Meizu Mini Player SL 8GB media player
Flac and Ogg support to the fore
Review Despite having been busted at the CeBIT show for alleged copyright infringement, Meizu makes some stylish media players that compete with a host of 2, 4 and 8GB Flash players with 2-3in screens.
The Mini SL is not a brand new design, but it has recently been given an improved screen, some new firmware and has shed a few millimetres around the waist due to the installation of a smaller, but more efficient battery.
Meizu's Mini Player SL: seen a few improvements
Beyond the fact that the Mini is small and light - it measures a compact 78 x 46 x 7mm and weighs only 48g despite a sturdy aluminium chassis - two features immediately separate it from much of the herd. The first is file support: this boy handles Ogg and Flac audio alongside the more common MP3, WAV and WMA. It also supports AVI and Xvid video files.
The second feature is the control interface. The Chinese gadget maker clearly felt the need to sit down and re-invent the wheel on this one. You navigate around the player's UI using an oddly-shaped pad to the left of the screen that's both pressure- and touch-sensitive.
The majority of functions are managed by finger drags either vertically or horizontally across the pad, and since there is no 'action' key as such, settings are confirmed by swiping out of the menu or screen in question once they have been selected. It's not exactly what we'd call intuitive. Using the small touchpad with the right degree of delicacy does take some practice and is not for those with unsteady hands or the DTs.
COMMENTS
Cowon D2
That's the fella that has the SD slot and the flac and great sound ... oh and I've watched 3 films on mine and still had anough battery power left for music on the 3 hour flight home.
The best player hands down! Nothing comes close.
Period
Re: 20fps
"srsly? 24 is bad enough at the source."
ya rly!
This is primarily a music device with video on the side and a small screen, if you want a video device with music on the side get an Archos or similar (which I also own :)). For the Miezu I normally re-encode at 15fps (from 29.97fps movies) and its perfectly adequate (ie,can't really notice on the small screen)... this isn't a home cinema setup, its a portable player with a limited amount of memory, reducing the file size is A Good Thing(tm).
The original review seems to mark down the UI controls, I certainly never noticed any problems with it other than getting used to a new device type settling in period (my Archos by comparison is pretty clumsy regarding the UI imo)
Got the 4gb model...
...and its been a fantastic little bit of kit for the year or more I've owned it.
I'd agree with the comment above in theory, but in practice given that you charge it from the PC USB, its a breeze to just drag albums over. I have never really understood the need people have to carry 30,000 tracks around with them every single place they go, 4gb has been more than adequate to the point I seldom have it filled up at any time even including the odd converted movie. Which brings me to my next point. Have the sync issues been sorted out as the playback on the 4gb had a habit of going out of sync, most people got around it by splicing the film (a forum member posted a superb script for linux users to convert and splice the movie all automagically)?
All in all, would I buy another if/when this one packs up... absolutely :]
Looks just like
Not that I really care - I do not believe UIs should be protected or copywriteable or patentable - but it looks just like my Creative Zen.
