Sansa Fuze+: First Impressions

[glove4]

Wow, front page. Does this mean every hit ABI gets, I receive royalties?

[CrowdAds]

[lestatar]

Originally Posted by glove4

Wow, front page. Does this mean every hit ABI gets, I receive royalties?

lol...awesome! Never hurts to ask

[glove4]

One more discovery: Customizing the EQ does not undercut the volume. That was one of the biggest downsides to the Fuze.

[EggyCuppy]

oh, how are db refresh times?

[McDougal]

Originally Posted by glove4

One more discovery: Customizing the EQ does not undercut the volume. That was one of the biggest downsides to the Fuze.

I like this. I hate it when the custom EQs make the volume quieter. Of course, that can be fixed with Rockbox on the Fuze, but its still great that SanDisk improved that. And is the EQ generally better than the Fuze's (not Rockboxed)? How does it compare to Rockbox's EQ?

[Kendall]

I'm definitely not a fan of the touch sensitive controls. To me they're pure form over function: cool looking but less usable than real buttons.

With my Fuze, or with the Rio Carbon that it replaced, I can pause, play or change track through the lining of my shirt pocket. I can stick it on shuffle when I go walking and not have to stop, pull it out of my coat, and look at the screen/controls if I stop to talk to someone or get bored of a track.

To me this makes the Fuze+ a big step backwards, especially as I can't see any big advantages to make up for it. I'll either be sticking with the original Fuze or switching to a different brand for my next MP3 player.

[Big Bear]

Wow, the interface and controls really look like the Zune! The swipes, the album art... that is what I wanted, a portable zune. Would have gotten the 16Gb Zune had it not been for the 200$ sticker shock.
Now this looks like a winner.
Bigger screen
16Gb memory for 120$
But no buttons.
But it does seem like there are dedicated volume controls.

Where is the power button?

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by Big Bear

Where is the power button?

On the top, doubles as hold button.

[glove4]

Originally Posted by dfkt

On the top, doubles as hold button.

I actually assumed this also, but in fact, the play/pause button in the upper right corner is actually the hold button. You hold play/pause for 2-3 seconds, and then you have to swipe upwards on the directional pad to unlock. It took me a while to figure that one out--I'm bad about actually reading manuals.

[lestatar]

Manual?? We don't need no steeeeenkin' manuals Really hope you're enjoying it Glove4...

[TechyguyDR]

A question about the capacitive controls. Do they light up like the touch strip on the Palm Pre/Pixi Plus?

[glove4]

Sandisk has already released new firmware: http://forums.sandisk.com/t5/Fuze/Sa...02/td-p/187786

Just updated and the UI seems to run smoother now than earlier today. This firmware update seems to have fixed a number of issues that I wasn't even aware of. In any event, I wholly recommend this player. Anybody who loved the Fuze (with original firmware) should not hesitate to get the Fuze+. I am finding this player far more enjoyable to use.

And to answer the above question, the controls on the player do not light up at all. I highly prefer this to the way the scroll wheel lit up in blue on the Fuze.

[lestatar]

Sweet Glove4 - great to hear. Nice that Sandisk is on the ball with FW updates already

Am still hung up on the thickness of the Fuze+ though - can you give me your impression of its thickness vs the Fuze?

tia,
-lestatar

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by lestatar

*snip*
EDIT:
Thanks for the cnet link Marv - I got a better idea as to the thickness of the Fuze+. Seems kinda hefty

That was probably the only way to maintain the same battery life with the much larger screen.

[epithetless]

glove4, has there been any advancement with on-the-fly playlisting beyond the archaic, inflexible (unsavable, un-rearrangeable, only-one-at-a-time) On The Go List implementation of previous models?

[PinoyBoy]

I was saving up money so I can buy new parts for my car, but damn. Guess coilovers will have to wait after I buy the fuze+.

Is the back rubberized like the fuze?
Is there any metal on the cover or is it all plastic?

[EggyCuppy]

thanks for the info glove4, now bb needs to get them in stock....*grummbles*

[EggyCuppy]

does the DB on the fuze+ refresh the same way as the fuze or is it background glove4?

