kinshuk99
12-06-2007, 06:16 PM
http://www.tech2.com/images/review_good.gifBootable OS
Good Battery Life
http://www.tech2.com/images/review_bad.gifToo much treble
FM reception is below average
Japanese OS makers Turbolinux’s new baby 'Wizpy' is more than an MP3 player. A multimedia media player that contains a PC-bootable version of the Linux operating system, the product is clearly aimed at merging the concept of business with entertainment. Not launched in the market yet, the Wizpy will be seen later this month. We got a review piece, let's see how it fairs.
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6892_wizpy_mp3_8_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6892_wizpy_mp3_8.jpg)
Design
The player doesn't have any design complications and is solid white throughout, with silver bands around the keys. In my opinion white music players have become commonplace, yet there is nothing cheesy about this player.
The screen is a 1.7-inch OLED screen and right below the screen are the buttons. The icons on the keys justify their purpose quite satisfactorily. The keypad is divided into three layers of three keys each. The middle key of the first and the last layer together with the corner two keys of the middle layer form the navigational pad. Look closer you can’t miss icons. The remaining keys are dedicated menu, record and EQ buttons. Bang in the middle you will find the power button.
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6841_wizpy_mp3_1_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6841_wizpy_mp3_1.jpg)
The keys are easy to press, but certainly don't come across as attractive. In fact, the icons on each key sort of clash with the tidiness of the player. The icons come handy nevertheless!
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6851_wizpy_mp3_2_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6851_wizpy_mp3_2.jpg)
The hold slider is on the left side of the player, while the microphone and a 3.5mm earphone jack is placed right at the top. There is nothing at the back except for the logo, however, if you have missed the USB slot, then it's right at the bottom beside the mic.
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_7243_wizpy_mp3_3_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_7243_wizpy_mp3_3.jpg)
At 84mm x 42mm x 12.2mm and 60g, the player is quite light.
Features
The UI works on Linux and looks quite cheesy. But I'm merely referring to the main menu icons, and the works. The player takes about 5-6 seconds to startup, but takes no time between songs.
Navigation is a bit wayward. By holding the Menu button in place you access the main menu. However, a single jab will only help you to toggle between the music player and the physical position of the song you are playing. Furthermore, you can make use of the navigational keys to surf through your music folders.
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6883_wizpy_mp3_7_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6883_wizpy_mp3_7.jpg)
The 1.7-inch OLED screen displays up to 256,000 pixels. Apart from playing music, the player is also capable of playing videos, FM, pictures and voice recording.
Turbolinux
One of the most innovative features of the player is that you can simply connect the device to any computer and run an inbuilt Linux based OS. To begin with, when you connect the player to the computer (based on our experience with the Windows XP), your system should ideally recognize one portion of the device as a bootable CD, and the remaining is dedicated to the player.
For this, you will need to install the Grub for Dos, which enables the BIOS to boot using the device. The manual, however, makes no mention of this. Ideally, one should be able to simply plug it in and try booting using the onboard CDROM or USB device option. We tried on three different machines (all containing Windows XP) but to no relief. Finally, we went ahead with installing the Grub. Upon restarting, we did manage to boot using the device.
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6893_wizpy_mp3_9_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6893_wizpy_mp3_9.jpg)
The basic reason to have this feature is to allow users to plug and play their own OS containing personalized environments and data. The OS allows web browsing, word processing, movies, music etc. Through the turbolinux OS you can also manage files on the player. You can also make space on the computer hard drive using the MyPc option and use it to save your data.
The player has three partitions - a boot partition of 16MB, a root partition of 700MB and a partition for users to save directly on to the drive using the OS which comprises 500MB. Besides this, you can also register online using Wizpy club from the OS itself. Through this you can avail a space of 500MB online for saving any form of data. Obviously, users will be looking to saving small sized data like documents etc. Very soon WIzpy will make additional space available for users if they want to upgrade for more. You will have to pay extra for that.
The player dedicates about 1GB of space for the operating system on the player itself, which takes away a beneficial amount of space from users.
