Creative ZEN X-Fi reviewed, but mostly just taken apart

Not a ton's changed with Creative's ZEN X-Fi -- which we all well know at this point -- so for right now we're just paying closer attention to its innards all broken out like a science fair project. Careful, the teardown link below contains graphic representations of disrobed consumer electronics.

[Thanks, Josh and Mindy]

Read - Zen X-Fi teardown
Read - Anything But iPod's review
Read - Pocketables review

[who? @ Jul 21st 2008 3:10AM]

FIRST of all, I want to say that is awful, taking it apart like that, and secondly, I'd like to thank go that it wasn't an iPhone 3G, I've seen enough carnage in that area thank you very much!

[who? @ Jul 21st 2008 3:12AM]

* go = god

Sorry! (New rubber keyboard is hard to type on)

[andres @ Jul 21st 2008 3:20AM]

what kind of nerd are you?

[hiko36 @ Jul 21st 2008 3:30AM]

BlendTec made my day by blending the 3G...

[Einhanderkiller @ Jul 21st 2008 3:34AM]

I need to get myself a rubber keyboard, too. My computing sessions also get quite messy.

[who? @ Jul 21st 2008 3:59AM]

@ andres

What kinds of nerds are there? I always prefer multiple choice to essay questions.

[who? @ Jul 21st 2008 4:01AM]

@ Einhanderkiller

Wow. I'd report you, but seeing as it's only vaguely inappropriate... Awww, who am I kidding? Of COURSE I'll report you!

[who? @ Jul 21st 2008 4:04AM]

@ hiko36

Yeah, I know! That was actually what I was referring to by saying 'carnage' lol.

[sua @ Jul 21st 2008 6:34AM]

Amazing how nobody notices his only intent was to post 'FIRST' in the first post without people flaming him for that... No, instead you go for the obviously quickly typed up message about nothing in order to still be the first post.

[Steffen Jobbs @ Jul 21st 2008 8:06AM]

Now what is the complaint? The commenter made a legitimate comment and he's being low-ranked for that on the assumption that he was only trying to be first. Someone has to be first to comment.

Blatant jealousy and my Creative Zen-using avatar seems to agree.

[Wwhat @ Jul 21st 2008 9:35AM]

I would say his low rank is related to bringing up a certain product starting with an i as well as moaning about someone dismantling a gadget and not moaning in an amusing way but just plain old moaning.

[andres @ Jul 21st 2008 3:22AM]

no, its a ZEN X-Fi. if it was an ipod touch without a web browser or the ability to sync to itunes, they would call it that.

[helloUser @ Jul 21st 2008 3:23AM]

......if your open to other ideas besides apple, then why the hell did you use the ipod touch as a comparison? fanboy much?

[hiko36 @ Jul 21st 2008 3:31AM]

I almost don't want to justify that remark with a comment but I will, saying how much I shouldnt be... Enter the New Clak...

[hiko36 @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:30AM]

Well that was at SuperSexyErik but apparently his comment was deleted... Go E!

[who? @ Jul 21st 2008 3:33AM]

If you are open to other ideas, it doesn't mean you forget your original ones!

[Rynth @ Jul 21st 2008 4:23AM]

For gods sake, this guy better not be another Clak.

Its such a pity the Gene-pool doesn't have a lifeguard.

[who? @ Jul 21st 2008 4:27AM]

True, but the people in the comments section deserve hope, and since they don't have any of the real stuff, would you humor me and give them false hope at least?

Thanks ;-)

[Zak @ Jul 21st 2008 4:27AM]

I do feel let down by creative with this one. I love their stuff and right now only own a Zen Stone plus. I do wish they had made a touch screen wifi player with 64 gig of flash and an SD slot with a small camera at the font to run skype. I don't think thats asking too much? or is it.

As for the Apple stuff..Give them respect where it's due. I just don't buy their products yet..BUT it's getting harder to resist. I forgot to take my creative Zen vision m's charging cable on holiday a few years back. Could I get one anywhere! Nope..but the ipod stuff was everywhere.

