Creative Zii EGG orders shipped, hands-on videos posted
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Aug 28th 2009 2:42PM
posted Aug 28th 2009 2:42PM
It looks like somebody's Zii EGG orders have shipped, and we got the video to prove it. A staff member named DaHarder over at the DAP Review forums has just received one of the lusted-after devices, and luckily for us he's given it the ol' hands-on treatment and posted the evidence for our perusal. "The screen," he says, compares "very favorably" with the S Series Walkman, with colors described as bright and vibrant, even if the blacks leave something to be desired. And how about sound? He rates it as being "the best sounding Creative player" he's heard yet, "and that's without any EQ/Z-Fi etc." Not too shabby for a development model, eh? But that ain't all -- peep the videos after the break, and then hit the read link to jump in on the conversation your own self.
[Via DAP Review]
[Via DAP Review]
The interface looks like a Meizu M8....
I bet someone will put Android on there by the end of the weekend.
Trying to custom install Android on it right now would be a waste of time. Creative is going to make an Android firmware update available for download.
The Chicken OR..
@DR
fail comment, go to there site and read.
Beat you to it, it already runs a type of android IIRC.
@ Adam
even more of a failed comment...learn how to spell "their"
@ EI8HT
...his usage of "there" rather than "their" was correct you idiot. You're the one who fails.
Overall, I'm very excited about this device. We'll see what the devs can do with it!
@kompulsive
EI8HT was right. He did not say go there, to the site. He said go to their site.
@ kompulsive
you my friend are a dumb ass!!!
I guess it's still early, but i doesn't look very good to me. Pretty darn slow in fact.
Wow, ya, you're right. My G1 is significantly faster at opening apps and such than this. Hell, my old HTC Touch(with 200MHz ARM core) seemed to manage things equally. Maybe they're still working on things?
I guess you all failed to read that this is a early developer model... not for retail sale to consumers.
@cesium: No, neither one of us failed to read that. Rather, we're just hoping that the speed issue is one of those things they're working on. And, more so, that it's just a software issue and not an inherent limitation of the hardware. We have nothing else to go on but this video so we express concerns based on that. Both of us implied such in our comments.
It's quite a bit slower than my Nokia N80 (220MHz ARM9 CPU) which is definitely the slowest Symbian smart phone to date (well, maybe excluding older versions...). Every S60 3rd edition FP1 phones are almost 10 times faster - or it feels like that.
Seems rather simplistic to me. It doesn't look finished.
first haha
reminds me of Quaker Oats. plain, no taste.
And it looses up your colon?
cool but not a ipod touch by far!! but if you like just a basic player and web surfer this is for you haha!!! not me rather have my ipod and my archos 605
Huh? While the video didn't look that great, you can install android on this thing, making it every bit as capable(if not more so) of everything as the iPod touch.
@Alienicecooler
You're forgetting this is a dev kit model, the iPod touch was probably just as bad at what it does well when it was in it's dev state.
Needless to say, im actually very tied between this and the zuneHD, though since the release times are different (zuneHD - September, Zii EGG - sometime Q1'10?) i think i will pick up the zuneHD, then pick up this when it is released and sell my zuneHD.
This video was somewhat boring.......eh?
I would love to jump on board with that statement but I really have no idea what the Plaszma platform is truly capable of. Since there haven't been any devices equipped with it until the Egg, and with this video the only thing to show for it, I'm not so sure I can wholeheartedly agree with you.
I am duly intrigued however.
Whoops, comment directed below -- @Jordan
Looks like Tegra and the Zune HD have some competition.
Agreed, should be interesting. Though I think Microsoft's connections in the gaming industry via the XBox will be to their advantage, since they can come out with some really heavy hitters for the Zune HD. An example would be the video on the Zunes at the Best Buy preview even that showed Burnout on the Zune HD.
Hey Microsoft, look at that, unicode character support.
The Zune HD supports unicode. It was mentioned in a podcast a while back.
The classic Zune does as well. Unicode support != Japanese fonts
All Windows CE derived be systems (Zune, Windows Mobile) support Unicode. But an OEM may be selective about installing fonts to save space.
@jhaks: No it won't, not right away. The MS rep that demoed the ZuneHD at a local bestbuy said that unicode is only going to be "considered" when MS ready to launch the ZuneHD worldwide.
@itsnotabigtruck: That's right. Unicode != 1 specific language. Fact remains that the Zune cannot display the main languages in Asia. So yes, it doesn't support unicode.
Sorry, something bothers me. The Engadget article compares the screen to the Sony device. The word 'even' is used. Should 'though' or another word to show contrast between the beginning of the sentence and the end because they go from comparing to contrasting?
I don't see why people complain about it been slow. I see it faster than most mediaplayers other than the ipodtouch or the ZuneHD. Even browser responsiveness is good as I can see. Creative has a very competent player here, I just hope that they can bring up some good services like a games store, hardware wise, seems superior to the competition, at least on specs. I have an ipodtouch 2g and I will replace it for this device as it is just because of the praises on sound quality.
In your very comment lies the problem. Being as fast/seamless as almost all of the competition isn't good enough. From their marketing, this hardware is supposed to be better or at least as good as the iPod 3GS/Zune HD, and, from this video, it's not living up to that. Maybe it's just the software, we'll see, but this player needs to run at least as well as those big boys in order to make it anywhere.
