The Zen Micro is here!

[NetRyder]

And everybody loves pictures, so here they are. First the packaging...



Opening the box...



There she is, staring back at me, looking all pretty =)



Out of the box, and into the snug little stand...



This little thing just rocks! And it was the Limited Edition box with the free extra battery! Size comparisons, blue glow-in-the-dark sweetness, and other thoughts later tonight.

 

[Sazar]

Nice. Whats the battery life on that thing?

I was looking @ the black one for my missus to get some variety

We should probably start a new section for "New Toys'

 

[NetRyder]

Specs say 12 hours, so that would be 24 with both batteries fully charged up.
Realistically, I've heard of people getting anywhere between 8 to 10 per battery.

I like the idea of the new toys section.

 

[Sazar]

Mine is claimed to be about 8-10 hrs.

I can squeeze out about 9 usually by turning all the lights and stuff off. Wish it was longer.

I've been @ work all day today and its banging out the beats so that's good

Lemme know how you like the audio and how easy it is to use (ie dling songs and stuff)

Btw did you get complete care

 

[NetRyder]

I listened to a few different types of tunes last night, including the sample tracks that were pre-loaded. Sound quality is just top-notch, and surprisingly, the included earbuds are actually quite good.

The device comes loaded with the 1.x firmware, which means you need to install the Creative software first. That's a little unfortunate. Guess it's because the PlaysForSure firmware is still a beta. I updated to the 2.x PlaysForSure firmware right after it was fully charged up, and it works without the drivers now. Syncing is a breeze with WMP10. Absolutely seamless. You know what it's like with the Pocket DJ...pretty much the same experience. The touchpad takes a few minutes to get used to. I set the sensitivity to "High" and I can fly through the menus pretty quickly now.

FM reception is quite good, although I was getting a bit of background static indoors. Lots of metal around though. Should be better outdoors. Here's a sample recording from some random station: http://netryder.osnn.net/zen_fm.wav

 

[ming]

You drain more power when you playback at full volume.

 

[NetRyder]

My eardrums would burst first. I can't even get close to full volume with the earbuds on.
The bass response is pretty powerful. Very nice.

 

[Grandmaster]

The color you got is quite nice actually. A friend of mine got the white one with the black buttons.

Also nice to see that the provided ear buds are good quality. My iPod ones were quite crappy

 

[NetRyder]

Yeah, I think silver, black and dark blue go best with the nice blue glow.

 

[~bk]

Looks very nice. Congratulations!

 

[NetRyder]

Thanks Bilal! I can't seem to be able to put it down since I got it. Fun stuff.

 

[Electronic Punk]

The blue glow goes up and down when you are connected to a pc, headphones are a little bad tho imho, the little covers always come off, suprised I still have them actually... as for getting music onto it?

with the 2.x firmware it is as easy as copying the music to the device in Windows Explorer! You can also copy music back off it, provided you are copying back to the same pc -- I guess it is also that mechanism which also means you can't play music directly off it into a music player!

 

[NetRyder]

The blue glow goes up and down when you are connected to a pc, headphones are a little bad tho imho, the little covers always come off, suprised I still have them actually... as for getting music onto it?

with the 2.x firmware it is as easy as copying the music to the device in Windows Explorer! You can also copy music back off it, provided you are copying back to the same pc -- I guess it is also that mechanism which also means you can't play music directly off it into a music player!

Yeah, I was charging it up last night. The pulsating blue glow is pretty slick. Enyo asked me if I could get a little video clip of that, so I'll try that soon.

I tried copying music through Explorer too. As easy as it gets and very quick. Been using WMP10 mainly though, since the library is nice and organized, and you just have to drag, drop and hit the sync button.

Tried the voice recording feature. Works well, but you can't really use it in class to record lectures or anything of the sort unless you're sitting pretty close to the source. Still not bad for such a tiny microphone.

Just noticed that holding down the "back" area of the touchpad for a second takes you back to the main menu no matter where you are in the interface. That's handy. And a random observation - the battery seems almost identical to the one in my Nokia 3650. They're both 3.7V, but the Nokia battery has a higher mAh rating. Better battery life? Nah, I don't want to blow this thing up on the first day.

 

[sean.ferguson]

that looks sweet, almost makes me want one... until i look at the bank balance
congrats on the purchase Kunal.

 

[762x51]

Nice pictures and mini review. Been thinking about one of these myself.

 

[mooo]

That is a nice dresser you have there. What is it made from??
I got jpom's micro being shipped to me now. Everyone said it was a lot better than the ipod mini. Here are some nice size comparisons. Which kinda made me jump for it, might be thicker but the size is so much better.

http://www.dapreview.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=103&pos=55
http://www.dapreview.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=103&pos=56
http://www.dapreview.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=103&pos=57
http://www.dapreview.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=103&pos=58
http://www.dapreview.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=103&pos=59
http://www.dapreview.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=103&pos=60
http://www.dapreview.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=103&pos=61
http://www.dapreview.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=103&pos=62

I been checking the mailbox for a week now, but still not going to change when it gets here on monday

btw, i have a 4g 40gig ipod that my gf decided to adopt as hers.. too bad she doesn't know how to put music on it, so ask me why this little guy is going to be hidden away.. bc i think it looks 10x better than the ipod

 

[NetRyder]

Thanks Sean.
762x51, definitely something to look into if you don't need 20GB of space. It's a great little device.
mooo, I'd pick up one of these over an iPod Mini any day. Good choice!

I'll write up a more complete review sometime later this month. Stay tuned.

 

[mooo]

I just got mine in today.. Its so damn small i can't believe it. I played with the fm thing, not too shabby so far. I must say.

 

[mooo]

anyone else find it somewhat difficult to get it out of the case thing? Thinking about getting the silcon skin for it.

 

[zeke_mo]

Hey netryder, can you look on your zen cd for the installer that is for the formating tool for the removable media. Mine is set to 2GB right know and I dont have that much room left for music, so I want to change it to 512. I dont think you can change it without that tool, and I dont have my cd . Thanks.