Reviewing of Portable Goods

[Andy Grange]

Just a quick suggestion regarding the reviews of any portable devices such as MP3 players and phones; I was wondering whether you actually take them out and about with you? I've found that the reviews for products such as the I-Phone and the latest Archos don't take into account the actual size and portability. As good as these devices may be, I for one could not part with my cash for such goods because they're just too big. It would be nice if you added comments for people who don't have a bag with them, and how well (or not) they fit in your pockets, etc. Anyway, rant over. Keep up the good work!

 

[Anonymous]

Andy, that's a great idea - seriously. I'll be honest, we're so used to working within our test room structure that we sometimes forget simple but perfectly valid ideas like that. I'd imagine battery life, dimensions and weight would be fairly vital factors to take into account, right? Wi-fi performance, perhaps? Any other feedback welcome. We've a test on this theme under way at the moment, by the way, so all comments welcome.

 

[Andy Grange]

I'm glad you like the idea. I guess the main reason behind this was that I'd earmarked my the latest Archos as I wanted to upgrade my MP3 player, and wanted to be able to watch video as well as listen to music. I've got quite alot of DivX files, and didn't really want to spend hours converting them. That ruled out the I-pod, and after reading your Archos review my mind had been made up. I usually order goods online, but happened to be in a hi-fi shop and saw the Archos. It was just too big for my to stick in my pocket, which was a real shame. I ended up with the Creative Zen Vision:M, which I'm really happy with. I travel alot (usually rack up around 15 hours train time a week), so portability is important for me.

As you say, things like the physical size and battery life would be key for me. I imagine other readers would also be interested in wi-fi capabilities too. I know in your last issue you reviewed the latest Sony Ericsson phone, comparing to the I-phone and the N95. I think I'd be right in saying that one of the plus points you mentioned was that it was more sleek and easier to fit in your pocket than the other two. That's the sort of thing that I personally found really useful and interesting.

 

[Andy Grange]

Just one more point regarding this subject, perhaps you could take some headphones into account too? The reason being is that after getting my Zen I ordered the accessory pack from Creative. This consisted of a proper mains charger, silicone skin, A/V cable and "high quality in ear phones". Now, I would not even begin to compare these to some of the more quality in-ear phones on the market. However, my first instinct was "These are amazing". Completely blocked out any external noise, and offered alot more clarity than I was used to. Admittedly they were far too bassy, but first impressions were good. I went out for a walk with them on, and came across the big problem. The fact that they'd blocked out any external noise so well meant that I could actually hear myself breathing, and walking!! If that's a bad explanation I likened it to sticking my head underwater whilst in the bath, and being able to hear your own breathing. Anyway, to cut a long story short I'm back with my old headphones now. I guess that sort of problem isn't obvious until you're actually out and about.

 

[Anonymous]

We certainly do our best to evaluate headphones in noisy environments -ÿusually, that means sitting in the office listening to music (very antisocial) rather than down in the relative calm of the testing rooms. We try to comment on the quality of supplied headphones too, although perhaps not as much as we ought. Anyway, we've got the Archos against the Creative (and the Touch) in our next issue: be interesting to see how we get on relative to your experiences.

Cheers, Andy

 

[Andy Grange]

Great, thanks for taking the time to reply! I look forward to next months issue