sumber: kompas.com

Bila menginginkan MP3/MP4 player yang mengedepankan fasilitas hiburan visual, tak salah bila Anda memilih Sense SE252. Ya, selain kapasitasnya yang 8GB (tersedia 3 pilihan kapasitas lain), Anda akan dimanjakan dengan layar 3” yang memenuhi tampilan antarmuka utamanya.

Jika kurang puas, Anda dapat menyaksikan film favorit pada layar kaca dengan fasilitas TV-out. Sangat menyenangkan bukan?

Penampilan SE252 minimalis dan bersahaja. Letak tombol-tombolnya cukup mudah dan nyaman diakses. Desain Sense sendiri juga lebih eksklusif jika dibandingkan player Cina lain yang berharga murah. Pemilihan menu ditampilkan melalui icon-icon geser yang cukup user friendly.

Tidak membawa earphone saat diluar rumah? Tidak masalah, karena sudah tersedia speaker internal sebagai alternatif output lainnya.

Sense SE252 dapat menjadi teman yang menyenangkan, baik dalam menjalani aktivitas sehari-hari maupun dalam bepergian. Selain untuk nonton, tersedia pula game-game menarik yang mendukung berbagai format konsol game terkenal. Sebagai tambahan informasi, peranti ini juga mendukung format video RM dan RMVB yang didukung oleh Real Player. Sayang format FLV yang cukup populer itu belum diusungnya. Sebagai bonus disertakan file lagu dan video klip dari band Navaz.

Sumber: InfoKomputer

Hasil uji:
Copy : 8,11 MB/detik
Write : 3,82 MB/detik
Del : 156,954 MB/detik
*File yang diproses sebanyak 185 file dengan total kapasitas 2,02GB. Pengujian dilakukan sebanyak tiga kali dan hasilnya dirata-ratakan.

PLUS: Multifungsi; layar lega; fasilitas TV-out dan speaker internal; desain menarik; tombol mudah dan nyaman diakses; kapasitas besar; kecepatan baca/ tulis cukup baik.

MINUS: Berat; tidak dukung format .FLV; tanpa software konversi video.

SKOR PENILAIAN
(maksimal 5)
-Kinerja : 4
-Fasilitas : 4
-Penggunaan : 4
-Harga : 4
SKOR TOTAL : 4

SPESIFIKASI: SENSE SE252
Tipe koneksi: USB 2.0
Kapasitas: 8GB
Tipe memori simpan: Flash
Slot ekspansi memori: Ada (TransFlash card)
Layar: 3” TFT LCD
Power supply: Rechargeable Li-Ion (internal)
SNR: -
Format audio: MP3, WMA, WAV
Format Video: RM,RMVB,AVI,MPG4
Format Foto: JPEG
Format Teks: TXT
Kelengkapan:-
-earphones
:- kabel USB ekstension
:- kabel A/V
:- adaptor charger
:- cover plastik pelindung player
:- buku manual
Dimensi (plt): 8,7×5,4×1 cm
Bobot: 80 gram
Garansi: 1 tahun
Situs Web: www.sensestyle.com.tw
Harga kisaran*: Rp 900.000

Slowly but surely, Microsoft’s Zune is staking its claim as a legitimate alternative to Apple’s iPod line of MP3 players. Last year, Microsoft focused its efforts on overhauling the Zune’s hardware and public image. This year, Microsoft has turned its attention to improving the Zune firmware and desktop software, while updating the storage capacity and pricing of new models to stay competitive.

Design
The design of the Zune 120 is almost entirely unchanged from the Zune 80 we reviewed last year. The back of the Zune is now black instead of silver and the face of the player is covered with a glossy plastic that, although pretty, is more prone to smudges and scratches than the metal finish on last year’s model. We’re happy to see that the increase in the Zune’s hard-drive capacity doesn’t translate into a thicker design. The Zune 120 measures the same 4.3 inches high by 2.4 inches wide by 0.5 inch deep as the Zune 80. Also, no changes have been made to the Zune’s navigation controls, headphone jack, hold switch, dock connection, and 3.2-inch glass-covered LCD.

