Things to know about Sony Z1000 Android media player

Sony Corporation is about to ship its iPod and Samsung Galaxy Player killer portable media player (PMP), the NW-Z1000 in Japan. Sony announced the Android 2.3 Gingerbread music player in October 2011 with much fanfare. The X1000 upgrade is about to appear in stores in Japan as promised by the firm when it was announced. The US and other global markets will presumably get the Sony PMP in the first half of next year only. Here we bring to you a rundown of the Sony Z1000 media player. The device will have three versions based on their storage capacity, like 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. The Sony media player will be up with a large 4.3-inch display.

Sony NW-Z1000 walkman

Pricing and availability

While announcing the device, Sony promised that it would land in stores in Japan by the end of the year for a price between 27,800 Yen ($360) and 32,800 Yen ($420) for the 16GB and 32GB models respectively. The 64GB model may have a price tag above 40,000 yen ($500). Some reports disclose that there will be a low-priced 8GB version for the Sony media player.

What’s great?

Sony NW-Z1000 series of media players will be featured for their 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processors, 512MB of RAM and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The media player from Sony becomes a highly competitive product to both Apple iPod touch and Samsung Player series this way. Further, the gadget will sport a 4.3-inch display with a better resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. Sony Z1000 will highlight many features like Google Services, DLNA, Bluetooth and WiFi BGN and so on. As a whole, it will be a great media player that you can use to listen to music specially when you are on the move.

The Sony media player will support most of the media files including video formats like MP4, M4v, MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and WMV. The device plays 1920 x 1,080 HD video at 30fps. It supports music formats like MP3, WMA, ATRAC, Linear PCM, AAC, HE-AAC and ATRAC Advanced Lossless. Sony has licensed a set of accessories for the device. They include a screen protector, leather carrying bad and headphones.

Picture Gallery

Sony NW-Z1000 walkman

Gingerbread-powered Sony NW-Z1000 Walkman

What’s not so great?

It is clear that Z1000 will come without radio antennas. It means you won’t be able to listen to radio on the music player.

Things to watch out for

The portable music player industry is a hot these days. The market is doubtlessly dominated by iPod Touch, Apple’s flagship music player running iOS 5. Meanwhile, some weeks ago, Samsung unveiled two Android-based exclusive music players – Galaxy Player 4.0 and 5.0 - in reply to iPod touch. The devices have been attaining rave reviews from analysts and customers. It is now Sony that is working to unveil its NX-Z1000 series of music players with Android OS. Of course, Sony faces critical threat not from iPod, but from the Samsung PMPs, because they are top tier Android-based media players on market now. However, Sony has an advantage in rolling out a music player with the features of its famous Walkman series of phones.

Verdict

Sony NZ-1000 portable media player may certainly get attention from tech market. However, it is not sure how successful the product will be. We already have Apple iPod touch, a highly successful media player and recently we received Galaxy Player series also. Now Sony will have to make ground for its NW-Z1000 music player on market. Of course, integration of its Walkman series will help the company in this mission.