The modern mobile phone is a wondrous item that can perform many different tasks. It can be expanded with the addition of various apps and it allows for gaming, watching TV, taking photos, and consuming media in various formats. However, for some of us, the lure of a dedicated mp3 player still remains. Fortunately, as well as the various Apple devices out there, there are a number of high quality items produced by some well-known companies.
Before moving on to iPod Touch alternatives, we should cover Apple’s marketing leading device. The fifth generation iPod is a powerful and even good looking device that offers everything the iPhone 5 offers except the mobile phone. It is expensive, at around £200 but it can be used for apps and for many other functions besides listening to music. The iPod Touch 4th generation is still available, costing about £150, and while not as advanced as its replacement, it is still a very good quality device worth investing in.
The Philips GoGear Connect 3 has 8GB of storage and it runs Android. The touchscreen isn’t as impressive as the iPod but at £50 the Connect is considerably cheaper than its Apple rival. It also offers noise cancelling earphones that further improve the quality of the sound; sound that is already enhanced by Philips FullSound technology. During the mp3 compression process, some of the audio is lost and this technology helps to fill in the void, as it were, and to ensure that you get the best quality audio possible without having to pack mp3 players with cumbersome and bloated file types.
In the same way that the iPod is basically an iPhone without the phone functionality, the Samsung Galaxy S WiFi is a Galaxy S without the mobile phone capabilities. It too runs Android and it has a 4.2 inch display and an impressive 1GHz processor. It is light and it features a 2mp rear facing camera as well as a front facing VGA camera that makes video calling possible and effective. Costing around £150 for 8GB this is a great quality device that looks and sounds great.
Walkman is a name that will bring tears to the eyes of the nostalgic among us. Sony has released a number of mp3 players under this popular and well known marque including the moderately priced but dourly named NWZ F805B. This 16GB touch screen device runs Android and offers a variety of technologies and features that make it a good alternative. Ideal for the nostalgia lover although it is a lot smaller than the original Walkman.
Whether you’re operating on a tight budget or you want something that you can take to the gym without being overly concerned about cost, the Sandisk Sansa Clip+ is ideal. Costing less than £30 it has a small screen and the build quality isn’t as good as the more expensive alternatives but did we mentioned that it’s available for less than £30? Oh, and the 8GB memory can be expanded with microSD or microSDHC cards.