I like the Sansativity catch-phrase (very creative, Pedro), but Sansa Tap is good too. We’ll probably see something like this; I’m betting in the not-too-distant future. Everyone else is coming out with touch-screens, so SanDisk is probably planning something too. I’ll bet maybe for Christmas '09 (or sooner).
I disagree that it should be the same size as the existing Fuze though. That’s just too small for easy finger navigation on such a miniscule screen. I also find fault with the current power spring-loaded slider button. The little ridge wears down too easily, forcing some to resort to using all kinds of little implements to turn it on & off like fingernail files, toothpicks, bent paper-clips, etc. People who have no fingernails can’t even turn them on at all. This shouldn’t be necessary, and wouldn’t be if they just used the Home button as a dual-function power & home button like they did on the e200 series. There was nothing wrong with that set-up, so there was no need to change it for an inferior design.
I also take issue with the headphone jack on the bottom. Although someone suggested that it was the perfect place as when you put it in your shirt pocket upside-down and remove it, it is naturally right-side up. A problem with this though, is that’s a bad place to keep your player. If you bend over and aren’t cognizant of it there, it will fall out and invariably hit something hard like a concrete floor. And all the King’s men and all the King’s horses can’t put it back together again. Besides, it just feels awkward.
Another consideration with the headphone jack is playing videos. The Fuze plays videos in a ‘portrait’ position; that is the way you normally look at it. You have to hold it in your hand to watch the video. I don’t know about you, but my hand sure would get cramped holding that little thing through a 2 hour movie.
I have an e200v2 player and it displays video in the ‘landscape’ position, meaning you have to turn the player sideways in order to see it properly. On first thought, you may think this is an inconvenience, but wait. The headphone jack is on the top of these players. When you turn it sideways to watch a video, the headphone jack (& cord) are on the upper-left corner of the player.
Since the height of the e200 series player is 3 1/2 inches which coincidentally happens to be the exact same width of a business card, you can lay the player sideways in a desktop business-card holder that is naturally angles up just slightly and you have the perfect little stand for your little ‘TV’. I couldn’t have designed it better if I tried!
The headphone cord is out of the way, and you don’t have to hold the player throughout the length of the video or movie you are watching. This set-up is ideal for the fold-down trays on the back of airplane seats; or as in my case, I drive a lot in my job but sometimes have gaps of time between appointments with nothing to do or nowhere to go for maybe 45 min. to an hour. So I pull into a nice shaded park and set up my e280 and business card holder up on the dashboard. All I need now is a large popcorn (no butter flavoring, please) and a big drink and I’m set! :smileyvery-happy:
(Guess I could stop by a 7-11 on the way to the park . . . maybe pick up a hot dog too.)
