The iAudio U2 comes to us from South Korea, representing the fourth generation of digital audio players sold under the iAudio name. As we’ve mentioned before, the U2 comes in three capacities (256MB, 512MB, and 1GB) and a multitude of colors. Looking at the promotional photos gives a pretty good impression of just how small this thing is, but for some reason I expected it to be heavier. Compared to many of the other flash players I’ve seen, it’s downright diminutive.
Well, I’m here to tell you whether or not size matters. Find out after the jump.
By far, the best qualities of the U2 are its physical dimensions. Side by side facing you, a standard cigarette lighter is slightly taller and deeper than the U2, but less wide. I performed a scientific experiment in which I first picked up a cigarette lighter, then the U2, jiggled them around a little, and determined that they were very nearly identical in weight—the U2 seemed a little lighter, even. I never got tired of carrying it around in my pocket.
I got my hands on the 512MB variety (in dazzling blue, retail $200) and, to my surprise, found that I didn’t really need more than 512MB of music at a time. 512MB is plenty for 10 or so CDs, more if you don’t bother copying over the crappy songs you’ll just skip anyway, and more still if you don’t use it to store files. Which brings me to another feature, convenient if not unique: you can use the U2 as a thumb drive—and it’s about the same size as some of them.
The U2 being enveloped by my meaty mitten. Standard cat shown at three feet for size reference.
The U2 has an internal Lithium polymer battery which, unless you buy the optional power adapter, charges through your USB port. It comes with two options for this, a simple USB jack (I refer to it as “thumb drive mode”) and a USB cable. I found the cable to be something of a chore, preferring to plug it straight in with the jack. This is obviously easier if you have a front USB panel, and it still isn’t optimal in my opinion because you have a $200 device jutting out of your machine, inviting whatever stray limbs happen by to visit upon it a disasterous bludgeoning. Thumb drive mode suffices, however, and I tended to leave the unit plugged in anytime I was at a computer. It claims to have 20 hours of play life on a full charge, and I don’t think that’s far from the truth. After giving it what I would consider heavy usage throughout the workday for a few days, it never ran out of juice.
This cute little player isn’t all rainbows and cupcakes, unfortunately. The included software, while nice enough, isn’t particularly useful if you already have a media player you like and you don’t care to “JetCast” (i.e. a Shoutcast-like internet streaming program). The earbuds sound quite good at first, but I managed blow them before they had a chance to ask my sign; apparently the “Mach3Bass” feature works too well for Appetite for Destruction, and I had to listen to everything at obnoxiously low volume on the earbuds afterwards. Not that the U2 is extremely loud. Even at max volume it wasn’t as loud as I occasionally like, especially when the isolation isn’t so hot.
The onboard microphone and FM tuner features are both functional. I don’t have much use for either, but the voice recorder might be good for recording and reviewing lectures, maybe grocery lists or similar items, quick thoughts you want to get down. The quality is not spectacular. If you’re considering buying a $200 digital audio player to listen to FM radio, you should consider a nice $10 Walkman instead.
The U2, with earbuds, dressed up in the included ‘fashion carrying case’.
The U2’s controls consist of a five-way joystick (up, down, left, right, and ‘click’) which is, if not cumbersome, at least not as nice as the wheel design on certain other players. If you want to listen to songs in an arbitary order, navigating the filesystem to find them takes longer than it should. The stick interface works, and it’s even agreeable when you want to reach into your pocket and skip the current song or adjust the volume, but if falls short as a file finder.
All in all, I’d say the iAudio U2 is a reasonable piece of gear. It isn’t perfect, and it’s definitely not for someone who wants to cart around their entire MP3 collection, but it gets the job done well enough in a tiny, attractive package. When I consider the quality of the earbuds and the capacities available, though, I wish it were about $50 cheaper. Sure it’s small, but it seems to me that at a size somewhat larger than the U2, the player is small enough that further reductions in size accomplish little in the way of added convenience. There are 512MB flash players for less than half the price, and some up near $200 have additional desirable features such as SD slots. I can’t give the U2 a thumbs down, it’s pretty cool and it gets the job done, but I can’t give it a thumbs up, either. So I give it a thumb sideways. It’s got good bits and bad bits, and in the end it comes out somewhere in the middle.
iAudio U2 Product Page [iAudio]
Related
iAudio U2 Flash Player [Gizmodo]
https://gizmodo.com/iaudio-u2-flash-player-18495
