SanDisk announces revamped Sansa View

(Credit: SanDisk)

You may recognize the name Sansa View, but that's about all SanDisk's new video MP3 player has in common with the original View announced at CES. SanDisk essentially went back to the drawing board, which is why it's taken so long for the official View to surface. Rather than a screen-dominated PVP, you get an e200 with a sleeker design, a beefed-up (2.4-inch) screen, and a larger--but still thin--body (4.3 inches by 1.9 inches by 0.4 inch). It's a smart move, since more users are inclined toward compact players than dedicated PVPs. Even smarter is the price: the 8GB View goes for just $149.99, and the 16GB for only $199.99. By comparison, the Creative Zen in 8GB and 16GB goes for $199.99 and $299.99, respectively.

What with SanDisk being a memory company at its core, the Sansa View naturally offers a MicroSD card expansion slot. And this one supports SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) cards, meaning you can add up to 8GB of additional memory to the player for a total of up to 24GB--not too shabby for a flash player.

That added memory will come in handy for all the media you can stuff on the device. On the audio side, the View plays MP3. WAV, and Audible, as well as both unprotected and protected WMA (subscriptions included). Out of the box, the player will support MPEG4, WMV, and H.264 at 30 frames per second. More formats will be added via future firmware updates, but SanDisk also includes a media conversion tool for DiVX and others in the meantime. Both video and photos (JPEG only) can be viewed in wide-screen (landscape) mode. Rounding out the specs are a built-in mic for voice recording, an FM tuner with 20 presets, and a rated battery life of over 30 hours for audio and 7 hours for video.

[freeway8989]

Impressive

I was impressed by the iPod Touch that was recently announced and I put some serious consideration toward getting one. But as I have observed with my iPod mini and nano, the battery life diminishes severely over time. It was almost like a godsend when Sandisk released the Sansa e200's with user-replacable batteries. The only thing that kept me from getting one was that the screen on my firend's lost resolution over time (I'm not sure if he damaged it or not). I've been tracking the View for a while but news never came and I gave up. But now this player looks like a total buy. Now I just have to see if the battery is user-replacable and I'm sold.

[clarkepm]

e270r Owner

The e270r and indeed the entire e270r has user-replaceable batteries (i know, because I had to replace mine recently). The battery life was stupendous for the e270r so I hope the same is true for the View. However, the Touch is way too awesome with a browser (Safari) built in to pass up. It is lame in that it doesn't have an SD slot, but that's the price you pay for a badass UI...

[Michael.Hatamoto]

Awesome news!

I like that users can choose to add an external memory card to bump up the
total memory capacity.

I won't say I am anti-Apple, but I am excited to see news headlines that are
coming from other MP3 manufacturers. I am also glad to see manufacturers
doing all they can do to bump up total battery life for devices.

[zip22]

battery is not replaceable

Freeway8989, the battery is not replaceable. you can see it noted at the bottom of the press release
http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/PressRoom/PressReleases/PressRelease.aspx?ID=3959

"5 Based on continuous playback at QVGA 512kbps H.264; battery life and performance may vary depending upon usage and settings; battery not replaceable."

[freeway8989]

zip22...............

Zip22, yeah I read it and I'm pretty bummed. The whole user-replacable battery thing was always one of the biggest distinguishing factors between the iPods and the Snasas.

Oh well, do any e200 owners have problems with their player?

[droz037]

NNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Darn you Sandisk!!!!

I was eagerly waiting for the release of the original Sansa because I wanted a FULL SCREEN PMP!!!!! GGAAAHH!!!! *grumbles*

I know that apple will never support any video files unless you convert them via itunes which is just ridiculous!!!

I want to be able to copy my video files over and have them play.

I travel frequently for work and I'm on the Muni a lot. It's easy to break out a small hand held device to watch a movie or tv show instead of a laptop. Especially on an airplane.

And let's not get started on the replacable battery thing. UGH

Sometimes Sandisk does great things....and like most other companies they screw up.

What I want to know is what are they going to do with all the orignal Sansa Views they had in production and storage?

The impression given was they they were going to revamp the firmware to support more video codecs.....not take the whole thing back for a redesign almost from the ground up.


Double "U" Tee eepphh Sandisk?

[kickenchicken]

surprise me sandisk!

hopefully they update the flippin sound quality, its subpar and not as good as the Zens.

[matsum91]

release date

has anybody heard a specific release date yet and for anybody that that has owned a sansa before, how often does the battery die and need to be replaced?

[matsum91]

ipod nano killer

As far as I can see this could easily be the Ipod killer(for the nano at least) Sandisk just needs to release commercials that blatantly compare it to the nano ,and make it easy for people to transfer the music they bought at itunes to their View

[tech_junky48]

I currently own an e250...

I own an e250r, which I bought in January, and the battery hasn't died on me yet. In fact, i don't even notice any significant decline in battery life from when I first bought it. This looks like my next mp3 player purchase, and it will be perfect for me since i use Napster To Go. One question though, does anyone know if it will work with e200 series accessories, particularly the Altec Lansing InMotion Im510? It would be a shame to have wasted $95 on a set of speakers that wont work with the player.