- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 58 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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15 out of 15 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"I never even knew I wanted an MP3 player until I saw this thing"
Pros: Tiny size, OLED display, feature-laden, upgradeable firmware, very nice sound, "cool" factor
Cons: Ugly white earbuds, buttons sometimes unresponsive
Summary: This is truly an impressive piece of technology and engineering. To pack so many usable features into a cube so tiny is remarkable. I don't need a 40 GB iPod that stores thousands of songs... this little guy is more than sufficient. With a blend of 128, 160, and 192 Kbps bitrates, I loaded over 200 songs onto my 1 GB cube effortlessly (truly "drag and drop"). Clearly the mobiBLU isn't for everyone, but for a feature-packed unit with capacity for a couple hundred songs, it's hard to imagine much better. If you want music while you're exercising, commuting, traveling, etc., this little cube is terrific. It's so small and light, it's very easy to integrate into your activities.
The user interface is not only fairly intuitive (once you learn how to access all the myriad features using only a few buttons), it's actually useful. Navigating is fairly hierarchical and straightforward.
Having an FM radio, a good voice recorder, FM recording, a clock, etc. -- these are all just extras that increase the "wow" factor of the mobiBLU exponentially. The cube also boasts a pretty comprehensive five-band EQ with several presets as well as a customizable setting. Also present are SRS, Trubass, and WOW sound processing, which aren't really my cup of tea on Windows Media Player, but they're occasionally pretty nice on earbuds.
The earbuds included are "necklace-style" and, although they sound decent for included accessories, they're a very iPod-ish white color, which is probably okay if you get the silver mobiBLU. I got the black one, so they clash terribly. Manufacturers can't seem to get a handle on this: Apple ships white earbuds with their new BLACK iPod Nano, too.
Considering this is immediately recognized by Windows XP as a USB mass storage device, you can use it as a flash drive. A 1 GB flash drive and a 520-minute digital voice recorder alone justify its $129 price tag. Throw in a very capable MP3 player, FM radio, FM recording, a super-cool organic LED display, and upgradeable firmware via the Internet, and this cube is quite a bargain. They're gonna sell a ton of these things.
Where to buy
MobiBlu DAH-1500i (1GB, Black):
$99.95
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$99.95 | Yes |
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