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| Home >> Handheld & PDA Reviews: Latte Communications Ice 4 GB Video MP3 Player (Silver) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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User Submitted Latte Communications Ice 4 GB Video MP3 Player (Silver) ReviewsDate: 2008-10-24 Hot ICE Not sure why is called ICE because it's warm and fuzzy, good clear pictures and videos. Easy to load, even easier to use. The ear buds are comfortable and the sound is full fidelity. Date: 2008-09-19 Good, but flawed. I bought this about 2 weeks ago, and upon first using it, I was extremely happy. It looked nice, had an easy interface, expandable memory and a pretty big screen. Then I started actually using it. First off, there was a high pitched hum when the player had no music on, or there was a lull in the music/video. It wasn't loud enough to be heard over music, but it was still kind of annoying. I could look past this and still see the nice features. Then a week ago I took it off of my desk and went to wipe some dust off when I suddenly realized I couldn't! It turns out that there is a significant (1-2mm) gap between the actual lcd and the plexiglass that covers it, and somehow some dust had gotten in there. Then upon closer inspection of the screen I noticed that when I pushed a button to turn the volume up/down the edge of the lcd screen rippled like it was being touched. Sure enough, the mere action of pushing a button stressed the frame enough to slightly bend the lcd out of shape. Now, just a couple of days ago something went wrong with the player itself. It started showing blue bars randomly in the menu. Then, the next day it wouldn't even start. I reloaded the firmware thinking it would be no problem, but now the names of the folders and files don't show up, but it can still play them. On top of that the player now skips randomly. Perhaps I just got a lemon, yet there is a giant "QC PASSED" sticker on the backside that mocks me every time I see it. Needless to say - I will be seeing If I can get a refund. So, In conclusion: -gap between screen and plexiglass allows dust in that you can't get out -Frame isn't sturdy enough to support button pressing -High pitched whine when music is soft/absent -It freaking died -Firmware re-flashing didn't fix blue bars, and created new problem -And as an aside, It doesn't read micro sdhc cards, limits expansion of memory Date: 2008-09-18 Great price Great features Key TIP: Use windows media player to create playlist and sync music, photos, and video with this player; DON't DRAG & DROP files as you won't have access to a majority them, nor will you be able to reorganize once the files are on the player. Organize everything on Windows Media Player then sync to the ICE. Pros -Good battery life -clear images / videos -good sound Cons -on/off switch takes getting use to (doesn't switch on right away) -No album cover feature (may have to upgrade firmware, which i didn't do) -Can't create playlist on the player, everything is created thru Windows Media Player Date: 2008-09-09 It's Okay It's okay. There are no picts for artist and i have not figured out how to convert a movie. Otherwise, the sound is great and the play time is sufficient compared to most MP3 players. Date: 2008-09-05 Great product! I received the item a few days ago and was very happy with the packaging. I immediately opened the box and started playing with the device. My initial impression is that it's very sleek looking. The chrome housing makes it look very unique. Scrolling through the menu was painless. The buttons took a little pressure, not much - which works for me since I typically have it in my pocket when commuting to and from work. I tested the video play back and was highly impressed. It seemed choppy, but acceptable. It may have been the file, not sure. (I'll provide more feedback on converted movies shortly.) The built in speaker is a great feature, and you could watch movies without using headphones if needed. I tested the headphones that it came with. Even though they do look nice, I wasn't satisfied with the sound, even after playing with different eq settings. They're in-ear but wouldn't sit in my ear very well. That could just be me. I used my Shure in-ear headphones and was pleased with the sound. Charging the device was painless. Simply plug in the wall charger. Just make sure you have the slider to the ON position. When it's in OFF position, it acts as if you have it connected to your computer to transfer files. When connecting the unit to your computer, initially I thought it had to be in OFF position since I received an error and the drives wouldn't show. But I accidentally plugged in the device while in ON position, and it recognized it. So I'm not clear on the ON and Off slider since it seems like holding the "Play/Pause" button will turn the device on and off. About transferring files, this was also painless. I added a 2GB mini SD chip. Not the Micro, unless you have the adaptor for the mini SD. I opted for the mini an d use an adaptor so I can use the one in my blackberry as well. I renamed the drives on my computer so I can easily identify which is which. Again, transferring files to either drive was very easy. I installed the software that came in the package to convert movie files to avi. No problems with the installation. Once installed, you can add a bunch of movie files and let it all convert one after another. I started a bunch before going to bed and checked the following morning. Transferred the files, and enjoyed them on the device. Battery life is pretty good. I changed the settings to save power by having the screen automatically turn off after 5 seconds. This feature doesn't apply to movies. I also changed the backlight to the lowest setting. I really didn't need it to be at the brightest setting so this works for me. I tested the battery life after listening to 40 minutes of music during my morning commute. I then tested it with movies and played 2 in a row, roughly 3hrs and 50 minutes total. The battery was still at 75%, then shortly 50% after. So I would go with the latter. Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the device, and certainly the price. I'm just annoyed by the dust behind the screen already. It would require for me to open it to clean it. It's not that bad, just wish it was sealed so no dust would get behind it. That and turning the power on takes getting used to. A few times, even as I write this review, I wasn't sure if it was on. You'd hear a click thinking it's on, but nothing appears on the screen. When you think it's not on, then the screen comes up. Might just take some getting used to on my end. Still a good device and would recommend it.
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