Creative Zen Micro Photo (8GB)

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Unlike the original Zen Micro which arrived some time in late 2004 amidst great fanfare, there was little hoo-ha when its successor, the Zen Micro Photo, finally whimpered into the market, many months after its initial announcement at CES 2005 in January. There seems to be little doubt that the Zen Micro Photo's closest competitor is the iPod nano which also boasts a photo-viewing capability in addition to its primary function--MP3 playback. However, the battle appears to be fought on a different scale this time round. Creative's new player ups the stakes with a whopping 8GB of memory at a reasonable price. On the other hand, Apple actually decreased the capacity for its midrange players from 6GB to 4GB, while making no attempt to decrease its prices though it did offer a lighter and sexier frame. We'll leave a shootout for later, but in the meanwhile, we'll delve into the differences between the Zen Micro Photo and its Editors' Choice-winning predecessor.

Design
The new Zen Micro Photo has more or less the same form factor as the Zen Micro, but with subtle changes such as a slimmer build of 17.8mm and a slightly heavier 115g weight as opposed to the latter's 19mm/108g. Upon close examination of the aesthetics, the screen now has a size of 1.5 inches, boasting a 262,144-color OLED display.

The player's face is now bordered by a slight gradient, making the corners less sharply edged. The most obvious difference lies where the Power/Hold switch is located. If the player is left alone for a few seconds, the signature bluish light that glows from the unit will emanate from the Power switch. The pulsating blue glow that we loved of the original Micro thankfully remains intact.

One change we welcomed immensely was the material used to make the battery cover at the rear--a solid metal piece with a glossy coating which is far less scratchable than the plastic used for the original unit. Another cosmetic change are the words "8GB" and "MICRO PHOTO" clearly stamped onto the rear. The range of 10 color choices remains though the original colors have been imbued with a more vibrant tone.

When we tried the unit under sunlight, we found that we could not make out the words on the display very well, even when configured at the highest contrast setting of ten, though admittedly we half expected this.

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