Creative Zen Touch 2 with GPS. My Review.

Creative is now making an Android-based Zen media player.  I'm delighted to see more companies jumping on the android bandwagon. When the Zen Touch 2 (I'll referred to it as the T2) with GPS became available on their web site (you can also order them on Amazon.com) I ordered one.  Mine arrived 2/28/2011, and since then I've been going through it in detail, hoping to find what special touches Creative could add to Android, if any.  As of now,  I'm not sure they did anything beyond putting their name on this device.

Aesthetically the only interesting detail Creative added to an otherwise boring T2 is a faceted back derived from their Zen Mosaic.   Don't consider this player if you want to impress your friends with your stylish choices.  The nicest software touch they added was a quick graphic on boot-up advising you to "Touch the Sound of Perfection".  After that you get another annoying slide-to-unlock screen then a typical Android UI. 

What's in the Box?  In addition to the 8gb (only 4.1gb available) Zen Touch 2 you get:

• A mini USB cable, although I hope you have a USB port on the front of your PC as it is only 4" long.
• In-Ear headphones.  Better than what usually comes with MP3 players.
• Warranty sheet  (one year).
• Quick Start Guide.
• An ad for Creative accessories.
•  $10 EMusic card.
• One free Audiobook offer.
• and advice on protecting your hearing. 

Dimensions: 

• 120mm x 69mm x 13mm, 122g.  
• 4.72" x  2.72" x .5", 4.3oz
• For comparison:
• The Cowon D3 is 116.4mm x 64.2mm x 11.8mm, 120g.
• The Archos 43 is 135.0mm x 65.0mm x 9.00 mm, 132g

OS: Android 2.1, with hints (no promises) that it may eventually be updated to 2.2.

Controls and Ports (held horizontally with the Home button on the right):

• Power button (left end). Hold in to power the T2 on or off.  Tap to toggle just the screen off/on.
• Volume +/- (top edge)
• Search, Back, and Menu/List buttons (touch sensitive, to the right of the LCD screen)
• HOME button (oddly a mechanical push button on the front face)
• Speaker port (5/16" x 1/16" slot on back)
• Camera Lens (on back)
• Mini USB port (right end)
• Headphone jack (right end)
• Video output (Composite, uses headphone jack and custom cable)
• MicroSD slot (bottom edge under a rubber pull tab)
• Microphone (small hole on bottom edge, labeled by white microphone icon)

This Zen's media apps:

• Music: The T2 will play music in these formats:  MP3, AAC, WMA9, FLAC, OGG, ADPCM, MIDI, WAV, and Audible.  I was shocked to discover there is no Equalizer. No Presets. No user settings.  I had to dig out my ancient Zen 4gb to see if this was Creative's pattern or not (it is NOT).   The audio output was powerful enough to easily drive my large Sennheiser HD595 headphones. No gapless playback though.   Just the basics it seems.  On the Now Playing screen you get a small album art view. Controls are all visible and active including List, Shuffle and Repeat buttons, as well as the typical Prev(Rewind when held)/Play(pause)/Next(Fast Forward when held) buttons. Info displayed includes a song length/position slider bar, artist, album, and song title. A long press on the last three brings up a Music/Browser Search window to find all songs or web info that matches the item touched. The Now Playing screen simply rearranges the same info for landscape or portrait view.  A tap on the T2's menu icon will bring up options for Party Shuffle, Add to Playlist, Delete, and Library.  With no Equalizer though the Music app gets a B.

