We haven't seen much from Phillips in recent years but it looks like they're back at it with a new player called the "GoGear Spark". It isn't exactly new since it's merely a color screen version of a model released last year called the Phillips SA2825, At least this time it has a better name. The Spark ia a fairly small device designed to compete with the sansa clip and other basic range players. It has a 1.5" color display and your basic format and feature offerings (FM tuner, voice recorder, and so forth)

The main thing the Spark has going for it is its control system. You control the player by pressing different parts of the screen. Sound familiar? It should since it's pretty much the same as iriver's D-click controls. I wonder if Reigncom has any patents on that type of system? Anyway Cnet recently put out their review of the player and found it to be passable, but nothing special. Among other things, they were fond of the now playing screen which displayed album art as the wallpaper during playback. Another plus for the player was its 27 hours of battery life. That's impressive for a player in this range. Check out their summary below.

The Good: The Philips GoGear Spark packs music, photos, radio, voice recording, long battery life, and a color screen into an affordable little package.

The Bad: The GoGear Spark is light on format support, voice recordings are noisy, storage capacity is meager, and not everyone will appreciate its wearable design.

The Bottom line: In the world of budget MP3 players, the Philips GoGear Spark is a diamond in the rough, offering an attractive balance of features, style, and usability.

Score: 7.0/10 (or 3.5 stars)

The Spark will come ins sizes up to 8GB. The 2GB model is going for about $60 at Buy.com.

Philips GoGear Spark review

via engadget