MEIZU MP4 Portable Video & Music Player 4GB (Black)

I love this lil' player. It's affordable and the size is convenient. I think Meizu will give Apple a run for their money if they keep this up. I didn't get it from this site, but I got it from J&R in Manhattan, NY and the salesman who recommended it was 100% correct about this player being the best. It's loud enough for you not to have to buy all different types of headsets, you can adjust the volume limit, watch videos, add pics, play your music. It's just off the hook. Pick one up if ya can.

I've had the Meizu for about a month now, and I like it fine so far. I bought it to replace an iAudio G3 that couldn't stay out of the repair shop.

The sound quality is good, but there are a bunch of audio controls to play around with to get the sound the way you want it. The battery life seems good too - around 12 to 15 albums worth of life I would guess.

There are a lot of features to this unit. Some of which I probably will never use. The video feature is one. The Meizu comes with a little commercial preloaded, and I played it just to see how the unit works. The picture is bright and sharp. It also has picture storage and some stuff like a calculator and some games. I can't see me ever wanting to use them though.

The FM Tuner is pretty good. You can turn on and off the stereo reception, which is great for listening to stations where the signal is not strong enough to sustain a stable stereo signal.

The one drawback to the the Meizu 4GB (and one that someone else mentioned too) is that control pad is a bit too sensitive. Scrolling up and down can be frustrating when you keep blowing right on by the selection you want. Perhaps there will be a firmware upgrade at some point to fix that.

The one feature that I would like and the Meizu doesn't seem to have is a "Auto play next" type of thing. The iAudio G3 I had could be set so that when one album was finished, the player would just continue with the next album. The Meizu will just stop at the end of an album and you have to navigate back the main menu and select another album.
Most people wouldn't care about this, since they just use the player to play single songs - like we used to do with 45rpm records - throw on a stack of 45s and you were happy. But I tend to use the player to listen to whole albums, so the feature I've mentioned would be great.

All that said, the main reason I traded away from the iAudio was for dependability and durability. The Meizu seems solidly built where the iAudio felt a bit flimsy. Thanks to the dog, the Meizu has hit the floor a couple of times now, and hasn't skipped a beat. But - the iAudio lasted 6 months before the onslaught of problems began. This Meizu is only a month old, so we'll see.

So far so good.

This player is slightly smaller than a credit card, and before receiving it was a bit worried that the screen would be too small, however the screen is very clear and bright and am very happy with the display.
The player had sensitive navigation to start with but after downloading and installing the latest firmware I have encountered no problems with the touchpad.

I would like to address a few concerns that Central New Yorker "Skier", a previous reviewer has raised...

> The user interface is awful

Actually the interface is very simple with many easily accessible features. Users can choose their own wallpapers for music playback, menu, etc. and the background can be reset if the colors clash with the text.

>there are some very basic features like fast forward and volume control that are badly implemented in the design

I regard this as misreporting. This reviewer most probably hasn't even used a Meizu miniplayer. The sound control works by sliding your finger up or down the touchpad. One fast forwards by pressing forward - if you want to go to a specific place in a tune, one only needs to tap the menu button to popup an icon on the displayed progress bar. Sliding your finger up or down on the tocuhpad moves the icon to anywhere you want in the tune or audiobook.

>If you listen to audio books this is not the product for you.

With the method above you can navigate to where you want. Bookmarks may be a feature that is added shortly. Meizu do listen to their users and may release a firmware that addresses this point.

>It has a tendency to restart the book from the beginning

Not so. The player resumes to the correct place, unless you are re-opening the file after playing other files.

Things I like...
Long lasting battery.
Nice resume function.
Extremely fast video conversion software.
Flexible player setup.
Superb audio quality - the best I've heard
Durable design.
Clear radio reception.

Highly Recommended!

The product is broken. I tried to contact seller and warranty but nobody change my item.

I was very disappointed in this product. The user interface is awful. It's difficult to use and there are some very basic features like fast forward and volume control that are badly implemented in the design. If you listen to audio books this is not the product for you. It has a tendency to restart the book from the beginning and it's impossible to fast forward to where you left off.