It's hard to get excited about the Philips SA3125/02. This mid-capacity device is very much a standard-issue citizen of the MP3-player world, with little to complain about but few special qualities to raise it above the common herd.
The Philips SA3125/02's design is neat and sensible. The Philips SA3125/02 is extremely portable, although (to be picky) it lacks the reassuring weight of bulkier devices. There are some rough edges at the top of the Philips SA3125/02 but it's generally comfortable in the hand.
The Philips SA3125/02 should stand up to a fair amount of punishment without losing its (quite pleasing) looks – fingerprint smudges are a bigger worry than actual damage.
Controls-wise, the Philips SA3125/02 largely follows the iPod school of design, with directional arrows arranged in a scrollwheel-mimicking circle and comparatively few other buttons – you do get a volume control, however.
The Philips SA3125/02's setup is simple and generally convenient, although the menu button is slightly unresponsive and the lock control is fiddly to operate. The navigation system is user-friendly. You can set up playlists without too much trouble – there's a dedicated playlist button, which is a nice touch – and audio performance was satisfactory.
As well as music – which it can churn out for 13 hours before requiring a recharge – the Philips SA3125/02 can play back video clips. We weren't totally convinced by its performance in this department, with picture quality rather grainy on the headache-inducingly small 1.8in screen. Nonetheless, the mere fact that a £51 player is capable of video playback is impressive.
See also:
Linksys KiSS 1600 wireless HD media player
HP iPaq 514 Voice Messenger WM6 smartphone
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