Sony's iconic Walkman has remained unfazed by competition. Whether it is the era of magnetic cassettes, CDs or digital, it has remained a dominant force. Sony has launched a new range of screenless walkman players the W-series, underlining their position in the digital age.

The W202 is a 2GB player, and has been able to solve the age-old tangled-wire problem with its wireless wearable headset. The headset design and abilities impressed us and will definitely appeal to all sporty types.

The magnetic earphones stay attached to each other, and are connected with a single wire, all function buttons are hidden at the base of the earphones. The attachment between the earphones also works as the power switch - simply snapping the attachment together turns the player off.

The W202 has a tough build quality, however, the buttons were a tad flimsy. The volume, power, jog dial and zappin buttons are quite small, and you might need to remove the earphones to operate them some times. This can definitely be annoying, especially when you are working out. We definitely felt the need of noise cancellation, which is not provided. The earphone design allows them to slip deeper in the ear, reducing outside noise. However, we did not find this very comfortable.

An interesting feature resolving the problem of song navigation in a screenless player is Zappin. This technology plays the first few lines of each track, allowing you to skip to the one you want to hear.

The sound quality of the W202 is good; we had no complaints with its performance in the mids and lows. The chords, acoustic, vocals were clear and the bass was solid. However, on the highs sound was a bit patchy and lacked bass. But, we can't complain considering it is a MP3 player.



In today's fast and furious pace, the W202's battery needs a special mention - with a quick charge option of mere three minutes it provides a playback of90 minutes. While a full charge it can lasts for 12 hours.

We would have liked if Sony had included a PM radio in W202. Other than Sony's proprietary music transfer software, windows media player II and iTunes is supported for music transfer.

Overall, the W202 is a good music player for all gym and other activity lovers.It is available in a variety of colours - pink, gold, black, white, violet and lime green. We think the W202 will win you over with its out-of -the box design and good sound quality.