• Gallery (used for video and photos): Both Video formats supported include H.264, MPEG4, WMV9, and AVI video.  Photo types include JPG, BMP, and PNG.  My Touch 2 played WMV, AVI, and MP4 video files fine,  although those that weren't the same width/height ratio as the screen had no way to be stretched to fit the screen. All you get when playing videos is the standard video Rew/Play/Ffwd and a length/position slider bar. No info, no submenu options, nothing. Don't buy the Touch 2 for videos.  Video gets a C- from me.  The Photo capabilities are only a little more useful.  No swipe to the next photo.  You have to tap on the screen to get a next or previous triangle to tap on. You also get a zoom (magnifying) in/out bar, a share icon, and a delete icon. Tap Share to bring up options for Bluetooth Object Push and Email.  You can also double-tap on the screen for one step of zooming in. Once zoomed in it is easy to pan around the photo.  Using the magnifying bar there are 13 steps of zoom, which does a fine job of bringing up the tiniest details in a photo.   Tap the T2's menu button for a few more options including Rotate, Delete, Crop, Details, and More. More adds Show on Maps, Slideshow, Settings (for slideshow), and another Push Image by Bluetooth choice. Slideshow Settings are more complete than usual.  Where both Videos and Photo suffer is from the poor screen quality.  Photos get a B- from me for leaving out the easiest way to see the next photo.
• FM Radio with RDS!  You need headphones plugged in to use the radio.  The Radio app will warn you to plug them in if they are not, and although the radio app will open it won't turn on without the headphones.  The app is fairly complete. You get a station slider bar, Off/On button, scan forward and back buttons, frequency up and down (in .05 steps) buttons, an add-to- presets (+) button, and a Presets List button which includes the AutoTune choice. If the station tuned to includes RDS info it will display above the frequency displayed. No HD-Radio reception. No option to delete a preset from the list that I could find. No recording of Radio that I could find. Radio will play in the background while you run other apps that don't have their own audio.  To turn it off you need to tap the power icon in the app, or run another program with its own audio (like Music). With no recording or preset delete I have to give FM Radio a B.

Other hardware features include:

• Bluetooth - 2.1 EDR:  So far I've found it supports file transfer, stereo audio to headphone or speakers.  My bluetooth keyboards would pair but not connect. Audio quality over bluetooth to my Sony BT50s is on the better side of typical. All controls over media play worked both from the headset and the player.
• WiFi - IEEE 802.11 b/g/n:  No problems connecting to my Dlink n-capable router. Signal strength is as good as on any other 802.11n device I've reviewed, no matter where in my house I wandered to.    
• GPS: I'll need to find a GPS enabled app to give this a test.  Stay tuned.
• Compass: Seems to work.  Found north just fine using a compass app.  Not sure how useful it will be, but am optimistic it will eventually come in handy.
• Accelerometer: The UI and direction-sensitive apps react quickly when the T2 is rotated. Nothing else to test it with.  Another "stay tuned".
• Camera:  The camera will take still photos at 1600 x 1200 (2mp) or 640 x 480 as JPGs. Video taken is MP4 (H.264) at 21fps and 360kbps, 640 x 480 pixels. Video doesn't play back very smooth.  The camera app is pretty complete, with white balance, quality, GPS (location) tagging, effects settings, crop and delete, etc.. No zoom to speak of.  No flash.  The lens is fixed-focus and cheap. It is also easily blocked by your finger when holding the T2 naturally.

Web Browser: Works best with mobile web pages.  The low resolution hinders usefulness on classic web pages. A double tap works as expected, stretching columns to fit the screen width. Panning and scrolling is responsive and smooth. I recommend using a stylus if you expect to be accurate tapping on tiny links. Settings include options to Add a bookmark, Find on Page, Select Text, Page Info, Share Page, Downloads, and page content settings.  You can choose from Text Size, Default Zoom, Text Encoding,   Open Pages in overview, Block Pop-up windows, Load images, Landscape only, Enable Javascript, Enable Plug-ins, Open in Background, and Set Home Page.  In addition there are privacy settings to Clear cache, Clear History, Accept cookies, Clear all cookie data, Remember form data, Clear form data, Enable location, Clear location access, Remember passwords, Clear passwords, Show security settings, and even more advanced options. With exceptions for the low-res screen The Web Browser is very complete. Almost a joy to use on the Touch 2. Web Browser earns an A.

UI:  The android UI will turn horizontal or vertical depending on how you hold the T2, but only 90 degrees one way. The screen is sensitive and very responsive, but graphics do not instantly react like those on an iPod Touch. There are only three home page screens.  This will prove limiting after you start adding apps.   You get just 4 widgets including an analog clock, bluetooth control (PureAndroidAudio),  Power Control, and Search.  You can add Widgets, Shortcuts, or Folders to any or all home screens.  You can also choose the wallpaper (background) from 10 included photos, your own photos, or 4 different colors.  You can adjust the brightness of the screen from Settings-Display or the Power Widget.   Viewing angles are decent in one axis and limited in the other, typical for the inexpensive LCD screen used.   Other than for the poor choice of screen the UI response is as good as any other android device I've reviewed. Limited pages and included apps/widgets lead me to giving UI a B-.

