Philips GoGear Jukebox HDD1620 (6GB) user reviews
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User reviews7
Gemma Hadfield 18 January 2007
Good: The glossy black casing, display quality, sound quality and durability
Bad: Difficult to access voice folder via Windows Media Player
Comment: The Philips GoGear was the third MP3 player I purchased in a year (I had bad luck with the other 2) and in my opinion is one of the best MP3 players on the market. Okay, it can't and never will be able to stand up to the might that is Apple's iPod... but we all know that.
However, if your wallet can't take the sting of the iPod, then the GoGear is definately the substitute you should get.
I have the 6GB version and after just over a year of owning it, have still failed to fill it! The added novelty of being able to view pictures is also a bonus, and the lovely LCD display, despite its size it's wonderful and crisp.
The menus are very pretty and being able to add album art gives the whole product a more executive edge.
It sits well in the hand and the touch-sensitive scroll bar and buttons are a very sexy addition. Some reviews say that these are too sensitive... however I've found them to be very functional and haven't encountered any problems with them.
The whole package is nice and streamlined, and yeah, okay the casing is a little prone to smudging and small scratches, but so is the iPod, and do you see that decreasing sales or overall performance?
Like I said previously, I've owned my GoGear for almost 14 months and I've battered it to within an inch of its life; it's been dropped on marble floors, on concrete, on brick walls, on a muddy field and even into my bath (don't ask). It's been thrown about in my coat pocket with keys, nail files and all manner of dusty crud... and still it looks beautiful.
Yes, it has got scratches on its back and a pretty nasty scuff on the top left corner, but these are still barely visible and don't affect the quality of sound and visual content on the player.
One previous reviewer warned that her display leaked its colours after a couple of days and is now virtually unusable. Well all I can say to that is you must have rolled it under a HGV for it to do that! My poor GoGear couldn't have gone through more intense use... with the exception of if I put it into a blender.
I'm being honest, I'm not delicate with this thing... and as of yet it hasn't given me any grief... totally seamless playback... perfect LCD performance etc etc.
Now, after all that glittering advertising for the GoGear, I think I should mention the ONE drawback that I've come across, and I must say it isn't anything major.
On occassion my player freezes up and I have to reset it by holding the power button and the + vol button... but that isn't anything I couldn't bear and it only happens very rarely.
So there's my humble of opinion of the Philips GoGear 6GB player: a great second to the iPod that's a little lighter on the purse strings and a very attractive addition to any music lover's pocket.
Lawrence Wright 26 December 2006
Good: The controls are mega easy to use, bright screen, recording Feature
Bad: Nothing
Comment: Amazing, Can't get much better than this! Ultra bright screen, easy to use controls, skins are really cool, earphones surprisingly decent - sometimes hard to put in but never fall out. Quick song download, even better if you use WMP11.
Overall, the best present I've ever had.
A B 19 November 2006
Good: Sound quality, easy to use, good looks, no quirky software that keeps failing
Bad: Shiny surface does get smudged but who cares!
Comment: After using a Sony and an iPod Nano, it's nice to have something that is so straightforward and reliable to use. My Nano keeps breaking down (and if you look at the review sites, so do many others) and Sony software is only compatible with... Sony. It's so nice to have something that is very versatile and gives great performance for such a good price - I paid just £109 for mine (Comet - UK) which is £20 cheaper than the Nano and 2GB more memory. I can still download tunes from iTunes and transfer to the Philips so it is better all round. For price, performance and ease of use, it's better than anything else I've looked at or tried.
Anonymous 4 November 2006
Good: SOUND QUALITY, and the illuminated touch pads!
Bad: It takes a while to load a song when most of the memory space is taken up
Comment: Pros-
-Very attractive
-Very compact
-Impressive sound quality because of SRS WOW (Sounds like surround sound in your ears)
-Changeable interface skins
-Can be used as an external hard drive to save work
-Easy to clean when fingerprints are on
-Cons-
-Image quality is quite poor because of the screen resolution
-Fingerprints easily appear
-Takes 3-7 seconds to change track if most of the memory is taken up
-No games
-Album art doesn't appear when music is synchronised from Windows media 11 BETA
Andy Wakeman 19 July 2006
Good: Sound quality
Bad: Lost all the tracks once
Comment: Looks good and cheap at £99. I will not be using it for pictures (who wants to look at an inch square screen anyway?). My only problem so far and it is early days is that the battery ran flat and contrary to the instruction manual it did lose all 800 tracks I had loaded. Having said that bit did only take 15 minutes to load them back on. In summary, it's good for the price
Angelique Spiteri 4 July 2006
Good: The actual look of the player, the headphones provided and sound quality
Bad: Player gets frozen countless times, LCD screen very fragile and smudges very easily
Comment: Beware as the LCD screen is very poor quality and any slight knock can cause the crystal liquid in the inner screen leak. This happened to me two weeks after purchase and means I can no longer enjoy the use of the menu functions as the screen has all the colours running into each other distorting the whole picture.
Philips view this as the consumer's problem and will not replace on warranty even if there is no proof that the customer has broken it. I have never dropped or banged my player and Philips will only fix at my expense.
Please look at other brands of players and save yourself the disappointment I have gone through.
Daniel Fernandez 22 April 2006
Good: Black and blue futuristic looks, good storage memory, picture viewing feature and good price
Bad: No FM radio in the models sold in Europe and slow processor...
Comment: It is early days now as I only got it last night but I am fine with the looks, sound and features so far. Got it for a very good price for slightly over a 100 quid, at a special sale price. I think I am satisfied with the looks and the anti-iPod statement in buying it. The fact that it attracts a lot of smudges on its case is a minor problem and easily remedied by wiping it. The sound quality is great and and I had no problem downloading all my music onto the player.
What really irks me is the fact that Philips does not offer the FM feature on its models sold in Europe as it would be perfect with an FM tuner. Overall it has mixed reviews and though the processor is slow, yet the quality of sound and other features sort of make up for it. Good for users who simply want to hear music and view some of their photos. Cheerio