The Creative Zen V - Design
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The Zen
The Zen is a tiny little player. It's larger than the Shuffle, and has a nice screen. I wrote an article on OLED displays that would be hitting the market a while ago, and my "technology coming soon" has now become reality. This player has an OLED screen, which should provide a nice color contrast while also consuming a lot less battery power. Along with the screen, we find a play/pause button, a back button, and a five-way navigation joystick. I have had bad experiences with joysticks when having to navigate through all my songs. I have heard that it isn't as bad as my previous experiences, but I will leave the verdict open.
My initial thoughts weren't as good as I thought they would be. First, I went to power the device on, and saw nothing. Not even a flash of the screen? Nope, the battery was completely dead. I know that you are supposed to charge any device with batteries when you get it, but normally you get at least enough juice to turn it on and transfer a few songs while charging it. I went to my computer, installed the software, and then plugged it in to charge. When I turned it on, to transfer music, the player froze.
As I mentioned, the Zen V is a tiny little device. It doesn't cost much and it feels like you get what you paid for. I don't think that I could break it in my hand or that it will be falling apart any time soon, but the buttons don't feel very solid and the buttons on the front give off a squeak when pressed down.
On the right side we find the record button, for voice memos and the volume up and down buttons. The volume button is in perfect position. When holding the play button, your thumb will fall perfectly between the up and down button.
On the left side we have just the power/hold button. Nothing exciting, it just does its job.
The top is where we find everything else. From left to right we have the aux-in, the headphone jack, and the USB connector port. The USB port is your standard USB mini connector that is found on many other USB devices. The aux-in connector isn't your standard 3.5 mm version, it's 2.5 mm. The Zen V comes with a cord already so finding one isn't a problem, but you can't just plug any 3.5mm cord into this player. This may be a hassle to a few but the vast majority will be fine with this.
This screen is the first device I've had the opportunity to play with. I put in a few pictures from my computer and all in all, it's not bad for an MP3 player. I would rate it a little better than a cell phone screen. But I wouldn't put my vacation pictures on this to show everyone.
The GUI looks horrible, as if it came right off my old Sega Genesis. It is very slow to start up and shut down. The graphics are so 1990. I really expected something better-looking. Still, it works for what it is supposed to and gets the job done.
Next: Compatibility/ Usage >>
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