Review on the Philips GoGear HDD6320 30GB MP3 Player

Looking straight on at the GoGear HDD6320, you’ll agree that Philips have copied the 30GB iPod design. However, this audio player is a whole 7mm wider thanks to the brains located round the back. All controls are touch sensitive, keeping the design flush. However, its black high gloss design is annoyingly prone to fingerprints and ends up looking a right mess. The small spongy case comes in handy for wiping it clean but once the player is inside, the controls are no longer visible. Once turned on, the player controls light up in blue, only the controls on offer for that page light up, this comes in handy, especially when you find yourself confused by the menu. The controls include play/pause, forward, back and menu arrows, there is also a menu button at the bottom. When you don’t use the controls for a few seconds they dim down until they are used again. The centre scroll bar works well, it’s responsive and easy to use. The 2” TFT screen offers 65k colours and shows off videos nicely, it can also fit an ample 8 lines of text on too. On the left side there is the hold and power switch compared to the right side that houses the volume control. Right at the top in the middle is the headphone jack, and down the bottom is the USB port for charging and downloading. In the box you get a USB and AC charger in one, we found this annoying as it is massive and very messy.   We couldn’t get on with the included headphones, they look like something out of the back of a top shelf magazine they are so rubbery. They don’t stay in your ears and leak lots of sound too. On the plus side, we found that they tangle less than the iPod ones.

Someone described the GoGear HDD6320 as a feature-full piece of kit, however, we think this may be a bit of an overstatement. For an audio player, the spec seems to be an average contender. The GoGear HDD6320 is a 30GB Hard Drive video and music player that can record voice and has 10 preset equalisers for enhanced audio playback. Sadly for Mac lovers - it only connects to Windows XP Pcs which is a big, big shame. It is compatible with MP3, WAV and WMA files. The SRS Wow Bass enhancer is a nice touch, backing up the audio that little bit more than some other MP3 players. You can store and play videos as well as look at your photos at the same time as listening to music. You can transfer photos over from a digital camera too. The GoGear HDD6320 works with windows media player as well as Windows DRM 10.0 too. Unfortunately, the battery is irreplaceable meaning you’ll have to charge this baby up.

As we said, the looks and features are nothing to write home about, but the performance definitely compensates for these pitfalls. To power up the GoGear HDD6320 you flick the on switch at the side and get nothing, hold it there for 2 seconds, still nothing, hold it there until your finger hurts and it gives in and turns on. After this slow and annoying start the performance improves. The player’s controls are responsive to touch and it reacts to demands very quickly. The menus are easy to navigate through and well designed making it a pleasure to use. Watching music video was good, the colours were vibrant and the image was nice and clear. Audio impressed us too, ditch the headphones for some better ones and you’re laughing, especially with the preset equalisers. Music downloads were average at 4.9 MB per second. We got 17.5 hours battery life which is again pretty average too. There is a nice option to quick charge the battery - this gives you 70% battery within an hour, handy for those times when you want to give it a quick blast of energy.

Putting aside the thick-set design and accepting the average spec, the GoGear HDD6320’s performance is great. Once you get used to the touch sensitive screen it is a pleasure to use, the sound it pumps out is impressive too.