Basically I’m Chuck Norris. On a Bike.
Sony Ericsson’s Mix Walkman wants to turn me into an unsafe cyclist not an average gripe to begin an analysis with I’ll grant you, but bear with me.
I’m the kind of fast-living ne’er-do-well who bombs down dual carriageways at a staggering 6-7mph, braking only for red lights and playing children.Basically I’m Chuck Norris. On a Bike.Previously, the tunes which fuelled these dual-wheeled rampages were easily navigated by the grooved, tactile interface of an older model MP3 player. Tracks and Albums could be skipped without taking my hawk eyes off the open road, which blurred past at speeds matched only by those out for a leisurely jog.
Enter the Mix Walkman.While its 256mb storage can be supplemented with a 32GB micro SD, its playlists are easily accessed, it’s compatible with standard ear-buds and its Zap function provides a handy preview of upcoming tracks, the damn thing works off a touchscreen!
Normally, I’d encourage this behaviour, touchscreens being the wave of the future. But when you’re grippin’ it and rippin’ it on sparsely populated coast roads, one hand restfully dangling from your side because you don’t play by the rules, they become an obstacle.Considering the need to squeeze the awkwardly placed power/unlock key, then precision thumb the selected track, one’s eyes, by necessity need be taken off the road.
And that’s aint how I roll! Safety first, bitches!Embarrassingly tame bravado aside, this is less a complaint, more an observation. For strenuous activity (running, cycling, lumber-jacking) the Mix Walkman is a liability, but for more common practices (walking, sitting, ignoring people) it should impress.This is no iPhone, and without that SD card you’ll squeeze only a few albums in. But at €130, you shouldn’t expect one. That said it boasts a variety of useful options; track sending, quickplay, Track ID music recognition and SenseMe.
Agreeably, it transforms into the world’s most compact karaoke machine. Because it’s nice to know the lyrics. And subject a busload of complete strangers to them...
Otherwise the Mix Walkman stands up well enough on its own merits. Unburdened by the keypad of its sister model (the Text pro), its App screens and interfaces are identical, and by extension responsive and intuitive for the most part.
Typing out messages is still a pain, though perhaps my thumbs are simply doing it wrong. Texting can be improved with the wider, horizontal tilt, but the need to unlock it every 20 seconds is a setting you’ll swiftly deactivate lest you dash it off the nearest wall, in a bout of seething frustration, after 3 short hours of use.
Otherwise its light, easy to use, colourful, features alterable snap on casings and for some reason its 3.2mp camera seems to capture crisper images than the aforementioned Text Pro.
Ultimately, however, the Sony Ericsson Mix Walkman offers very little new to the pallet. And though it won’t cost you a lot of monies, respectively, there are still cheaper devices on the market. Ignoring the competition, the Mix Walkman does a decent job of combining two of the more cumbersome bulges in your coat pocket into one convenient package.
And that, my friends, is the future. On a Budget.