Considering Apple’s strategy of altering its iPod design every fall (for better or for worse), it’s a little unnerving to see the Zune’s hardware design at a standstill. The upshot of the Zune’s lack of design tinkering is that it maintains the product’s compatibility with the handful of accessories designed for the player.

Gone are the high-quality in-ear headphones that were included with the Zune 80.

Features
The bulk of the third-generation Zune’s improvements are found by flicking through its main menu. New menu items for Games and Marketplace have been added alongside existing selections for Music, Videos, Pictures, Social, Radio, Podcasts, and Settings. The Zune’s primary purpose as a high-quality portable music player hasn’t changed. If anything, the enhancements offered by the third-generation firmware have bolstered the unique music-discovery and sharing features that have differentiated the Zune from the very beginning.

One of the more notable new features on the Zune is a Marketplace selection in the main menu that allows you to browse, preview, and download music directly from Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace online store. Within the Marketplace submenu you can choose between browsing Top Songs, Top Albums, and New Releases, or search for specific music by keying in a few letters. Songs can be previewed for 30 seconds with the option to add them to your virtual cart or purchase and download immediately. By signing up for Microsoft’s Zune Pass music-subscription service (a free 14-day trial is available), you can download unlimited music to your Zune for a flat fee of $15 a month. Otherwise, you’ll need to purchase songs a la carte by setting up a payment account in the Zune desktop software.

Your Zune needs to be connected to a Wi-Fi hot spot in order to take advantage of the Marketplace feature. Fortunately, Microsoft has improved the Zune’s ability to step through public Wi-Fi hot spots, and it’s even struck a deal with fast-food giant McDonald’s to have the Zune supported by the Wayport Wi-Fi hot spots found in many McDonald’s restaurants. If your local Wi-Fi requires you to enter a password, you can enter it manually using the Zunepad. The Zune will remember and associate your Wi-Fi passwords so that you’ll only need to enter them once.

Compared with the iPod Classic, the Zune 120 runs a little taller and wider and can’t match Apple’s battery life. The Zune’s screen is much better for videos, however, and its Wi-Fi and radio features have improved from last year.

The Zune already had one of the best FM-radio tuners available on an MP3 player, including support for detailed station and song information by way of the Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS). With the third-generation Zune, Microsoft has taken the RBDS-enhanced FM radio even further, by allowing users to tag the songs they hear so they can download them later.

The radio-tagging feature only works with FM-radio stations that broadcast artist and song information over RBDS (we found five compatible stations in San Francisco). Tagged songs are added to your Zune shopping cart, just as songs added using the Marketplace feature are, and can be downloaded directly to your Zune over Wi-Fi or previewed and purchased using the Zune desktop software. The radio-tagging feature is fun to use, but in our experience, the stations that were compatible with RBDS were typically mainstream radio outlets with a limited amount of new music in rotation. Still, we’re happy to see Zune giving users as many ways as possible to discover and acquire new music.

The addition of games for the Zune helps keep the device competitive against the iPod, but it doesn’t compare with the quality of games we’re seeing for the iPod Touch. Two games, Hexic and Texas Hold ‘Em, are included with the Version 3.0 Zune firmware, with new games soon to come for the Zune Marketplace.

• Manufacturer:Microsoft Corp.
• Part Number:H3A-00001

At Apple’s September 12 media event, Steve Jobs jumped right into introducing an updated fifth-generation iPod. Not a tremendous surprise here, as we believed the sixth-generation “true video iPod” would not be announced until later in the year or even early in 2007. Underneath the familiar and still-scratch-prone polycarbonate and metal skin of the updated iPod (a.k.a. the 5.5 generation, or 5.5G) lies a more mature iPod, many steps wiser and more able than its one-year-old predecessor. The iPod gains many incremental improvements, including a brighter screen and better video battery life, but probably the most appealing aspect is the tantalizing price points of $249 for the 30GB version and $349 for the huge 80GB version (available in both white and black). While it may still not fully address the needs of a new population of iTunes movie watchers, the updated iPod is the best one to date.

