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CNET editors' rating:
3.0 stars
Good
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 2.0 stars out of 7 reviews
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Product summary
The good: The Philips PSA612 packs 4GB into an attractive, fitness-friendly design that features a unique rocking-face control and an antishock option that decreases risk of damage to the hard drive. The simple weatherproof player includes an FM tuner and a talking stopwatch, and it's compatible with music subscription services. It ships with decent wraparound headphones and a stylish armband.
The bad: The buttons on the Philips PSA612 are too stiff to operate easily, and the back cover must be removed to recharge and transfer music. The device's antishock feature is limited, and the display can be difficult to read in daylight. The player will lock up if subscription tracks have expired.
The bottom line: The Philips PSA612 is decent as a high-capacity fitness player, but if you can spare some change, the 4GB Apple iPod Nano is a better choice overall.
Specifications: Device type: Digital player / radio; Flash memory installed: 4 GB; Digital player supported digital audio standards: WMA, MP3; ; See full specs
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 01/24/2006
- Released on: 08/31/2005
The Philips PSA612 has striking good looks with shiny chrome metal encircling the display, which also serves as the primary controller. The four sides of the screen act as rocker buttons, and you simply press them to navigate through the menus. There are silver buttons along the outer rim of the MP3 player (see below), as well as an industrial "lock" on the rear of this 2.75-inch-diameter discus, which opens up the PSA612's backside. This back cover is made of a grippable, hard blue rubber. It's not difficult to get the back cover off with a coin or in a twisting motion, and in fact, ours is a tad loose now, but it's a requirement for connecting the device via USB and for recharging. Thus, you end up with this cover that hangs around while you rejuice or transfer files. In addition, the loosened cover will not protect against high quantities of moisture.
We also noticed that the silver buttons are incredibly difficult to push down and activate. However, the buttons--play/pause/power, Stopwatch, Talking Stopwatch, Hold, and View--are few and far between. It takes a good few minutes to make sense out of everything, though the Menu interface is intuitive with only Music (Playlists, All Songs, Artists, Genres, and Albums), Radio, Sport, and Settings as options. In player mode, the display includes artist and song info, as well as elapsed time. Volume is controlled using the up and down rocker buttons. The View button toggles between the menu and whatever mode you're in, and the rocker buttons on the display add to the unit's on-the-go appeal. Conveniently, there is a Shuffle All option within All Tracks.
The Philips PSA612's blue-backlit display (96x64 pixels) is small but usable, though we do have complaints about the backlight brightness, which makes the display difficult to view in daylight. Even after cranking the display to the highest contrast, you just can't read it outdoors. Maybe that's why the player comes with a talking stopwatch. The stopwatch is standard, and you can record multiple sessions or times. A built-in female voice announces times, though you can push the Talking Stopwatch button to hear her at will; you can opt to turn off the voice, but she will always speak when you press the Talking Stopwatch button. Even though the feature doesn't seem all that useful, the stopwatch is good for those who run long distance. The included armband is stylish and useful, and it makes the PSA612 even more appealing as an exercise MP3 player.
The Philips PSA612 is compatible with WMA DRM 10, so you'll be able to use subscription services such as Napster To Go. Connecting to and transferring from Windows Media Player 10 is a breeze, and subscription performance is solid. However, if your tracks' licenses run out, the player will try to go to the next track in a laborious process that usually locks the user out, even with restart; reset is Play+Volume up for 2 seconds. The Philips PSA612 also has an FM tuner with 10 autoscannable presets. Reception clarity is good, though the autoscan tends to pick up any old signal.
The Philips PSA612's ShockLock feature doesn't activate automatically with a spill. Instead, it needs to be turned on manually, and it loads 4 to 12 songs into buffer memory before parking the hard drive into safe position. In addition, you can't ShockLock subscription files (this has to do with licenses), so the feature has more bark than bite. In fact, it simply turns your player into a 32MB flash player. On a positive note, we did intentionally drop the device several times with ShockLock active and inactive, and the player still works without a hiccup.
Sound quality from the Philips PSA612 is solid (80dB signal-to-noise ratio) but not exceptional. Good equalizer effects (Rock, RandB, Electronica, Hip Hop, Classical, and Jazz), measurable DBB bass effect, and crisp highs did manage to make it one of the better-sounding gym MP3 players we've heard, though not really loud, at only 4mW per channel. The included around-the-ear earbuds are both functional and solid-sounding. Battery life is rated for 12 hours, a below-average number. It takes 4 hours to charge completely and 1 hour for a 70 percent charge. We will update the review with CNET Labs-worthy transfer and battery-life scores as soon as they become available.
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- Average user rating: 2.0 stars out of 7 reviews
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