The SA230's black and red clamshell casing is appealing to the eyes, and a good change of pace from the mass of shiny silver cases commonly seen in portable players today. Despite these good looks, the model we got for testing felt plasticky -- like a toy -- when you hold it and it gives that feeling of fragility. This is a feeling a physically active user would not want to have especially when buying a digital audio player that supposedly targets the "people who need their music on the run."
First time users will not have a hard time figuring out which buttons to push since the SA230 only has a mode button (used for shifting between FM, digital audio and voice recording), the volume buttons, and the four way navigation key. But being tiny and all, people with big hands and long nails will find it a bit daunting.
Again, maybe it was just the unit we got to review, but the navigation key needs a bit of good pressing before it does what you want it to do. There is also that problem of skipping tracks when playing digial audio. You have to press the down key lightly if you want to skip tracks, and press it hard if you want to just skip through parts of the song. But be warned, it can be a bit tricky and frustrating because there were several times when even the pressing tricks mentioned didn't give the desired results.
The Philips SA230 comes with an arm band and a neck strap that makes it easy to carry around during exercise sessions, similar to Philips' Nike series. Aside from just plain old exercise routines, the SA230 comes in handy if you want your own music while doing house chores, studying, working and so on.
The player, of course, needs software to be installed in your PC. That can be a bit problematic if you are not used to Philips' user interface. Confusing is the word that comes to mind, chaotic is probably the next one. Eventually, however, you will figure things out (maybe after five or six reboots) and the music you get to play will sound sweeter simply because of the frustration of putting them in.
Features
The features of the "Rush" include a digital audio player, a digital FM tuner with ten presets and eight hours of digital voice memo recordings in a 128MB memory. It supports both MP3 and windows media audio (WMA) files for music playback and .wav for voice memo playback.
The SA230 also supports MMC/SD memory cards and is capable of expanding up to 512MB. However, the unit we reviewed did not come with an SD card and so we were not able to test the player's expandable memory.
The tri-colour backlight display allows navigation at night and specifies which mode the player is in. For instance, digital audio has an orange backlight, green is for FM radio and red for voice recording.
Performance
In terms of performance, the player fulfilled its end. Our test MP3 songs worked well and sounded great with the earphones. We didn't quite have the same experience with the FM tuner -- for some reason the radio sound only came out from the left earphone. We didn't really test the maximum eight hours claim of Philips for SA230's voice recording but when we did test it, the recording was decent enough and can be used for voice memos and reminders to self.
The battery life lasts around three to four days depending on how you use it. It took us half a day to upload mp3 songs into the player and three days of listening for about two hours each day. Two AAA batteries for AU$5 will last you probably around two weeks.
The SA230 isn't a bad product even with its glitches and limited features. However, the ulitmate factor for the decision making process of potential buyers would be if the price is justifiable by the SA230's feature set and memory.
With a recommended retail price of AU$299.95, buyers might be tempted to look somewhere else -- after all, there's no shortage of MP3 players at all. Ultimately the SA230 doesn't really offer much that other brands don't already offer, making it a difficult product to recommend.
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David Bruce
08/10/2006, 01:30 PM
rating
7/10
A good very basic Flash mp3 player with FM & Voice-recording
Overall, it is a very good, basic mp3 flash player. I love that it is expandable (via SD/MMC cards). The built-in radio & Voice recorders are also great features.
If you just want a basic mp3 player, this might be the one. Not too many bells and whistles but it plays music & more.
Pros: Decent sound.
Useful LCD.
BUILT-IN RADIO.
BUILT-IN VOICE RECORDER.
Expandable by way od SD/MMC cards
Cons: When battery runs low, freezes on you.*
Small, fragile. Sometimes freezes on me when switching modes.* Not enough internal memory.
Voice recordings are very simple & do not hear well unless you are right next to the source (or the speaker). Controls are small & cumberson
*(but I have not tried getting newest firmware from Philips site: http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpindex.pl?scy=CA&slg=ENG&cat=MP3_PLAYERS_CA&sct=FLASH_AUDIO_PLAYERS_SU&grp=PORTABLE_ENTERTAINMENT_GR&ctn=SA230/07&mid=Link_FAQs&session=20061007230520_66.130.143.139&hlt=Link_FAQs)
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Shorty Brian
01/08/2005, 06:29 PM
Great for the money
I found that this MP3 player was great for what you get; a very useable, useful little player which looks vey different to the m**** of little 'pill' MP3s out there. great sound, simple & small. Does what it's supposed to do.
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20/06/2005, 06:10 PM
awsome
its cool works well the people on these sites r never happy
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rrsaks
19/03/2005, 06:32 AM
I like it, but wish there were better features
I like all the features in this compact little device. I wish the controls were better. I put it down for about a year and then went to play it again and forgot how to turn it on - that's sad. I also wish there was a recharge feature.
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02/03/2005, 03:52 AM
I like this
good
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Maria
17/02/2005, 03:27 PM
Maybe but maybe not
I've only got it in my hand for 1 hour, and everything was ok, until the time to shut it off. I can't do it the way it suppose to.
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14/02/2005, 06:35 AM
Frustrating
When I first saw it I thought it was the best deal before buying an iPod... extendable memory, works as a flash drive, great... Then when i downloaded songs into it, I found out that I couldnt separate then in different folders... How frustrating is that,,,
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tokaloshi_3
09/01/2005, 06:19 PM
Great product, but not good enough
I agree that the promotion of the SA230 through weetbix shouldn't have been allowed to happen, an mp3 player is an advanced piece of machinery that shouldn't be allowed on offer to little kids (as aimed for by weetbix). As for th product itself... I own a "Creative NOMAD Muvo TX" Which incorporates 'no cable' USB transfer, 128MB Internal memory, mic (8 hours) the TX is also a much more elegant design package incorporating white and silver shell, blue back-light and fully customizable equaliser. To add insult to injury... the Muvo TX has A price tag of $179 (RRP). Honestly guys, i know which one I would spend my hard earned $'s on.
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Happy user
15/12/2004, 12:03 AM
OK machine
Lightweight is good for me. The supplied wearable armband is good for joggers / cyclists. Memory can be expanded via additional SD cards, but only up to a 128MB card (according to the instructions). Why the limit? The headphones have a good moulded rubber insert to hold them in place and provide better sound - but you wouldn't want to share them with anyone else (yuk!). They will soon be seen as downmarket due to Weetbix giving them away for free if you buy enough Weetbix.
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04/11/2004, 09:55 AM
controls SO AWKWARD
ive had it for about a year... i dont like it one bit. first the design is cheap and flimsy second the controls are so weird. you have to press the DOWN arrow to go to the next song. whats the point in that its just dumb over all its not a good product for the money
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