Conclusion:  For a device with so many hardware features it is a shame Creative went with such a poor screen. The Touch 2 is almost as large as my Archos 43, but the 3.2" 480 x 320 screen is significantly smaller and less than half the resolution. Poor video playback and no audio equalizer round out the flaws.  There appears to be plenty of processing power. Audio output is strong. Bluetooth is great and FM radio with RDS is appreciated.  Is it worth $199?  The 8g Archos 43 is also $199 but comes with a better screen, better UI, more functional WiFi and Bluetooth features and remains my favorite device for now. So NO. The Touch-2 with GPS is NOT a good value at its current price.

4D

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Creative Zen 4GB. My Review.

First the facts. The Zen is available in 2,4,8,and 16gb versions. The 4gb model is available in Red or Black. Black seems to be the only option in the other sizes. This one being reviewed came from my local Target store and is a 4gb model. You can find it at Target.com for $99.99. You can find it at Amazon.com for $10 less.

Mine came with 4GB internal memory, and an SD/SDHC slot for expansion. I found a Transcend class 6 16GB SDHC card for about $43, giving me a 20gb player for $143, tax not included.

It has a beautiful 2.5" ( 2" x 1.5") screen at 320 x 240 resolution. There are 6 different background themes/colors to choose from.

The Zen is 3.27" long, 2.17" wide, and 0.45" thick. It weighs 2.2 ounces (64 grams). Add 3 grams for an SD card. For comparison my Insignia Pilot with many of the same features also weighs 64 grams. The Zen fits easily in the watch pocket of my painter's pants.

The body of the Zen is Black, with a matt finish on the back and gloss on the front. The front is, like all other gloss players, a magnet for fingerprints.

The top edge has the SD/SDHC card slot and microphone. I like the convenience of the SD slot location. My Insignia Pilot also has an SD/SDHC slot, but it has a cover and makes it difficult to install a card.

On the right end you'll find the headphone jack, USB jack, and power/lock slider. Under the power slider is an LED that indicates power status. No custom cable required. The short USB cable provided is a cheap trick. Not really a problem for me since I've got several cables that will work, but the short length would be a problem for anyone with a PC that only has USB jacks on the rear of the CPU.

The bottom edge has a small reset hole. I've read that you can also reset a locked up Zen by holding down the power slider for 15 seconds or so.

In addition to the Zen, the box includes a short (4.5") USB cable, earbuds (48" cable), accessories brochure, savings booklet, a warning about hearing loss, a quick start guide, and a software CD.

The front face has a Menu/Back and Options rocker, a shortcut and Play/Pause/Record rocker, and a square direction pad with separate OK button in the middle. The buttons are not as easy to use as the touchscreen buttons on the Samsung T10 or the touchpad on the Zune. They are easy enough to figure out though and are logically located so long as you are right handed. For what it's worth the Insignia Pilot controls can be flipped for left handed users.

No sharp corners on this Zen. 1/4" radius on the back, 1/8" radius on the front, and four corners with a 3/16" radius. Mostly comfortable in the hand, although the seam between front and back is a little rough in places.

Main menu items include Microphone, Photos, Music, Videos, FM Radio, Extras, Memory Card, and System. Extras include Date & Time as well as an Organizer. The organizer includes Calendar, Tasks, and Contacts which can all be synced from your PC.

Microphone leads you to the voice recorder app. It records WAV files from the internal microphone. You can pause and resume a recording using the Play/Pause button on the Zen. You need to hit the Options button to begin and stop a recording.

Photos obviously opens the photo viewer. There is a zoom option, however there seems to be only one degree of zoom. Photos that are only 240x320 will not zoom. You can select a photo or part of a photo as your Zen's wallpaper. There are some interesting photo effects you can apply to the photo during that process including brightness (10% to 100% in 10% steps), warm, cool, graytone, and sepia tone. Music can be playing while you are looking at photos, and there is a volume control within the photo options for convenience. You can rotate photos in 90 degree clockwise steps. You can rate photos, and then move between rated photos. You can inspect photo detail, and also delete photos from the photo options menu. A press of the center controller button will turn off and on the filename of the current photo.

