Philips GoGear SA6185 (8GB)

CNET Editors' Rating

3.0 stars
    Overall score: 6.0 (3.0 stars)

Good

Average User Rating

2 reviews

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Philips GoGear SA6185 (8GB) - PALM Philips GoGear SA6185 (8GB) - BUTTON Philips GoGear SA6185 (8GB) - POCKET
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  • Philips GoGear SA6185 (8GB) - PALM
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CNET Editors' Review

CNET Editors' Rating

3.0 stars Good
    Overall score: 6.0 (3.0 stars)
  • Design: 6.0
  • Features: 6.0
  • Performance: 6.0
  • Reviewed by:
  • Released on:
  • Reviewed on:

The good: The Philips GoGear SA6185 is an uncomplicated and inexpensive portable video player with built-in speakers, Windows DRM support, FM radio, a relatively large screen, and voice recording.

The bad: The Philips GoGear SA6185 suffers from a dull design, weak built-in speakers, poor video codec support, limited storage capacity, and low screen resolution.

The bottom line: If you're looking for a cheap way to entertain the kids on a road trip to Dullsville, the Philips GoGear SA6185 should work out fine. Grown-ups, however, deserve a more substantive gadget.

Review:

The Philips GoGear SA6185 is an affordable, easy-to-use portable video player with a glossy, streamlined design and a modest set of features. With a retail price $159, the Philips GoGear SA6185's low price tag and larger-than-average screen are the only attributes that help this otherwise bland gadget stand out from the herd.

Design
The Philips GoGear SA6185 bears the generic stamp of a product designed for the widest possible appeal. Its unremarkable form is neither too big, too small, too masculine, nor too feminine. A reflective, high-gloss finish covers the curved, black front of the device, leaving the remainder ... Expand full review

The Philips GoGear SA6185 is an affordable, easy-to-use portable video player with a glossy, streamlined design and a modest set of features. With a retail price $159, the Philips GoGear SA6185's low price tag and larger-than-average screen are the only attributes that help this otherwise bland gadget stand out from the herd.

Design
The Philips GoGear SA6185 bears the generic stamp of a product designed for the widest possible appeal. Its unremarkable form is neither too big, too small, too masculine, nor too feminine. A reflective, high-gloss finish covers the curved, black front of the device, leaving the remainder housed in a combination of metallic plastic and black aluminum. Measuring 3 inches by 5 inches by 0.5 inch, with a 3.5-inch standard ratio screen, the GoGear's dimensions fall somewhere between an iPod Classic and a Sony PSP.

The Philips GoGear SA6185 is controlled by a traditional four-way navigation pad located to the right of the screen with a Menu button just above it. At the center of the navigation pad is a play button that doubles as a power switch. The top right edge of the GoGear includes a slim rocker switch for adjusting volume, and the opposite edge conceals a button hold switch. A dedicated playlist button is located on the right edge of the device, offering a quick way to add music to a personal on-the-go playlist. Overall, the GoGear's tactile, plastic controls feel intuitive and familiar, although left-handed users will find them frustrating.

The Philips GoGear SA6185's onscreen interface looks like one big yawn. The main menu's light-blue background and easily understood menu icons offer the inoffensively clean and polished look of a product designed by a committee. To Philips' credit, however, the GoGear's interface is remarkably uncluttered, both aesthetically and functionally.

Features
The Philips GoGear SA6185 includes all the features we'd expect from a portable video player, including music, video, and photo playback, as well as less common features such as an FM radio and a voice recorder. Unfortunately, the conservative execution of each one of the GoGear's features is disappointing. For instance, the video player only accepts WMV format videos with a 320x240 resolution--so be prepared to convert and sync all your existing video content using Windows Media Player or the included Philips conversion software. The GoGear's music player accepts a scant two types of audio formats: MP3 and WMA audio (including DRM-protected WMA). Philips even figured out a way to make something as mundane as the photo viewer feel stifling, requiring us to convert and sync photos through Windows Media Player instead of a simple drag-and-drop operation.

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Average User Rating

4.0 stars out of 2 user reviews

Rating Breakdown

  • 5 star: 0
  • 4 star: 2
  • 3 star: 0
  • 2 star: 0
  • 1 star: 0

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Most recent user reviews

Showing 2 of 2 reviews

4.0 stars

"Philips GoGear SA6185 is a nice audio and video player." By t85

Pros: -Nice screen size
-Sound Quality Is Excellent
-Good Video Playback
-Easy navigation

Cons: -Not enough codecs supported
-Media Converter software is slow at converting files
-Media Converter won't save files to player

Summary: I like this audio and video player for a various reasons. The sound quality is excellent. I have the choice of listening... with the headphones or without them. I like the fact this player has a 3.5 inch screen, which is a great screen size for viewing pictures and ... Expand full review

4.0 stars

"High quality and excellent value" By BloodHolds

Pros: Excellent sound quality
Impresive video playback
Atractive styling
Good feature list

Cons: Too few codecs supported

Summary: The Philips SA6185 is a very nicely finished piece of equipment. The back is black brushed aluminium (which ever so slightly concave, much like a hip flask), the front has a piano black finish ? giving it a contemporary look.

The 8GB (7.5GB in reality) of flash is adequate, allowing ... Expand full review

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Specifications

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Quick Specs

  • Digital Storage / Capacity: 8 GB
  • Flash memory installed: 8 GB
  • Digital player supported digital audio standards: WAV MP3 ADPCM WMA

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