One more time. Emodio 1.0.1.4/1.0.1.2 for the Samsung P2

Yes. Samsung's EmoDio application offered up another small update today. No clue as to what has been changed. My guess is small bug fixes. Very suprising to see updates so close together. My guess is that the Samsung software engineers have been given a deadline by which to have the application perfected. Of course every fix needs some real world testing. We get frequent updates so they can check them off the list and move on.

StyleX 4GB Media Player: Many Features in a Small Package!

I was very skeptical when I saw this StyleX 4gb media player at WalMart for $69. Yet the features list intrigued me, so I ordered one. It took about 7 days and one backordered notice to get to me, but here it is. As you can see, what it promises to do is pretty amazing for such an inexpensive player. You may notice the 960 x 240 screen specification. Turns out that's a little creative marketing by the Chinese manufacturer. The 4:3 ratio screen is indeed 240 pixels high, but they counted each red, green, and blue pixel component horizontally to come up with 960. The net effect is a 320 (960/3) x 240 screen. It IS a very sharp and detailed image produced though, easily sharp enough for reading ebooks. The other high points include the microphone, camera, built-in speaker, and microSD slot.

Include in the package is an AC adapter, USB cable, earbuds, manual, CD, and the player. The player is suprisingly small. At 3.2" x 2" and .5" thick, the StyleX fits easily in a shirt pocket. The case seems to be chrome plated plastic, and the whole thing is very lightweight. Less than the weight of a deck of cards. There is a generally cheap feel to it, consistant with it's price.

The main controls are on the right end, and include Menu, Play/Pause, Forward and Back. There is also a slot to attach a lanyard or wrist strap through. The bottom edge reveals the microSD slot, a Volume button, and the microphone hole.

The top edge reveals the Camera trigger. The left end reveals the USB jack, ON/OFF lock, and earphone jack. Audio output is strong, no doubt to compensate for the cheap earbuds it comes with. I have to keep it on the lowest possible setting or it overwhelms my good headphones. Audio quality is very good, with strong bass, and fairly even levels across the audible frequency range.

The screen is sharp. I haven't put any videos on it, but the few photos I took with the onboard camera appear crisp. The photo viewer does a nice sideways slide from photo to photo, much like the iPod Touch.

The camera has a pinhole lens, and doesn't let in much light. 1.3 megapixels (up to 1600x1200), with 4x digital zoom capability. No flash, so to take a good photo you'll need a bright setting, preferably out in the sunlight. The camera can take photos or video. There is also a multi-shot photo mode. The camera can also serve as a USB PC camera. This is a shot taken from the camera:

The Stylex includes three games, and suggests that it plays NES games. I'll have to see it to believe it. The three games are "Explode Pigboat" a submarine hunt game, "Color Block", and "Russian Diamond". You can disable game audio if you want to listen to music instead.

The FM radio will tune to Eurpean, Japanese, and American frequencies, although the American setting is not mentioned in the manual or on the packaging. Capable of 40 channel presets. So far I'm not that thrilled with the FM radio application. It didn't want to remember my settings, and is almost too loud for my headphones. It also overpowered a small self-amplified speaker I tried with it. Don't buy the StyleX for the FM radio.

The little microphone can record WAV files, and serves to capture the audio component of videos taken with the StyleX. In contrast to the FM radio, the microphone is not sensitive enough.

There are four equalizer presets to choose from, including Jaz, Pop, Rock, and Classic. You can also set to to the unaltered Normal setting. There is also a play speed setting, from .5 to 1.5 of normal speed in .1 steps. There is a pre-listen mode, where you can set the device to play only 5,10,15, or 20 seconds of each song. Lastly, you can save any audio file as your power-on and/or power-off sound.

The StyleX can also play videos, display ebooks, show you the month on it's simple calendar, and Explore files with the option of deleting any file.

I'm impressed with the sharpness of the little screen and audio quality via my good JVC headphones. The StyleX is NOT a touchscreen device, and like most of the other devices I've reviewed does not have a very intuitive user interface. Rather than two volume buttons, the StyleX has ONE volume trigger. You press it once, then can use the forward/back buttons for volume up/down. Clutsy.

The user manual is pretty thorough, but you'll need a magnifying glass to read it.

Is the Stylex 4gb Media player worth $69? Yes. If you want the least expensive, fully featured, pocketable, expandible, camera-included device out there, this is it. A 2gb Apple Shuffle costs the same with 1/2 the memory and 1/4 the features. The User Interface gets a C. Features get an A. Audio quality gets a B, but only for being louder than my headphones needed. FM radio gets a D. Still, this one goes with me when I know I'll want to take a picture.

