Philips GoGear SA4010 (1GB)

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Philips GoGear 4000 series

Design
The Philips GoGear SA4000 series player feels good to hold. The curved construction shows that someone at Philips put some serious thought into designing a player that would be comfortable to grip while jogging. While the body is entirely plastic, its rounded design makes it feel solid compared to thinner and more delicate players such as the iPod Nano. We dropped the GoGear on the ground a few times to test its resilience, and it handled abuse just fine.

Controls are tactile, rounded, and easy to remember. We'd prefer a different color on the record button to visually distinguish it from the others, but its placement closer to the back of the player is far enough out of the way to not be engaged accidentally. The buttons are raised from the body but have a low enough profile that they won't snag on clothes or irritate your hand when holding the player for extended periods. Controls for play, pause, and scan are largest and live on the front of the player. The Volume, Menu/Hold, and Record buttons line the side of the player, exactly where right-handed people would naturally rest their thumbs--sorry, lefties. This placement felt natural, except that when held this way (vertically), the volume buttons are the reverse of what you would expect--the bottom button will raise the volume and the top button will lower it.

The back of the device has a loophole for a lanyard and a removable battery cover concealing the single AAA battery inside. The battery cover comes off a little too easily and could really use a screw or lock feature to hold it in place, but we appreciate the easy-to-find battery type. There's something to be said for the instant gratification of popping in a fresh battery when you run out of juice. On the downside, you're also contributing to a landfill full of spent batteries. Using a rechargeable nickel-metal-hydride AAA battery would be a good compromise, but you'll have to shell out for this yourself.

At the top of the player, you'll find a headphone jack and a built-in microphone. The USB 2.0 port is on the bottom of the device, covered by a remarkably sturdy rubber gasket that naturally stays in place and is securely tethered to the body.

The GoGear's single design flaw is its very small, 1.25x0.25-inch screen. During playback, the GoGear displays text in two tiny rows against a colorful but dimly backlit screen. As a result, you'll suffer some eye strain to read the text, but few players in this price range do much better. We also wish Philips had blessed lefties with the ability to reorient the text.