Turning iPod Nano into a wrist watch

Blame it on Steve Jobs by churning out a product with vivid touch screen display but embellished with a functional clock design as its lock screen.

Several entrepreneurial guts of accessory manufacturers are tapping to that idea, and produced a bracelet that will make your MP3 player not just a clipped marvel of your clothes, but a fitting fashionable watch of your wrist.

Cottage industry includes the likes of Lunatik, Tiktok, Hex, and Rock Band.

The image you see below is a Rock Band brand, costing about $19.99. The image on top is a generic wrist band with similar design as the Rock Band but costing about Php350, bought at The A-Shop. I couldn't attest the quality of Rock Band versus the generic wrist band since the Rock Band hasn't landed in the Philippine shore yet. But it has the same special cut to accommodate the Nano's clip.

I don't like the Rock Band actually. I am waiting for the Lunatik. But while I waited for it to hit our retail shelves, might as well be a cheapskate and stash your money for the real thing.

ZAGG Invisible Shield: Making gadgets fugly over time

I have the propensity to glorify my gadgets the way I deify my science icons like Hubble, Einstein, Sagan, Hawking, and Kaku. The level of glorification goes as much as to overprotect them like how a Mom to his children(or since I don't have a maternal instinct, I better have to use the analogy of shepherd and a herd of sheep).

All my gadgets are protected with the most utmost care-- from display protector, surge protector, keyboard protector and all sort of protective shield I can get.

In an effort to protect them, we either bought unwisely some items that we ended up not using because for one, they hamper the functionality of your devices. How many of you bought keyboard protector but ended up having a hard time typing as the silicon cover impedes your typing speed. How many of you bought iPhone cases that rendered useless because some buttons will not work anymore. To think that I only bought branded items and accessories, I could have minimized this unfavorable fate.

Secondly they look fugly over time. Just look at this iPod Touch 4th Gen and how ugly it has become because the supposed military-grade material ZAGG Invisible Shield that would have protected it from bumps and scratches appeared UGLY at the course of wear and tear. It is thicker than Gmask but my Gmasked item still survived up to this day. The longest running Gmask protection I had was almost 5years now. Only the reinforced protection at the gutter was removed but it still looks good and astutely fitting, not the unappealing, worn out, and detached lateral sides to corners.

Avoid spending a thousand bucks for this.

Sony W252: Water Resistant Cordless MP3

For those of you who have been keeping in tune to my quite dreary life, you know that I have just rendered a review on the Sony NWZ-W202. Well, the poor running gear companion of Sony didn't serve its purpose, it didn't make it to the gym but once. After that, it got wet and with water being electronic's waterloo, it fried the circuit and ultimately rendered the W202 futile and beyond repairable.

My former company, Sony Center, did replace it with a new model Sony NWZ-W252 after several attempts of countless follow up with their Service Center, and another countless follow up of inventory management, as they initially don't have stocks on the white model when I claim for unit replacement.

Now the label says Water Resistant(*) where (*) meant "not to be immersed or in continuous contact with water."

The replacement came in sealed fresh with a reset warranty period.

But having used the W202 for almost a year(just as a boredom buster but not a gym companion), let's take a look at their notable difference:

Even if both of them sports 2Gb of internal storage, the W202 can accommodate 500songs, only 470songs in the W252. The W202 supports MP3, WMA, AAC, WMA DRM, AA Audible, while only MP3, WMA, AAC for W252. Display for W252 has quite an improvement as it displays not just Battery Level but USB Connection as well. 12hours of continuous playback for W202, only 11hours for W252.

With the specs superiority of the W202, being a water resistant in the W252's chart is still a deal breaker for me when it comes to quality upmanship.

Sony NWZ-W202: a wireless music rarity

Sony, the forerunner of the Walkman hype, once again unleashed its forte and fortitude with the advent of a revolutionary concept of wireless music player.

It seems like only Sony can pull off a product that defies the ordinary. It has continuously challenge a market by unraveling unorthodox devices that would appeal to generations and their dynamic styles and comfort.

Sony NWZ-W202 is one such product. Fit for those who are always mobile who denounce the slavery of dangling wires, this music player has all the convenience one would ask for in an MP3 player.

The features aren't stellar though, as it is just basically an MP3 Player and nothing more. No FM radio. No other bells-and-whistles. So if you're into Papa Jack's Wild Confession Nights on the radio, this might not be suited for you.

Its lack of LCD display to fiddle music list is complimented by the "Zappin In / Out" function that plays short recognizable snippets of songs on the middle part. So if you prefer the auditioned song, you can quickly press the wheel to start from the beginning.

Much like the, oh well, iPod Shuffle, this one has a shuffle button too, that alternate songs from the list.

It supports file system such as MP3, WMA(including DRM'ed files), and AAC(unprotected). A bit limited as compared with the other players in the market.

On a continuous play, I can get around 8 hours of juice on this lovely player.

While the Sony Walkman NWZ-W202 lacks some outstanding features, and a meager capacity, it looks good, fits well, and delivers solid sound with strong bass. It also lets you browse your music in a way that effectively compensates for its lack of a screen.