Save Mintpad 4GB WiFi PDA Portable Media Player

This is an interesting device. I will list the pros and cons as I see them:

Pros

- small and pocketable
- decent battery life with a removable battery.
- Handles plenty of formats. Documentation is not accurate. For example, it will play 320x240 flv and 3gp video as well as the listed wmv, avi, and mp4. You must change the file extension to ".avi" (or one of the other recognized formats) to get the Mintpad filesystem to recognize the file, but it will play flawlessly.
- It has very, very, good sound. The audio capabilities of the device are its best feature.
- It is (somewhat) extensible. To the extent that you can find programs that work. For example, I use Freda ebook reader on it. This is a free ebook reader that does a good job with TXT and EPUB files. Freda works better than the included text-only reader.
- It has Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) on it. This is normally not a good thing, but in this case it is, since the Mintpad browser is useless.
- The OLED screen is nice and bright.
- It has a decent camera (video and still)
- It has the ability to add memory via microSD cards. I have used 16GB without trouble.
- It has a suspend mode (not well documented), which allows for a very quick resume (about 2 seconds) from suspend. Suspend does use a small amount of memory, but It is fine for a daily charging schedule. You need to use the lock button while it is suspended, to prevent accidental resumes.
- It has .Net installed on it. This allows some (I repeat some) Pocket PC programs to work on it. I put a text editor a pdf reader, and an Epub reader on it or example. I haven't tried Firefox yet.


Cons

- While small, it is clunky. I would prefer a device with a little more surface area and less thickness.
- It doesn't have an FM radio, which is standard on many PMP's now.
- It doesn't allow for line-in recording (only from the mic). This is a handy feature.
- It runs Wincows CE (Pocket PC) OS. Which is obsolete essentially.
- You need the stylus to operate it. The onscreen keys are too small for fingers.
- The microSD card slot is behind the battery, requiring shutdown and battery removal to change external memory cards.
- The camera button is on the wrong side. A small thing, but GOOD GOD people. This is standard!
- It uses a non-standard USB connector (one of which comes with it). Again, STANDARDS PEOPLE! This is particularly annoying, since third-party charging is not as handy. You must carry your USB cable around with the device essentially.
- It's white. I see Korea has a black version, but I haven't seen it available at Amazon yet.
- Amazon sells it right now for $30 more than JetAudio (where it ships from anyway.) This is a lot to pay for the convenience of Amazon, but I did it anyway for some reason.
- It doesn't use ActiveSync, but instead uses Sapphire (a Mintpass Active X program). This is unfortunate, since you cannot install Pocket PC programs which require Active Sync.

For those who want to use the memo feature, it works. I don't really write much and prefer a keypad, but it does work very well. In fact, everything works, except the web browser is really, really bad.

I would buy it again, but it won't ever be my favorite PMP. For pure audio/video, there are better devices. But, all in all, it is a good little device for a first release. The next-generation will likely use Android, which will be cool, but will get too large to be a PMP and to fit in my pocket.

Get more detail about Mintpad 4GB WiFi PDA Portable Media Player.