Music has many sort options including by Playlist, Album, Artists, Genres, All tracks, Recordings, Bookmarks, and DJ. DJ gives you a further set of playlist creation options including Album of the Day, Random Play All, Most Popular, Rarely Heard, Highly Rated, and Yet to be Rated. Any song you are playing can be rated. You can set bookmarks in a song. View details, add or remove them from playlists, and lookup the artist (within other songs on the Zen). Lists can be quickly browsed alphabetically. Sound quality through the include earbuds is typical, with no discernable bass but also no hiss or noise. I recommend throwing out the included buds and getting some higher end headphones. Through my Sennheiser HD595s the music quality from the Zen is excellent. Equalizer settings are not accessible from the music app, although you can back out of the music player with the music still playing to go into settings where the EQ options are. I suggest turning Bass Boost ON when you've got good headphone connected, as bass tones seem to be muted by default. More than likely to not overdrive the included earbuds.

Videos look better than decent on the 2.5" screen. The .5" larger size over a 2" iPod Nano or Samsung T10 screen makes a big difference. Videos can be "Fit To Screen" or "Stretched To Fit". You can also Seek to any spot in a video to play it from that spot. The Zen came with several AVI sample files. It plays WMV9, MJPEG, and MPEG4-SP video formats.

FM Radio uses the headphone cable as it's antenna meaning your reception will vary depending on the length, position, and any shielding your headphone cable may have. There are 32 possible channel presets. You have to let the Zen autosearch for channels, as I could not find any way to manually tune the radio. Once a station is preset you can add it's name to the frequency. Pressing the center controller button will bring up a list of preset channels for quick jumping to a specific one. There does not appear to be any RDS reception or display. There is also no recording of radio programming available on this Zen. Radio play will also cease when you leave the FM application. No looking at photos while listening to the radio.

Although it sounds fine, I'm disappointed with the FM feature of the Zen. No manual tuning means I have no way of telling it to tune to one of my favorite local channels that the autoscan couldn't seem to find. Every other media player with an FM radio I have does tune this station. Mystery.

Extra features are alway welcome in these pocket media players. I'm not sure how useful the Date/Time and Organizer will prove to be, though. So far my Zen has lost track of the time and date I set it for one day ago. You can't enter tasks or contacts on the Zen directly. I rate the extras a scientific "ho-hum".

Memory Card is where you'll find the content on any SD card you've inserted. It's unfortunate that removeable media is not automatically incorporated with the internal library. You can Browse and subsequently play any media file you select. You can import any media files found on an SD card directly to the Zen's local memory. This might be a great way to get photos off an SD card from your camera. You can also look at information about the memory card you have inserted.

System includes Information, Audio Settings, Photo/Video Settings, Display Settings, Player Settings, Clock Settings, Language Setting, and Reset option.

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Information will reveal the Firmware version (1.21.01), total space, Free space, Track count, Album Count, Playlist count, Photo and video counts.

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Audio settings include Play Mode, EQ choice, Smart Volume, Bass Boost, and Restrict Volume.

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Photo/Video settings include Slide interval time (3, 5, 10, and 15 seconds) ,and slide transition style (None, Fade, Bounce, Pan Zoom, Shrink, Roll, Flip, Squeeze, Blend, Scroll, and Random).

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Display settings include the ability to turn on or off menu selections, a backlight timer, Brightness, Theme, and the option to Reset your wallpaper.

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Player settings include owner name, Idle shutdown time, Sleep timer, Shortcut button option, Protected Content: Show and Protected Content Password.

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Clock settings include View Clock, Clock in Title Display, and Set Alarm.

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Language settings include 22 possible languages to choose from.

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If you mess anything up you can always choose to RESET the settings.

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Summary? The Zen is a great music, photo, and video player. Controls are easy to manuever although not as direct or simple as most touchscreen players are. Sound quality with good headphones is above average. The FM radio gets a C for having no recording or RDS, and no way to manually enter a station frequency. My Zen won't be my player of choice, but for the $99 I spent it has a better (larger) screen than most and can keep up with most for audio quality. No bluetooth (for wireless audio) or Text display, along with no RDS or FM recording puts the Zen a couple of big steps below my Samsung T10. No wifi puts it below the Zune (any of them). I'd rank it higher than an iPod Nano, with a better screen and FM Radio, but just barely.

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Should you buy one? If you can find one on sale for $69 or less then go for it. If you have $100 to spend then look for a 4gb Samsung T10.

4D