Come on Creative.....live up to your name and be creative.

[fred @ Jul 21st 2008 4:42AM]

its not even an ipod touch, its 2.4" screen barely upgraded version of the old zen which felt cheap anyways. sony manages 10 hours of video, perhaps they should work on matching that before trying silly wifi implementation and mangling the interface/usability

[SuperSexyErik @ Jul 21st 2008 4:49AM]

lol you see?!
Now were having a real Convo.. Where I can realize apple's flaws and you can accept apple's apeal. I look forward to more discussion :)

[Zak @ Jul 21st 2008 5:18AM]

Don't start knocking the Zune! I bought one :-) boy do I wish it supported drag and drop...But thats another story.
I don't care about it's market share..Do you want apple to have 100 percent and no competition? Competition keeps everybody on their toes it raises the bar. I am in no way one of those people who hates apple, but I am more than willing to give the underdog a chance. Who wants to live in a world where everybody walks round with the same earphones and a white mp3 player? ( we do already ) Sony stuff does have a wicked battery life and if it wan't for them trying force their formats on people I think they would be in the lead on players. I bought one of their first and could not get my Napster tracks onto it, quickly gave up and bought an Archos..which still works now. And it did video way back in the old days.

[SuperSexyErik @ Jul 21st 2008 5:28AM]

hey hey hey !! I'm not anti-zune. I was just making a point that these guys are jumping onto any other product just cuz it's not apple, even though apple has the best product in this situation. But these two aren't event directly competing so no worries.. Just saying that this zen thing won't make a dent... I mean I didn't even know they had an original. That's not good.

I fully agree with you about competition. Without it, a company will eventually find their downfall. That's why microsoft's influence is slowly dwindling. They owned the market for so long. And I'm sure apple will eventually lose the music market. But for now they own it, and are pretty much owning the mobile computing market.

[Hooterman @ Jul 21st 2008 10:05AM]

"and are pretty much owning the mobile computing market"

For a guy that is has already bashed the Zune on it's low market share % you don't know much about them. Apple has less than a 10% market share, when did that become "pretty much owning" anything?

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2325860,00.asp

[SuperSexyErik @ Jul 21st 2008 6:13PM]

try reading next time nerd. "mobile computing"

not computer sales.. FAIL

[Hooterman @ Jul 22nd 2008 11:31AM]

Oh wow, how on earth could I connect "mobile computing" with notebooks? Geez, I am such a nerd like you say.

So exactly what all products fit in your definition of "mobile computers"?

I'm going to assume that you mean a phone, which will get on the internet, play music/videos, play games, etc.

Gosh, the iPhone has to be the only device that can do all of that, you are so right, Apple is dominating the phone market.

[Cal @ Jul 21st 2008 5:20AM]

Hopefully their next PMP (as in whole new model, not updated model) will be better then, but for now I'm sticking with my ZV:M...

[Almadi @ Jul 21st 2008 5:33AM]

Any PMP that isn't widescreen by 2009 is destined to fail. And it wouldn't hurt to have a game or two.
iTunes is the only thing going for the iPod. Can't even upgrade most of the songs with iTunes Plus.

[Almadi @ Jul 21st 2008 5:37AM]

oh and don't compare the Zen X-fi with the touch, it's competing with the nano, which it beats hands down.
The Zen Vision W is the iPod Touch rival, and as a 2 year old PMP it is doing quite well. TV-out, highe resalution screen and speaker included, it is a great system.

[Skyride @ Jul 21st 2008 6:14AM]

I think you guys are missing something here. This is meant to compete on having good sound quality. Hence it being called X-FI. Erik, Being the owner of a dell im assuming your not into computers much (well at least not anything close to me). So Id assume you have never heard of Xi-Fi. Thats creatives range of top end consumer sound cards (i say consumer as they have external professional cards for audio recording).

Anyone educated on the topic willl agree that the Xi-Fi cards are the best out there for gaming and music.

Now my understanding is that they have used a chip derived from the Xi-Fi cards. Hence audiophiles like myself will appreciate the sound quality.