4D

Ipod Touch. 2.0 Firmware and Apps!

Yes, the iPod Touch has now been updated with version 2.0 of Apple's firmware. Unless you can find another way, it will cost you $9.95 from Apple. This update primarily adds access to the Apps store, where so far there are more than 800 applications available for download to your Touch or iPhone. There are a few other improvements including:

Calculator App now shows a scientific calculator in landscape mode, and the same simple calculator in portrait orientation. Much appreciated. Thank you, Apple.

Screen Shots. You can now take a snapshot of whatever is on your screen by pressing both the Home button and the Power button at the same time. the screen will white out for a second as the image is captured, and the photo will appear in your Photo App's "Saved Photos" folder. The photo of the Scientific calc above was taken that way.

I won't review the assorted Apps available. A free one I find useful is REMOTE, by Apple. It lets you take control of your iTunes applications via wifi from your Touch or iPhone. Your PC need to be on the same network, and your Touch has to be connected to that network via wifi. I've got a great sound system connecting via bluetooth to my iMac. I can sit in the sweet spot of my system, and wirelessly pick and choose songs from my iTunes library to listen to. Neat trick.

Is the 2.0 update to the iPod Touch worth it? Yes. Even if you never buy an App from the App store, the value of the free ones is easily worth $10.

4D

Samsung P2 4th Bluewave is NOW FINAL

It appears Samsung quietly changed all their download websites from calling the 5.08 firmware a beta, to calling it formal.

Samsung.com
Samsung Korea
Samsung YEPP download site

That's it! No more waiting for a newer 4th Bluewave. Yes, I'm sad too.

Hip Street 8gb Touchscreen Review

I saw this little 8gb touchscreen player on sale at Walgreens.com for $89 and had to have a look. The Hip Street Portable Multimedia Player arrived a few days later, and it turns out to be quite a value for the features it includes. The package included a media convertor on mini CD, manual, AC charger, USB cable, lanyard, earbuds, and the player with stylus.

Feature are abundant. The Hip Street includes:

- Touch Screen Interface

- 8gb internal memory.

- Music: MP3, WMA

-- A to B repeat

-- Lyrics display

- Videos: AVI

- Pictures: JPG

- Text: TXT

- FM radio, FM recording

- (High quality) Voice Recording

- File Browser, with on-board delete option.

- Sleep (power off) timer

- EQ: Normal, 3D, Rock, Pop, Classic, Bass, Jazz, and one USER defined setting.

- Built-in loud Speaker

- Comes with stylus that stores in edge of device, uses finger or stylus.

- Screen 2.8" diagonal, 2.25" x 1.625", 320 x 240 pixels

- Body 3.625" x 2.125" x 3/8" thick.

- Includes earplugs, USB cable, Wall charger, Wrist strap long enough to wear as a necklace, small install CD (with AVIconverter program), instructions in two languages, stylus, player.

- T-flash card slot
- firmware upgradeable, (but not recommeded if product is functioning normally

- No driver needed under win 2000/XP/ME/Vista

My first impressions:

- FM radio sound quality was average.

- Music sounded fine using good headphones. Throw away the included earbuds.

- Interface doesn't take good advantage of direct touch, instead using on-screen arrows to move you up and down in menus. It feels like the interface from a non- touchscreen player was ported over, with little consideration for making the interface more efficient using direct touch input.

- Memory slot takes microSD and will read up to 8gb cards. For $36 you can add an 8gb card to have a 16gb player for $125.

- The included software does a good job of coverting movies to play on the Hip Street. Every major format including DVD VOB files can be converted to the AVI format required by the Hip Street.

- No external volume control, but on-screen controls are always visible.

- Shiny, aluminum alloy, brushed chrome finish is fingerprint magnet.

- Very light weight.

- Very impressed with the features it has.

Not the best sounding, but an amazingly feature-laden device for $90.

Amazingly compact. Here it is next to the Samsung P2. Just as thin. Lighter.

Conclusion? This is an amazing value for a media player with these features and capacity. Although no awards will be won for the interface or the sound quality, both are competent and will match whatever an iPod Nano can produce. This Hip Street player is almost the same size as a Nano, half the price, with more features. The built-in speaker isn't of great quality, but does let you listen without headphones. I don't recommend it for music, but it's perfectly acceptable for spoken podcasts or audiobooks.

4D