Video Walkmans are back.

Sony launched the brand in the 1980s when 8mm tapes were used to play back content and now, two decades later, it's using the moniker for its latest mp3 players.

The three new devices to carry the name have 8GB, 4GB and 2GB of flash memory, of which we had the latter to test.

All are metal clad and come in a range of matt-textured colours.

Although mathematically 50 per cent bigger than the nano, it's still a slender design. To justify the extra size, Sony has squeezed in a 2in widescreen LCD that outclasses every other flash-based player on the market.

The display is bright and detailed thanks to a QVGA (240x320) resolution and can display videos and picture slideshows horizontally or vertically.

Much of the styling is reminiscent of the Sony A1200. The button layout is very similar and the silver border along the sides remains. It's easy to navigate and a search function is included if you can't remember where a track is.

Sony has stubbornly stuck to its Sonicstage software for music transfer. Audio support is better than with older Sony audio players; the NW-A805 will playback mp3, aac and wma files natively.

Sony's Atrac files are, of course, still supported and used for ripping CDs and converting unsupported files into.

Having let up a bit on audio formats, Sony's politics have moved onto the video arena. Playback is limited to custom AVC H.264 and Mpeg4 files.

The supplied program Image Converter 3 must be used to transfer videos, for example DivX or wmv, to the device in either 'high' or 'low' quality, which corresponds to bit rates of 768Kbits/sec or 384Kbits/sec.

We found the tool was buggy, sometimes spending half an hour transcoding a video only to throw up an error message at the end of the process.

Infuriatingly, even AVC H.264 files that only vary slightly from the required bit rate (for example 634Kbits/sec instead of 768Kbits/sec) must be transcoded before they'll play on the device.

Sony says the device can play back files at up to 30fps (frames per second), which is impressive. Indeed, videos played back smoothly and had vibrant colours. You wouldn't want to watch a whole film on a screen this size, but for shorter train or car journeys, it is comfortable to watch TV shows.

The Walkman can be used as an external hard disk, but any files you drag and drop onto it can't be accessed by the player itself – Sony's software must be used for this.

The none-removable battery has impressive stamina. The NW-A800 series is rated at 30 hours playing back music or up to 8 hours playback for low-quality video files. In testing we found battery life went on and on and we have no reason to doubt Sony's claims.

Sony's EX-style headphones are provided; in-ear models that block out some outside noise. They're comfortable to use for prolonged periods of time and certainly better than Apple Nano buds. Although there is a hint of static when the headphones are plugged in, audio quality is very good.

We think £120 is a steep price for a 2GB player, especially when the corresponding iPod Nano costs £99 and Sandisk's excellent Sansa C250 only costs £65. With the other players though, you may have to shell out for better headphones – something you're less likely to do with the NW-A805.

Ultimately, the Sony NW-A805 is a classy device that is well manufactured and easy to use. But getting video onto the device is another matter entirely, and we can't understand why Sony persists with the stubborn and unintuitive Sonicstage software.