[Burning_October]

How does it look? I wasn't a fan of the curved top and bottom from the leaked picture, but it looks slightly better from those pics you have.

[m_k]

Originally Posted by Big Bear

Wow, the interface and controls really look like the Zune! The swipes, the album art... that is what I wanted, a portable zune. Would have gotten the 16Gb Zune had it not been for the 200$ sticker shock.

I got the same impression from looking at the material posted on various sites.

It's MUCH more a Zune-clone than a Fuze-plus, unless I'm REALLY missing ANYTHING that's truly Fuze-like.

The Fuze is truly elegant IMO -- it's amazingly compact, capable, and has the best ergonomics of ANY player I've owned to date, including most of the Sansas and two Zunes (30 & 80).

It's nice that you can disable the touch "feature" and use click buttons -- that's one of the first things I did to my Zune 80. That touch-"squirqle" is an abomination. I guess it might help sell units but it sure doesn't help me USE the thing.

In summary, if I wanted a Zune that had a fraction of the storage of my existing models, but, could accept MicroSD cards (NOT in my experience anything that is advised for use "in the field" unless one has an unlimited supply of free cards -- they're just TOO damn tiny and TOO damn easy to lose, drop, fumble, etc. I do use the cards in my Sansas, but they do NOT tend to migrate in and out of the players -- they only come out when I'm loading content on via the reader on the front panel of my computer (MUCH faster than via the Sansa USB).

Anyway, if I wanted a Zune with less storage, a card slot, NO docking ability, NO line-out, NO video-out, but, the ability to record from the FM (like my dozen or more Sansas aren't enough?), and, had NO interest in using stuff like "Bubbles" (assuming Rockbox is ever able to be ported to this), then I guess I'd figure wheeee, I can finally pretend that I can use drag-drop with a "Zune." ;)

On the down side, it looks like this sucker is BIG, as in "Son of e200 series" -- one of the things I like best about my now-classic Fuzes is how petite they are -- hardly bigger than a Clip - and SLIMMER than a Clip -- with the same size display as the e200 (albeit a higher quality LCD module -- same pixel count but better saturation and wider viewing angle), and the act of dumping the now-ubiquitous 30-pin Sansa cable (really, who among us doesn't have MORE of these cables than we can count?), in exchange for a TRULY oddball USB variant... too cute by half.

Looks like I'll be taking extra good care of my "classic" Fuzes, and probably adding to their number as finances -- and availability allow. (I expect supply to dry up, as demand ramps up -- and I expect price to track supply in the inverse.)

Don't get me wrong -- I wouldn't refuse one if someone offered it to me as a gift. Heck, I'd even be grateful, and I'd likely enjoy it, even...

But, when I can get a 4GB Fuze "classic" for a tad over $20, with all the "classic" offers, where's the percentage in it for me to dig down and spend four times as much for THIS thing? I've already got a heap of e200 Sansas, should I need something BIG -- and, they can drop into my docks (and my Timex/Sansa clock radio). And if I want a bigger display, I've got my Zunes (with the BEST quality LCD that I've ever seen -- NO "directionalty" (image is NOT different when viewed R/L versus U/D) -- and, they have NTSC video output, too. (And as to the QVGA pixel count, it'd be lost on my Fuzes -- the existing resolution is really all my eyes can see on a display that size. MAYBE the "Fuze+" LCD is big enough to where the added pixels would make a visible difference -- but, on my Fuzes, I'm content with the smaller files (smaller image size = smaller file size) meaning more usable capacity on my players.

Finally, the ability to use Ipod/Zune format videos is nice, what with the SMC being out of the low-rent section of the Pit of HELL, but, since the advent of a polished version of video4fuze (by which I mean, the fast-forward bug is fixed), I'm all set in that department.

All in all I see this as a completely new player, trading on the Fuze branding without really -- as far as I can see -- being in any way an evolutionary step above it.

The Fuze is Dead. Long Life the Fuze. The BEST player they ever made... and if my guess is right, the best player they ever WILL make. The best combination of quality, features, ergonomics, compact design, and overall elegance.

Time marches on. They call this progress, and we are trained to accept it as such.

I was never that good at accepting that kind of training though, so...