To be honest, I feel that the operability of old type Ipod is better than that of NW-A845. Pinpointing my thumb on the right position of the concentric circle on NW-A845 usually doesn't go smoothly. In particular, when operating in one hand, recognizing which part of the concentric circle my thumb is touching isn't so easy without seeing it, while Ipod’s slightly convexed circular dial is easy to identify intuitively only from tangible information.
In addition, the silver concentric circular dial allocation is too low-positioned to operate with thumb in a situation of gripping whole body. Little finger operation would be required if we anticipated Ipod-like operation.
As for Ipod, an idea of the combination of that slightly convexed, relatively big, nearly center positioned and circular dial opened the door to today’s Ipad fever.
However, in today’s situation, I think Sony doesn’t have to introduce the same method as old type Ipod into NW-A845. The next step required for NW-A845 is, in my opinion, ‘a slot-machine-like' menu operation on touch panel working in present screen size. Above figure shows an image of the screen.
As a matter of fact, in handycam series, Sony has been presenting drum-like configuration menu as shown in figure below.
