iRiver Clix2 – My New Toy
1589 days ago
I got myself this little toy, the iRiver Clix2. It’s sort of like an MP3 and Video portable player. A lot of people called it an MP4 player, but I guess that’s not the correct term for it right? Anyway, I got myself this gadget and I had the chance to play around with it for a few days already. I have to say, this player really impress me.
First of all, this player looks very sleek. It has a glossy surface and I am sure a lot of cool and hip people will be attracted by that. You don’t have to worry about it’s size either, even with a video function, this player is small and slim. The audio quality is superb! Even comparing to my friend’s Creative player, it beats the Creative set hands down. The audio is crystal clear and I am using a pretty low cost set of ear phone. So if you are really fussy about the music quality, the iRiver shouldn’t disappoint. In fact, I think it’s one of the best in the market nowadays. However, I bought this player mainly for it’s video functions. Normally, I would spend like about 2 hours traveling to and from work, so something to keep my mind occupied would be great. I wanted to spend that 2 hours watching my favourite TV shows or movies. Well, even thought the Clix2 has a smaller screen compared to other Portable Media Player (PMP), all the movies I played on the Clix2 looked great. It’s AMOLED screen is supposed to make it’s battery last long but I think the major problem is that if there is sunlight, the picture becomes oversaturated easily. This can be a big problem if you use the player outside, especially for me, in sunny Singapore.
The iRiver Clix2 is very fussy about what video format it can play. I tried playing around with several settings but all failed. I had no choice but to use the provided software but the encoding speed is very slow. And reading the documentation doesn’t help at all, because there isn’t any information on video settings and formats. My other experience with PMP (Archos model) read most of the videos I threw at it. For the Clix2, you don’t have the luxury. You need to correctly encode the video file first.
Although it is with faults, I would still recommend this player to anyone looking for a compact PMP, if you don’t mind a smaller screen. But if you are really serious about your video, then I should suggest to you to get those dedicated ones, with bigger screens and bigger storage. Clix2 comes in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB sizes. I feel that it is enough for my uses. And it uses solid state flash memory, you don’t need to worry about files skipping when you run.
Oh, it’s glossy surface is a fingerprint magnet. I don’t know why, but it can get really bad at times. Either you get a screen cleaner and clean the display constantly or you should get one of those “skins” or “shields” to cover your player. I think it’s an necessity for this player.
