Review: Philips GoGear Spark

Let's face it, ladies and gentlemen. The world is currently dominated by Apple's iPod music players with an estimated market share of around 80 percent of global sales of media players.

Ever since Apple launched the iPod Shuffle in 2005, competitors including Samsung and Sandisk launched their own wearable music players.

This year, Philips introduced the GoGear Spark which CNET called ``a diamond in the rough.''










Philips last week invited a group of bloggers to discuss their line of music players including the Spark. Over beer, vodka and pizza, the company explained the features of their products and gave each one of us a free Spark so we can test and review it.

Available in 2 GB and 4 GB, the Spark measures 1.75 inches square and 0.5 inch thick, including a 1.5-inch display. The player supports MP3 and WMA formats (including DRM-protected subscriptions and purchases). The music is organized by artist, album, genre, and playlist and allows the user to delete songs directly from the device.

Information about the song, including song duration and position information is displayed on the screen. The album artwork acts as a full-screen background image, similar to what Apple did.

The Spark has a radio player with 20 memory-preset slots and a photo viewer that allows you to browse pictures manually or as a slide show. The Philip's patented Full Sound technology restores sonic details lost in compressed music formats allowing listeners to enjoy optimized sound quality.

Based on tests done by CNET, the Spark has a battery life of 27 hours compared to the Shuffle's 12 hours.

Suggested retail prices:
Philips GoGear 2 GB - 1900 pesos
Philips GoGear 4 GB - 2500 pesos

iPod Shuffle 4GB - 4,100 pesos