[Niro @ Jul 21st 2008 6:40AM]

O RLY? Xi-Fi? Audiophile?

First of all, it's X-Fi, not Xi-Fi.

Second of all, X-Fi cards are worthless now thanks to Vista rendering EAX useless. The soundcard market is finally free from the virtual monopoly Creative wielded and abused all these years. (Virtual, because onboard audio solutions took most of the market share).

Third, "audiophiles" wouldn't use X-Fi cards or any other Creative soundcards because they're all pieces of shit, built with low quality components (rubbish DACs and opamps come to mind, but let's not forget terrible and bloated drivers).

You're an audiophile? You appreciate the sound quality? Hope you're having fun there. You strike me as one of those idiots who act elitist but in all honesty barely know anything about computers, but know more than those around them. I wonder why anyone after real audio quality would completely ignore Creative and go after Asus or Auzentech.... Nope, completely beyond me.

[Ah Meng @ Jul 21st 2008 8:28AM]

@ Niro

Vista did not render EAX useless. Vista merely render all soundcards that ride on the DirectSound platform useless.

Creative sound card uses the OpenAL platform, which communicates directly with the Vista drivers and enables all the features they promised.

[Wwhat @ Jul 21st 2008 12:50PM]

Their x-fi products don't use any 'chips derived from the soundcard x-fi chip' at all, ever since the first x-fi card range they've been naming everything x-fi and it all uses over-the-counter chips from 3rd parties like texas instruments andsoforth.
Also creative makes the lousiest firmware/software and have nobody in their entire company who seems to even be able to coherently think about user-expectation and usability or the current state of technology it seems.
Not that they are alone in that.

Nevertheless I can see how you'd buy it because it seems the packaging of the apple products contain some sort of chemical that is released and turns you into a posh idiotic mindless apple zombie, and it's worth a lot to avoid that IMHO.
Still, there's better products, but a meizu, or a samsung p2, or a cowon or an iriver or an archos.

[Wwhat @ Jul 21st 2008 12:55PM]

Correction: but=buy

[Miker @ Jul 21st 2008 6:18AM]

This player is the reason I've bought a 32gb iPod Touch after MUCH soul searching.

I'm no Apple fainboy - quite the reverse actually - read my previous posts if you wanna check, but I feel Creative have really started to lose the plot. Now don't get me wrong, the Zen does a lot right, but just not enough any more.

My stipulations were I wanted something small and light (flash), widescreen (4.3 just doesn't cut it for movies) and touch sensitive - say what you like about iPods (and I have) but the Touch's interface is a joy to use compared to the Zens I've owned. I know it's a matter of preference, but being able to point as opposed to scroll means I can get to songs AT LEAST 5 times faster than on my Zen Vision:M.

I waited and waited and waited for this player expecting something special (surfing the web every day for more news on the Share and then the X-Fi) and it just didn't come. I realised that I don't use the radio or voice recorder on my Zen, so although the Zen scores over the Touch in this respect it's no deal breaker for me.

I would have got the Samsung YM-P1 in a heartbeat, but the stupid company haven't had the foresight to release a 32gb model.

So, that just leaves the Touch...and I don't regret my purchase one bit. I was surprised how good the sound quality was after all the bad things I'd heard about it (mind you I'm no audiophile, and use Sennheiser earbuds), it hasn't got the warmth of the Zen but it isn't bad either. I hate the fact that Apple tie you into iTunes (I'm sure there should be an anti-trust case there), and also hate that you can't drag songs OUT of you iPod easily like you can with the Creative players. But I love the usability of the interface and the fact you can add apps, and the screen is large and clear and great for movies...and I am now spoilt for speaker docks!

