I have the the Sony NW-A105 and the sound is superior to the iPod touch, it has android 9 and apps can be downloaded to the device, the problem with the Sony NW-A105 is the battery, wifi and bluetooth drains the battery very fast. With bluetooth on, I can get 6 to 7 hours depending the quality of the files. With wired in-ear headphones I get 12 to 15 hours, which is good enough for me, I don't need to stream music because I have a good collection of music.
I had to tweak the device and remove some android stock apps and stop background process to get the most out of the battery. I bought it just for the sound and to play local files and not for streaming music. I had the Sony NW-A45 which is a fantastic device with great sound and great battery but the Sony NW-A105 has superior sound.
The reviews are true about the battery, but it also is true about the sound quality which is superb for this little device, very compact, it fits in my Levi's small pocket. The lates update activated some great features in this device and is more useful specially when listening to a song, now I can go to the album or artist and play those songs. I hope Sony activate playlist creation and crossfade in the next update.
Considering all the pros and cons, this device is not perfect but I will buy this device again, just for the sound quality, the small form factor and the 2TB maximum storage which the iPod touch does not have.
Another thing, this device is not MacBook friendly. The music app is not compatible in Catalina, to transfer music I have to drag and drop the folders to the device. Can't create playlists, I gave up on that, I was planning to get me a used windows pc to manage my music with the Sony NW-A105. The Sony music app is compatible with Windows but not with the Catalina.
As I just wrote, I bought it for the sound quality, huge storage capacity and the small form factor. I hope my experience with this device help you to decide.