@ Mark:
This is a very unpolished software, I think this is why they did not revealed any official Plazma GUI video. Even so, the hardware under this device hood is very capable. Much faster than the iPhone 3GS. There are a lot of things to be added according to the SDK roadmap so I spec more to come from Creative. However they made clear that their intention is to make cost effective devices based on their Zii platform, so their battle ground will be the budget to mainstream market, no doubt his direct competitor will be samsung, cowon, archos and the rest...
If you go over to the DAP Review link and read the article the reviewer says that it's a developer's model and that it's not the finished product apparently. Man, the loading is so slow on that thing. Hopefully they can fix it pretty soon. I'd like to see an Android review on this.
I like the "plonk" sound of the keyboard. Ideally though I would want it to sound like an IBM model M keyboard, but this is nice too.
incredible
Looks a bit too similar to the iPod touch for my liking but overall, it looks like a pretty decent piece of kit and actually something that I would consider purchasing, especially considering the sound quality you get off creative devices.
kinda hate how it appears laggy. I'm not saying it's perfect, but damn, every new device is trying to "do it all". I just hope for our sake that there isn't a toaster that plays MP3s and can get RSS feeds
Excuse me while I visit the patent office.
if it does spotify im in but until then....
does this awosome labida
Is the concept of Developer Edition hard to understand? Rather than focusing on the UI responsiveness (mainly software) and look/feel of the Plaszma OS. Lets talk about what future devices based on this platform might look like. What we are looking at here is an early proof of concept of what the hardware is capable of, comparable to the Wii sports games, fun but they were designed to show off the hardware/control functions of the console and were not full feature games.
Who cares about the OLED screen, who cares about the UI, who cares about the touchscreen. Lets focus on how the chip is carrying out many different functions with a low power architecture...
Is the concept of Developer Edition hard to understand? Rather than focusing on the UI responsiveness (mainly software) and look/feel of the Plaszma OS. Lets talk about what future devices based on this platform might look like. What we are looking at here is an early proof of concept of what the hardware is capable of, comparable to the Wii sports games, fun but they were designed to show off the hardware/control functions of the console and were not full feature games.
Who cares about the OLED screen, who cares about the UI, who cares about the touchscreen. Lets focus on how the chip is carrying out many different functions with a low power architecture...
how in the heck did I double post? oh well, sorry internets.
I dont get the egg is it a retail product???? cuz its listed a 399?? but the feature set on tht is amazing
That's the price for the developer's kit, which is pretty cheap.
The real thing looks to retail at $200 for a small amount of memory (but has an SDHC slot).
Yeah to me it looks like a Touch Wannabe, right down to the same type of screen. I have a touch, a nice device really supported by apps. But I've decided to go with the Zune HD, it has an interface that is revolutionary, it has a OLED screen that is at least 2009 and not 2006. And the Zune pass I have on my 120 will be icing on the cake.
I wonder if someone will port HTC's sense UI to this.
Actaully I said that the Zii EGG's screen compares very favorably with that of the Sony X-Series (OLED).
it was smoothly playing 720P. This thing is promising.
I'm currently watching a 720p version of Acker's short film - 9 on it as I type, and it really does look fantastic. I encourage anyone interested in helping develop an outstandingly capable platform to look into joining the team. The potential here is mind-blowing...
Be a loser and buy a Zune. For those who actually live in the real world and are sick of MS controlling everything creative is a good alternative.
Guess what the Zii plays divx and the Zune HD does not!
I'd rather get an iPod touch than this, and i'm not a apple fan.
This thing is slow as hell, who cares if it plays file formats zune HD doesn't support at the moment. firmware update.
Make no mistake, the Zune (especially the HD), and (to a much lesser extent) the iPod Touch, are fine media devices, but the Zii EGG is an entirely different ballgame. It's for those who actually seek involvement in the development of their devices, as opposed to simply gobbling up whatever is thrown at them like so many electronic Skittles (tm).
To wetworker, knowing that you're speaking entirely out of sheer ignorance, I say - Enjoy your 'media appliance', because there are plenty of others that are taking great pleasure in participating in the development of this newer, more flexible platform, as opposed to those (such as yourself) who'd rather simply 'fall in line' with the unknowing masses who simply choose to eat any rotten fruit that's tossed their way... because they just don't know any better.
This is slow as hell, watching the zune hd demo and this is like night and day.
There is a good reason why the zuneHD is so much faster... it's called SYNCING SOFTWARE! Why do you think that the Ipod Video/touch/nano has decent loading times at all? It's because Itunes creates the library, and fairly efficiently. The Zune software does the same thing for the HD ( Even better than Itunes, if reports are to be believed), which allows it to boot up quickly, because it doesn't have to recreate the DB on the fly. This is doing fairly well for not using syncing software ( though not impressive, but still fairly nice). The better competition would be the X-1000. ALSO because it is an open source software ( I believe so anyways...) you cab FIX it if you want to. Remove inefficient code, replace it with your own etc.
why's that guy wasting time showing off a video of example apps instead of diving straight into the sdk?
fake developer! :(
Because people like me want to see them, anyway, he has over 150 DAP's...
...i also want to see them, aswell, too...
Somehow I don't believe the spouse would appreciate a bunch of strangers dropping by just to look at the DAP/PMP collection... LOL!
Why not just check the link, if you look around you'll see quite a few of them, though not all 250+
Well now i have too many mp3 player to choose from
cool I like it and I think it will be one of the most advanced PMPs depending on its stemcell
It looks like an Ipod touch.. Zune hd will be better than that slow egg.
the guy's korean haha 더위먹은 갈매기