After owning the Nomad Jukebox Zen, the Zen Touch and the Zen Vision:M, I'm very sad to be leaving Creative, as they were all fantastic players (and definitely beat iPods into the ground...if only iPod users would try them)...but with a 4.3 screen, clunky text input, STILL no SD library integration, no touch input and only 1 speaker dock Creative have finally lost my vote :-(

[Skyride @ Jul 21st 2008 6:26AM]

Well thats a shame really. I can see your logic. Im now finding myself in a position where my need for an MP3 player is to do what it says on the tin, play MP3's. I now have my laptop with me all the time I am out and i now have tuned it to boot vista in 40 secs from hitting the on button to desktop. So I dont want to watch video on that. Hence I will buy whatever has the best audio output.

[icepop4who @ Jul 21st 2008 7:09AM]

If you have $500 to burn on a mp3 player, no one is gonna stop you.

[icepop4who @ Jul 21st 2008 7:05AM]

X-Fi is the same concept as penis enlargement pills. Squeezing more out of something that is hopelessly compressed. Besides from the non-functional wifi (read: no internet access), this PMP isn't any different that I see from the first Zen.

[Sarig @ Jul 21st 2008 12:16PM]

It lets you steam music. As novel a use of wi-fi as any for a music player.

Am I the only one on the look-out for something that just plays my damn music? I need neither web nor video, I just wanted something with loads of space and dedicated keys to the important functions, and a relative easy of transferring music back and forth.

Which this player is just a functional card slot away from being :/

32gb ain't cutting it, had they put a HDD in there (Yes, I realise it'd be thicker), I would've bought it.

[Wwhat @ Jul 21st 2008 12:57PM]

There seems to be a lot of releases of 'new' products that don't have anything more than the old ones, they don't even fix the bugs.
Oh well, it keeps the case designers in a job I guess.

[icepop4who @ Jul 21st 2008 7:16AM]

Is every mp3 player a copycat of the ipod? Seriously, making comments like that just make you look ignorant and uninformed. I don't like cursing people, but I haven't met a bigger douchebag.

[Mindfield @ Jul 21st 2008 7:19AM]

I like Creative as a company, and although I was lured to "the dark side" (the fruit you all love to hate) a couple of years ago, I'd always been torn between the Zen Vision W and the Archos 605. At least 'til the Touch and iPhone, which I've stuck with. Point being though that Creative haven't seen to be able to come out with something as attractive as the Vision since ... well, the Vision. This one seems small but chunky, and the UI seems a bit sluggish, jerky, and annoying to navigate.

Creative can do much better than this.

[Wwhat @ Jul 21st 2008 12:58PM]

Newsflash; Creative is the dark side too.

[dave berube @ Jul 21st 2008 8:04AM]

I work at a big box retalier and you would be suprised at the amount of ppl who dont actually want ipods. I love the touch myself but alot of people dont like the look of the nanos and thats the core market, not the touch. Anyways as for the sound of things, alot of people dont realize that when you spend $400 on a 16/32gb touch that it still comes with a crappy pair of apple headphones. Spend at least half of what the player is worth and ie. $200 on a pair of headphones, it worth it.

[helloUser @ Jul 21st 2008 8:56AM]

What a stupid comment.

[helloUser @ Jul 21st 2008 8:56AM]

Wow.

[Dr. Evil @ Jul 21st 2008 9:57AM]

I bought this the other day from Amazon but have not opened it. I bought it on the first day it was available with the foolish ASSUMPTION that I could play Internet radio from it. Who need IM on this? Also, you STILL have to convert video.

It's not a bad price for the capacity, but it's going back because it promises more than it delivers.

[cynn @ Jul 21st 2008 12:42PM]

Hrm... It's an iTouch without the ability to Sync with iTunes...?! Why would it have anything to do with iTunes; it's a -Creative- product in case you forgot.

It also has better battery life, built-in mic, FM Radio, SD Card Slot, drag-and-drop file transfer etc, and the ability to access your entire computer's media collection wirelessly (using their provided software)... at an excellent price. I'd pick this anyday.

[Wwhat @ Jul 21st 2008 12:53PM]

If you want to support the wonderful music companies then itunes is very handy, why download music for free when you can spend 99 cents per song and support the big music companies?
Point is that for buying songs itunes is the standard with the widest selection, although I too avoid it like the plague.