Had a rought start with my new Glacier... is it really 2GB?

My white 2GB Glacier came today, and of course, couldn't wait to check it out. I was very happy with it, as it blew away my old Nano clone in every way. Beautiful 2" screen, large enough to watch movies on, more depth of color (I think its 262k) and sharpness, and little to none of that bothersome "ghosting effect" the old CSTN screen.

ERGONOMICS:

The controls were easy to use, the battery cover not that bad (tight enough). It even had a speaker which wasn't bad, and which I found handy to test the unit without having to keep earbuds in. (The earbuds suck, though, but they look nice doing it). There is a problem with the rubber USB cover that I kept reading about... its damn hard to open, because the tab to grip it is made for people who have needles for fingers. I'm thinking that cutting the part inside the cover that goes into the usb plug might make the cover easier to open.

The menus are much nicer, the software is faster to navigate, and best of all, it remembers your place in text and movies, which the Nano clone wouldn't! And the lyric thing finally works on this unit, when it wouldn't on my Nano clone! (It comes with 2 WMA songs that have lyrics. Unfortunately, one of them is "Say You, Say Me" by Lionel Ritichie. And the other one's worse). It also plays WAV files, but only via a different menu option (VOICE - PLAY).

THAT CRAZY LITTLE RUBBER THING OVER THE USB PORT:

Note: Okay, here's the trick to that. Snip off the part inside the rubber cover that protrudes from the cover and plugs into the USB jack itself. Now when yo close the cover, not only does it stay closed and keep out dust & dirt, but it opens real easy. Scissors.... is there anything they -can't- do?


TRANSFERS:

Thing is, I needed to format it before giving UXCELL feedback, because I'd heard of people here receiving 2GB Glaciers that were 2gigabits. Well that didn't work so smoothly, and when it didn't come on after, I was sure I bricked my player! (I probably just had the slider switch set to OFF). Versions of MP3 Tools that were older than the 4.09 package wouldn't format the player AT ALL. The 4.09 version gave an error at about 13% into a LOW LEVEL format. After that, things got worse. The encryption method as described in the hacked player guide did not seem to be compatible with this player, although the slider in that tab did show about 1920MB. The windows format wouldn't work, but after numerous attempts, I finally got MP3 Tools (4.09) to do a high level format.

Then I copied 3 or 4 mp3's before it crashed.... About 21MB's worth. The player played the MP3's but rebooted at the end of the last. Now I was worried I had the world's worst hacked player, with 21MB flash! After more attempts at high level formatting, I managed to fill the player with about 1.89GB of audio / video files. The process took about 1.5hrs. Of course I wasn't sure if the files really transferred okay, so I went about playing the first couple of seconds of each track.... very tedious! I didn't test them all, but I figure that I fast forwarded through at least 1GB's worth of video and audio files.

FORMATTING:

As with my other MP4's, I find you have to high level format the player with the MP3 Player Utils first before attempting a low level format. Plus, the Glacier wouldn't low level format at all with the latest version of that software.

OVERALL CONCLUSIONS:

Let me say this: If this is REALLY 2GB, then this one of the best values on the MP4 player market now. Put in one of those 1700mAh BL-4C batteries from eBay that last 35 hours, and you're laughing at the iPod sheep-bots. The only thing I'm not sure of is how fragile it is, since its all plastic case, no metal (but for the buttons). And let me say this as well: the box clearly labels it as supporting MP3 and MP4 format, when it doesn't play MP4's!!

They use the same box to ship all their players. I received a baby nano in a MP4 player box.

Do you have a picture

And where you buy this, because i buy Glacier too on ebay

totozorz wrote (View Post): › Do you have a picture And where you buy this, because i buy Glacier too on ebay

I bought the Glacier from Uxcell, here is a picture of the box. The baby Nano I bougth from Uxcell was packed in a similar box.

good review michiganfrog.

i was just wondering what experience you had on playing videos on them. were they smooth and did they utilise the full screen.

i am shifting to New Zealand in April and I am going there via Hong Kong so i though about buying a Glacier from Uxcell direct from their factory (if that is allowed).

but if the video quality isnt good, then i thought i would buy this when i arrive in NZ
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Electronics-photography/Portable-audio-iPods/MP3-players/1GB/auction-87754103.htm

Nice review michiganjfrog! I especially like the tip about the USB cover. Hadn't thought of that one before. I don't really use my glacier anymore because of battery problems (and I don't have the audacity to ask UXCELL for yet ANOTHER replacement), but I'll try snipping off the rubber thing so I can get the USB cover off when I do use it.

oh and deepakrr I can answer your question - you CAN use full screen on the glacier, but it's not ideal because sometimes there is an annoying "slurring" effect that michiganjfrog mentioned in his review of the 2nd gen nanoclone when comparing it to the glacier. I typically use a lower resolution than 208x177 (or something like that, can't remember the exact dimensions), so that the videos run faster.

I buy same on ebay

Here

I tell my opinion when i receive this

princessanne and michiganfrog, which would you have chosen

Glacier or this
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Electronics-photography/Portable-audio-iPods/MP3-players/1GB/auction-87754103.htm

deepakrr,

Wow, that's a pretty player.

yeh and i want to buy it when i reach NZ since it is available in www.trademe.co.nz

do you think i should go for it or should I buy Glacier?

also is it allowed to buy mp4 players direct from the UXCell factory address which is on their website?

totozorz wrote (View Post): › Do you have a picture And where you buy this, because i buy Glacier too on ebay

Well if you look at my Avatar on your left... it says "Glacier by UXCELL".

deepakrr wrote (View Post): › princessanne and michiganfrog, which would you have chosen Glacier or this

Wow, beautiful player. Definitely superior to Glacier in some areas, and I wished I would have known about it when I was looking for an alternative to the Glacier. But I still dont know enough about it, like what does it actually cost? What kind of battery does it use? The ad only says its rechargeable and I see a photo of AAA, but I somehow doubt it takes AAA's! (though that would be awesome if it did!). Lastly, my Glacier is 2GB and it appears this is only 1GB. The SD cards that I've seen on Ebay are expensive, with a single 2GB SD card taking up most of the cost of the 2GB Glacier. I wouldn't want less than 2GB, so it certainly appears like the player will definitely cost more than the 2G Glacier in the end. Its certainly worth a bit more because the screen is superior in color resolution and size, but how much more depends on how much value you put in good video. I also note it does multitasking, appears to hvae 2 headphone jacks and what perhaps looks like a std. usb jack?

it uses a nokia battery too. not too sure about the usb jack.

which one would you have bought? Glacier or that one. its just that the ever increasing complains about Glacier make me doubtful?

deepakrr wrote (View Post): › it uses a nokia battery too. not too sure about the usb jack. which one would you have bought? Glacier or that one. its just that the ever increasing complains about Glacier make me doubtful?

If you can live with the 1GB, or pony up the $ for an SD card, then I think you'll be happier with your 2.2" TFT / AVI player. It is superior to Glacier in video terms.