Player Performance
With regard to music player performance, the player isn't that bad. The music player doesn't exactly have a dashing looking interface, what with all the greens and yellows blended together. The output, however, is pretty decent. By decent, I certainly don't mean up to the mark, but doable. It supports OGG, MP3, and AAC files.
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6881_wizpy_mp3_6_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6881_wizpy_mp3_6.jpg)
To begin with, the frequencies are a bit messed up. The highs are overwhelmingly profuse, and I had to adjust the highs to nil on the five-band equalizer for some treble relief.
Also the sound didn’t seem to be well spread. The custom presets are utterly useless. The player is loud enough, but due to the disparities in the sound frequencies, making use of the high volume levels will only hurt the ear. The bundled earphones are quite good, also upgrading to a better pair won't make a sea of a difference.
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6863_wizpy_mp3_4_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6863_wizpy_mp3_4.jpg)
As far as videos are concerned, it's not something you should bet your right arm on. It's either hit or miss. Even though the player is supposed to play DivX and Mpeg-4 files, there have been more misses than hits during our tests. But it's not something you should be losing your sleep over. The screen size doesn't allow a fun filled experience.
FM reception is below average. Indoors, we got nothing. While traveling the reception keeps breaking more often than not. Apart from this, the player also displays JPEG files.
Battery/Conclusion
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6871_wizpy_mp3_5_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6871_wizpy_mp3_5.jpg)
We got about 11 hours of battery life, mostly music and with minimum screen usage. Like I discussed earlier, the music player isn’t something great, what with all the frequencies being messed up. The treble is piercingly high, and the lows a bit muffled. The USP of the player most definitely is the inbuilt Turbolinux OS. For some users this may be one of the most useful feature. As an entertainer, however, the product fails miserably. The official launch date of the Wizpy is 13th of this month, and sources tell me it’s priced around Rs 11,000. Considering you only get 3 GB out of the 4 GB player, I say it's a bad deal. The player is also available in 2 GB capacity. If you buy that, then you get only 1 GB.
:!:
Good Battery Life
http://www.tech2.com/images/review_bad.gifToo much treble
FM reception is below average
Japanese OS makers Turbolinux’s new baby 'Wizpy' is more than an MP3 player. A multimedia media player that contains a PC-bootable version of the Linux operating system, the product is clearly aimed at merging the concept of business with entertainment. Not launched in the market yet, the Wizpy will be seen later this month. We got a review piece, let's see how it fairs.
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6892_wizpy_mp3_8_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6892_wizpy_mp3_8.jpg)
Design
The player doesn't have any design complications and is solid white throughout, with silver bands around the keys. In my opinion white music players have become commonplace, yet there is nothing cheesy about this player.
The screen is a 1.7-inch OLED screen and right below the screen are the buttons. The icons on the keys justify their purpose quite satisfactorily. The keypad is divided into three layers of three keys each. The middle key of the first and the last layer together with the corner two keys of the middle layer form the navigational pad. Look closer you can’t miss icons. The remaining keys are dedicated menu, record and EQ buttons. Bang in the middle you will find the power button.
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6841_wizpy_mp3_1_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6841_wizpy_mp3_1.jpg)
The keys are easy to press, but certainly don't come across as attractive. In fact, the icons on each key sort of clash with the tidiness of the player. The icons come handy nevertheless!
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6851_wizpy_mp3_2_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6851_wizpy_mp3_2.jpg)
The hold slider is on the left side of the player, while the microphone and a 3.5mm earphone jack is placed right at the top. There is nothing at the back except for the logo, however, if you have missed the USB slot, then it's right at the bottom beside the mic.
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_7243_wizpy_mp3_3_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_7243_wizpy_mp3_3.jpg)
At 84mm x 42mm x 12.2mm and 60g, the player is quite light.
Features
The UI works on Linux and looks quite cheesy. But I'm merely referring to the main menu icons, and the works. The player takes about 5-6 seconds to startup, but takes no time between songs.
