Toshiba Gigabeat F20 Grange-over-Sands

Manufacturer Given that there's a Toshiba hard disk inside every Apple iPod, you have to wonder why the Japanese company has taken so long to produce its own hard disk-based digital audio player. Toshiba produced its first Gigabeat player, the G20, in early 2004, but it was only ever released in Japan. We snagged one for review from importer Dynamism, and concluded that, unlike massive mutant dinosaurs and dangerous ninjas, it was a shame it was never officially exported.

Toshiba has updated the Gigabeat, and deemed it ready for a worldwide campaign of iPod destruction. The new F-series Gigabeats are available with hard disks ranging in size from 10GB to 60GB; the F20 sports 20GB of storage. Looking at the Gigabeat F20, it's hard to believe it's related to the G20. The Gigabeat G20 looked like a cool 1980s vision of the future, all stern angles and svelte finish, while the F20 has a big cross on its front. Initially, it just looks a bit strange, and this impression isn't helped by its dimensions. The Gigabeat F20 is very tall and weighs 160g; on paper, its measurements aren't massively more than those of the NW-HD5, but in the flesh, next to the Sony, the Gigabeat F20 looks gangly.

Just as you can't understand the true nature of Godzilla until you've seen him stomping on skyscrapers, the shape of the Gigabeat F20 doesn't make sense until you turn it on. The front is dominated by a gorgeous colour TFT screen. It's a QVGA panel, with a 320 x 240 resolution. QVGA stands for 'Quarter VGA,' so it preserves the aspect ratio of a PC display. This makes it very handy for viewing digital photos, and they look good; the only downside is that, as the screen's diagonal is only 56mm, images are pretty dinky. It's a slightly bigger display than that of the iPod Colour (50mm) and, unlike the iPod, you don't have to pay an extra £19 for a connector so you can hook up a digital camera, as the Gigabeat F20's bundled cradle has an integrated USB port for that. The only downside of the screen is its impact on battery life: during continuous playback of high-bitrate MP3s, the Gigabeat F20 lasted just under 14 hours, which is good, but nothing compared to the NW-HD5.

Despite having a much better screen than the NW-HD5, the Gigabeat F20 is trickier to use. The screen is so nice that it's clearly seduced the design team into using overly large icons and text to list menu functions and albums. Transparent floating menus and the use of the power button to call up the main menu only add to the confusion, and for the first few hours of use, the interface feels more like that of a mobile phone than a dedicated digital audio player. It lacks the pared-down elegance of the NW-HD5's menu, but you could get used to it.

The distinctive cross on the front of the Gigabeat F20 is a touchpad. You can use it to scroll vertically through lists of albums, artists and genres, while a horizontal movement selects which song you want to play. It's essentially a square version of the iPod's wheel. Like the Gigabeat F20's menus, the touch-cross takes a while to get used to; it's totally smooth, and there's no 'give' at all, so it's difficult to feel sure you've made a selection.

Sound quality is good, although if you start messing around with the equaliser, matters quickly go downhill, a bit like Live8 after Robbie Williams turned up. The supplied earphones aren't as good as those you get with the NW-HD5 either. Toshiba should be applauded for supplying a dock with the Gigabeat F20 though - Sony and Apple both charge extra for this.

The Gigabeat F20 has a choice of three music management applications: its own Gigabeat Room; Windows Media Player 10; and Napster. Gigabeat Room is a basic but perfectly functional way of loading music and photos onto the Gigabeat F20. Its major drawback is that it's not really as inviting as some other jukebox software, so you'll end up sticking with Winamp, iTunes or whatever you normally use.

The Gigabeat F20 supports Microsoft's 'Plays For Sure' scheme (www.playsforsure.com), so it's certified to work with WMA downloads from a variety of legal sources, including MSN Music, Napster and even Tesco. Buying music from Tesco is about as un-rock'n'roll as it gets, unless you add 50 cans of Stella to your online order, while MSN Music is one of the cheapest legal download sites out there, with tracks starting at 69p each. Napster, of course, is trying to pioneer a subscription-based approach, where you essentially rent an unlimited amount of music for £9.95 a month.

CONCLUSION

If you're interested in legal downloads, then the Gigabeat F20 is a better choice than the Sony NW-HD5, as it's compatible with a far wider range of services. It's also a good choice if you want a device that will sync with a digital camera. However, if you're after a pure and focused digital audio player with the ultimate in battery life and portability, then the Gigabeat F20 finishes a close second to the Sony.

Author: Alex Watson

Toshiba Gigabeat F20