Most of this review of the 5.5G iPod will cover new features and performance numbers. For a closer look at the basic design and base features of the iPod, read this review.

Same look and feel
The iPod’s physical specs are nearly the same as those of the original fifth generation. It’s still one of the sleekest high-capacity players around at 4.1 by 2.4 by 0.43 inches and 4.8 ounces for the 30GB and 4.1 by 2.4 by 0.55 inches and 5.5 ounces for the 80GB model, which has exactly the same dimensions and weight as the now-defunct 60GB version. For me personally, the 80GB version (the one we actually reviewed) feels nicer in the hand than the razor-thin 30GB. The 80GB is enticing for video addicts both for the capacity (iTunes movies are about 1.5GB) and the better battery life (rated for up to 6.5 hours); plus, it’s a great value at $349. Though the $249 retail price tag for the 30GB version is outstanding, excellent Windows Media players such as Creative’s 30GB Zen Vision:M and Toshiba’s 30GB Gigabeat S cost nearly the same on the street.

The 80GB iPod in black next to the 30GB Toshiba Gigabeat S.

The iPod is still pretty easy to scratch, both on the soft and shiny plastic face and the classic metallic backside. Fingerprints love the iPod more than they do most players. You’ll definitely want to carry the iPod in a case, or at least protect the screen with adhesive film, since now you’ll be watching $9.99 iTunes movies. I think the black version looks nicer, but scratches show up on it more easily. A new Nano-like scratch- and print-proof aluminum case would have taken the iPod over the top.

The new iPod also has a brighter screen–by up to 60 percent. Not that the iPod had a dim screen in the first place, but brighter is always better, especially when it doesn’t come at the cost of battery life. In a side-by-side comparison of the old and new screens (at default brightness), the new iPod is noticeably brighter. Even after updating the old iPod to firmware 1.2, which among other things adds brightness control, the old iPod screen at the brightest setting matches only the new one’s default setting. Battery life will take a hit at the higher setting, so turn it up only when your’e watching video or viewing photos. You can even adjust brightness while watching a movie by clicking the Select button twice during playback. Conversely, you should turn the brightness down when listening to audio; as always, the iPod can be viewed with the backlight turned off.

You can adjust brightness both within the Settings menu and while you’re watching a video.

I still have a problem with watching video for more than 30 minutes on that small 2.5-inch screen. Even a kickstand would help for hands-free viewing, though a bigger-screened unit like the Cowon A2 or Archos 604 would have made the portable iTunes movie experience more satisfying. There are some portable accessories such as the Memorex iFlip that dock with the iPod and increase its viewing size to up to 8.4 inches. Though the proprietary dock connector isn’t nearly as convenient as a standard USB port, the iPod benefits from its thousands of dock connector-based third-party accessories.

Once again, Apple does a good job of minimizing packaging and bundled accessories, which include a newly designed set of white earbuds, a proprietary USB cable, a soft case, and a dock adapter. Unfortunately, like many MP3 players these days, you’ll have to pony up extra to get a power adapter ($29). You also don’t get an iTunes software CD, which leaves nonconnected folks in the dust. And while the futuristic headphones sound decent, they didn’t stay firmly in my ears (no foam earbud covers in this version).

The 80GB iPod with its bundled accessories: notice the lack of a power adapter.

A wiser iPod
The iPod’s enhanced software definitely makes it better. For one, you can search tunes using an alphabet-style instant search. The last option in the Music menu, Search places a two-line virtual keyboard at the bottom of the screen; the first letter you select brings up all artist, album, and song titles that begin with that letter, with albums and artists indicated by icons. Results pop up dynamically as you enter new letters. If you type in ca, you’ll get results listed by all the titles that start with ca, then continue with any mention of the letters ca in any title. It’s a little more sophisticated than the search features found in the Creative Zen Vision:M (and other players that actually invented search-by-letters), but because you have to select Done to browse your results, it’s a tad more tedious to use.