between them, making them distinct and easy to press, even while you are jogging or in our case while playing tennis!
One small issue that we did encounter were the ear buds, because these are in-ear headphones, they’re not by any means very comfortable. And in many people, the left ear canal often differs slightly in shape to the right. Fortunately, Sony have thought this through and included a few spares with varying sizes.
For those who are fascinated by how the W252 receives music, there is a rather hidden plastic flap that opens up under the left ear piece. You will also note the plastic covering that Sony have put in place along the flap as waterproof measure.
How water resistant is it?
In Sony’s description, it stated that the W252 will even play for you while you’re in the shower. We’re not so sure about this as we didn’t test it in the shower but we can say that rain, light drizzle while running, not a problem at all. I’m afraid, as we didn’t perform specific tests, we can’t recommend you take the W252 for a dive in the pool!
A sporty music player
To be a sports specific music player, you need to have more than just a design. One of the main reasons why one would want to listen to music while doing exercise is simply because training does have its boring times. So to satisfy this, a sporty music player will at least need to have decent music quality to keep you entertained. We reckon, the W252 has inherited Sony’s reputation as a leading audio brand, its in-ear headphones design enhances this further too by canceling out noise from your environment. As for those of you who appreciate some bass in your music, there is ‘Bass Boost’, theoretically this does work, but practically when we tested it while jogging, it wasn’t significant enough for us to recommend the W252 just for the sake of bass. This isn’t to say that bass is non-existent but don’t be surprised when you can’t hear the bass effect you’re used to experiencing.
Another issue often faced by these so called sporty music players is that they’re just not comfortable enough for someone to wear throughout the duration of training. The W252 as I have mentioned already packs a few different ear buds to make sure you’re comfortable with what you’ve got. But in addition, its lightweight and wire-free design offers such an advantage over the likes of Speedo’s Aquabeat LZR Racer music player. This is also why we think Sony have so far been quite successful with the W202 and W252’s unique design.
What about a quick charge?
An hour and a half or so worth of charge would already get you approximately ten hours of playback time, for most this would be quite sufficient. Do make sure that you charge via a USB wall charger rather than the USB of your PC if possible to make the most out of your charge. But in case you forget to charge it once in a while or if your clipper went loose, there’s always the option of ‘Quick Charge’. This is a feature where Sony says to charge for just three minutes and you’ll receive in return about 90 minutes of listening time. We can’t say that we advocate frequent use of this, simply because your battery would not be very healthy after a long run of this but in case you need it, its there
Transferring music
Transferring music to the W252 is simple, simply connect it to the dock then drag and drop just like a flash drive. It supports MP3, WMA, AAC, and linear PCM audio. For more advanced users, you can also sync via Windows Media Player or iTunes. Both Windows and Mac OS X are supported.
Conclusion
The NWZ-W252 continues the successful legacy of the W Series first laid out by the W202. It remains to be superior at what its been designed to do. While some may argue that its pricetag of around £50 is far too expensive for a 2GB portable music player, we have highlighted the many benefits of the W252’s design in this review. In addition, Sony’s products have long been reasonably reliable, so you shouldn’t need to be looking for another mp3 player for awhile. Sony have deliberately kept the new W252 simplistic and for good reasons, we reckon if you do consider the W252, you would be buying a top of “its niche” truly sporty music player. It should be perfect for anyone who is serious about their training and wishes to seek some additional entertainment during their workout.
Pros
- Water resistant
- Decent sound quality
- Superior sports design
- Hassle free and user friendly, just put it on and go
- Windows PC and Mac OS supported
Cons
- Bulky when not in use
- No fast forward
- Offers limited bass
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