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Performance
Despite the fact I was not too impressed by this inexpensive player in many
areas, there are a couple of features that actually do. As I do
with all these reviews, detailed testing was done on each and every feature
it supports.
Interface & Navigation
This is certainly the area that many will not be happy with. Not only can
navigation be quite frustrating, but its main interface is
unimpressive. On top of that, masking it with Apple-like menus is not
unique by any means and not something many may actually like. While
the touch screen is pretty responsive only after calibrating, I found I had
to tap on the screen a few times just to get to a particular menu or file.
This really is not necessary. In addition, the lack of tag support is
a major disappointment. While you can upload all your media a certain
way to make navigation a bit easier, the lack of auto-scroll makes it
difficult to know what your playing at times. Also, the control menu
that pops up when you slightly tap the screen does not function very well.
For example, most have an "X" on the upper right that doesn't really do
anything at all. It does not close the menu you are currently in and
the only way to go back is by hitting the back icon or the menu icon.
Why they have an "X" to obviously close a menu and not have it function is
beyond me. However, this player is firmware upgradeable and hopefully
some much needed improvements will be made in this particular area.
Audio Playback & Sound Quality
Its audio quality was tested only with quality
earbuds. The cheap buds included weren't even opened. The two
earbuds of choice were the excellent
Razer Pro|Tones m100's and the more
expensive Sure E2c's.
I wasn't too impressed with its audio quality.
By default, it sounded as if the treble was up way too high. I could
actually adjust it to sound pretty good via the built-in user EQ, but for
some odd reason, it simply would not retain my settings. This annoyed
me very much. There are presets available, but only a couple of them
are worth using. The rest just didn't sound good at all.
Video Playback
One impressive ability was its video playback. To start, I was expecting a much lower
quality screen. However, this player has a pretty decent one, making
video playback quite satisfying. Despite the player is sluggish
in many areas, it wasn't when it came down to video playback. All
videos looked good, regardless of whether the included tool was used or
other software. Those "tweaked" videos I loaded on it via other tools
looked and played exceptionally well. Even skipping through the vids is fast
and there is no hesitation at all.
Picture Viewing
Picture viewing was a mixed bag. While
the screen does show a lot of detail and displays pictures much better than
a number of similar products on the market, it struggles heavily with them
and load times depend on just how large the pictures are. I loaded a
variety of pictures ranging from 2mp - 8mp to see if not only would it read
them, but also to test how fast it can load them. Unfortunately, the
higher the megapixels, the slower it loads them, some of which took a pretty
unacceptable amount of time.
FM Radio
It is always nice to have a built-in FM radio
on such a product and after testing a number of them, I've found not all
work well. The one of this player happens to fall into this category.
While it was actually able to pick up small local stations in my area
that most can't, there was a decent amount of static when moving around too
much. The static was only an issue when moving the player or walking
while listening to radio.
Recording Quality
Even today, not very many players still
feature recording capabilities. The VIDEGO28 happens to not only allow
voice recordings, but also has the capability of recording from FM as well.
However, unlike a select few players I've reviewed here, it does not support
line-in recordings. Also, the player will only record in WAV format
and there is no option to change the file format or support for any others. As I do with all, plenty of recordings are done to see if there
are any issues and samples are provided here for you to listen to.
Below are two samples, one voice recording and
one FM recording...
Sample Voice Recording
Sample FM Recording
Note: Sample recordings were not
altered or edited in any way. What you here is what the player recorded
without any kind of editing.
Recordings are pretty good but not perfect
though. Voice recordings sound pretty good with only little
background noise. It was when thoroughly testing FM recordings that I
encountered a slight issue. While they do sound good, in some very
rare instances, some recordings kind of skip for a second and does this once
again when you attempt to end the session. The sample above is
actually one of these that I happened to capture so you can get a better
idea as to what I'm referring to.
Expansion Slot & Flash Memory Performance
Probably its most unique feature is its
expansion capabilities. Very few products have this capability and it
is always a nice bonus. The VIDEGO28 reviewed here has 4GB of built-in
memory but can be expanded via the Mini SD slot located on the
bottom of the player. This format is actually not as common or as
popular anymore but I did have one Sandisk card available and it was
inserted and used to see if the player struggled at all with it.
Fortunately, it didn't and actually handles them extremely well. There
was absolutely no difference in file access times and the card was quickly
identified, whether or not the player was on or off. No noticeable lag
at all between the built-in memory and the flash card.
Battery Life
As far as battery life goes, what you find in
writing can be me a bit misleading. The main features state up to 8hrs
of audio playback. Look at the detailed specs, and things are quite
different. They claim the internal 100mAh battery is capable of up to
15hrs or audio playback and up to 5hrs of video playback. However,
both of these are clearly listed as results with the LCD in "closed" model.
In our testing though, it was not possible to reach these higher numbers.
After properly conditioning the battery, the best we could achieve was 19hrs
and 43mins. This was a result of playing a mixture of audio and video
and activating the LCD on occasion. Not bad, but not up their their
specs.
Durability
This product is obviously not built to high
standards and its somewhat cheap build quality is apparent the second you
lay your hands on it. While the product itself looks like it will hold
up pretty well after extensive use, it just doesn't "look" like it cost much
to manufacture. The power/hold switch functions pretty well but it is
questionable as to how long it can hold up. The three buttons on the
bottom front should not be an issue at all after long term use. The outer shell itself is actually OK,
especially the thick plastic housing on the back. It has a thick black
finish that will not scratch easily.
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