Navigation is a bit wayward. By holding the Menu button in place you access the main menu. However, a single jab will only help you to toggle between the music player and the physical position of the song you are playing. Furthermore, you can make use of the navigational keys to surf through your music folders.
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6883_wizpy_mp3_7_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6883_wizpy_mp3_7.jpg)
The 1.7-inch OLED screen displays up to 256,000 pixels. Apart from playing music, the player is also capable of playing videos, FM, pictures and voice recording.
Turbolinux
One of the most innovative features of the player is that you can simply connect the device to any computer and run an inbuilt Linux based OS. To begin with, when you connect the player to the computer (based on our experience with the Windows XP), your system should ideally recognize one portion of the device as a bootable CD, and the remaining is dedicated to the player.
For this, you will need to install the Grub for Dos, which enables the BIOS to boot using the device. The manual, however, makes no mention of this. Ideally, one should be able to simply plug it in and try booting using the onboard CDROM or USB device option. We tried on three different machines (all containing Windows XP) but to no relief. Finally, we went ahead with installing the Grub. Upon restarting, we did manage to boot using the device.
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6893_wizpy_mp3_9_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6893_wizpy_mp3_9.jpg)
The basic reason to have this feature is to allow users to plug and play their own OS containing personalized environments and data. The OS allows web browsing, word processing, movies, music etc. Through the turbolinux OS you can also manage files on the player. You can also make space on the computer hard drive using the MyPc option and use it to save your data.
The player has three partitions - a boot partition of 16MB, a root partition of 700MB and a partition for users to save directly on to the drive using the OS which comprises 500MB. Besides this, you can also register online using Wizpy club from the OS itself. Through this you can avail a space of 500MB online for saving any form of data. Obviously, users will be looking to saving small sized data like documents etc. Very soon WIzpy will make additional space available for users if they want to upgrade for more. You will have to pay extra for that.
The player dedicates about 1GB of space for the operating system on the player itself, which takes away a beneficial amount of space from users.
Player Performance
With regard to music player performance, the player isn't that bad. The music player doesn't exactly have a dashing looking interface, what with all the greens and yellows blended together. The output, however, is pretty decent. By decent, I certainly don't mean up to the mark, but doable. It supports OGG, MP3, and AAC files.
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6881_wizpy_mp3_6_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6881_wizpy_mp3_6.jpg)
To begin with, the frequencies are a bit messed up. The highs are overwhelmingly profuse, and I had to adjust the highs to nil on the five-band equalizer for some treble relief.
Also the sound didn’t seem to be well spread. The custom presets are utterly useless. The player is loud enough, but due to the disparities in the sound frequencies, making use of the high volume levels will only hurt the ear. The bundled earphones are quite good, also upgrading to a better pair won't make a sea of a difference.
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6863_wizpy_mp3_4_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6863_wizpy_mp3_4.jpg)
As far as videos are concerned, it's not something you should bet your right arm on. It's either hit or miss. Even though the player is supposed to play DivX and Mpeg-4 files, there have been more misses than hits during our tests. But it's not something you should be losing your sleep over. The screen size doesn't allow a fun filled experience.
FM reception is below average. Indoors, we got nothing. While traveling the reception keeps breaking more often than not. Apart from this, the player also displays JPEG files.
Battery/Conclusion
http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6871_wizpy_mp3_5_450x360.jpg (http://www.tech2.com/media/images/2007/Jun/img_6871_wizpy_mp3_5.jpg)
We got about 11 hours of battery life, mostly music and with minimum screen usage. Like I discussed earlier, the music player isn’t something great, what with all the frequencies being messed up. The treble is piercingly high, and the lows a bit muffled. The USP of the player most definitely is the inbuilt Turbolinux OS. For some users this may be one of the most useful feature. As an entertainer, however, the product fails miserably. The official launch date of the Wizpy is 13th of this month, and sources tell me it’s priced around Rs 11,000. Considering you only get 3 GB out of the 4 GB player, I say it's a bad deal. The player is also available in 2 GB capacity. If you buy that, then you get only 1 GB.
:!: