Creative ZEN X-Fi2 sees its first firmware update, still has aways to go

Just weeks after going on sale here in America, Creative's underwhelming ZEN X-Fi2 portable media player is already seeing its first firmware update. If you'll recall, we found the unit darn near unusable back at IFA, and even now it's being panned for forcing users to mash the screen too often and wait too long for things to happen. Reportedly, the 1.10.04 update solves those responsiveness issues, and it also brings about colored icons (yeah, seriously), accelerometer usage (but only for photos), a Sudoku game and a "press and hold" behavior for powering the unit on or off. The most interesting aspect here (in our humble opinions) is the Sudoku bit, as it certainly hints at more titles being possible in future firmware refreshes. Hit the Read link to get that download going, and hop on past the break if you need any video convincing.

[Ray Posted Nov 30th 2009 9:27AM]

"aways" should be "a ways"

i got yo' back DARREN

[bullwinkle12 Posted Nov 30th 2009 9:30AM]

I so want this to be good.

[supermonkey1890 Posted Nov 30th 2009 9:32AM]

It's more responsive than my Satio

[Craneguy Posted Nov 30th 2009 9:38AM]

"aways"

Really?

[glamajamma Posted Nov 30th 2009 10:39AM]

Damn sloppy, really damn sloppy!

Worm sign!

[Habakuk Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:24PM]

just received my 32gb version from amazon for USD 181.-. I don't understand what all the negativity is about. Flac support is great. Sound quality is out of this world. And every divx movie i drag and dropped onto it played fine until now. The UI is NOT out of this world but it is actually totally usable. For me it still is a major selling point that I can plug it in, drag files over and I am ready to go.

[Stephanie C Posted Nov 30th 2009 4:42PM]

@Habakuk

Creative always makes excellent sounding players not tied to proprietary software(you don't really need to use Media Source) and also supports more open formats. You know why people bash it, it's not "fruit' related. Ignore the haters and have fun with your free use player.

[Bushrod Posted Nov 30th 2009 2:34PM]

If they've really fixed the responsiveness issue, I don't know why this player isn't considered totally awesome. It seems loaded with practically all the features you could want in an mp3 player at a reasonable price and has X-Fi, which according to some reviews makes it the best sounding mp3 player out there. What's the fuss?

[taino211 Posted Nov 30th 2009 2:50PM]

@(Unverified)

The "fuss" is that it's not an iPod. So that's why Engadget doesn't like it. Everyone knows that Creative players are awesome. I've never been dissapointed by any of their players.

[Stephanie C Posted Nov 30th 2009 4:51PM]

@taino211

You guessed it! I have owned iPods and still have the iPhone so I'm not an Apple hater, but it annoys me to see the slanted preferences given toward Apple.

At least Creative issued a firmware update this time, to address the criticism, instead of telling people to deal with it until they feel like it.

[mytrant Posted Dec 1st 2009 5:40PM]

Curious as to why Creative will not ship the Zen X-Fi2 to Canada... no one ships it up here? Too cheap to certify outside of USA?