You may recognize the name Sansa View, but that's about all SanDisk's new video MP3 player has in common with the original View announced at CES. SanDisk essentially went back to the drawing board, which is why it's taken so long for the official View to surface. Rather than a screen-dominated PVP, you get an e200 with a sleeker design, a beefed-up (2.4-inch) screen, and a larger--but still thin--body (4.3 inches by 1.9 inches by 0.4 inch). It's a smart move, since more users are inclined toward compact players than dedicated PVPs. Even smarter is the price: the 8GB View goes for just $149.99, and the 16GB for only $199.99. By comparison, the Creative Zen in 8GB and 16GB goes for $199.99 and $299.99, respectively.
What with SanDisk being a memory company at its core, the Sansa View naturally offers a MicroSD card expansion slot. And this one supports SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) cards, meaning you can add up to 8GB of additional memory to the player for a total of up to 24GB--not too shabby for a flash player.
That added memory will come in handy for all the media you can stuff on the device. On the audio side, the View plays MP3. WAV, and Audible, as well as both unprotected and protected WMA (subscriptions included). Out of the box, the player will support MPEG4, WMV, and H.264 at 30 frames per second. More formats will be added via future firmware updates, but SanDisk also includes a media conversion tool for DiVX and others in the meantime. Both video and photos (JPEG only) can be viewed in wide-screen (landscape) mode. Rounding out the specs are a built-in mic for voice recording, an FM tuner with 20 presets, and a rated battery life of over 30 hours for audio and 7 hours for video.