Luxpro iOta

Taiwan-based company Luxpro gained infamy when it introduced the Super Shuffle, an MP3 player that looked exactly the same as the Apple iPod shuffle but with more features thrown in. Its current product, the Luxpro iOta bears nothing more than a passing resemblance to the current crop of iPod nano players. So now, we can focus less on the juicy lawsuits, and more on the MP3 player itself.

	The plastic and aluminum parts share the same color in the black version.

Upside:
At 10.4mm, this Luxpro player is quite a slim device. It is thicker than the iPod nano which measures at just 6mm, but in the hand, the iOta still feels very compact. Most of its body is made of aluminum, wrapped around the player width-wise with curved edges on either side. The front though is made of plastic, and depending on which color variant, the plastic portion can either be of the same or have a contrasting color from the player's body.

The iOta comes with two storage options, an internal memory and an SD card slot on the bottom of the player. The ability to use SD cards adds flexibility in storage, which should appeal to the budget-conscious because they are the cheapest per gigabyte for memory cards now. The specifications do not say whether SDHC cards are supported, but when we tried to insert a 4GB one, it did not respond. A non-SDHC 1GB card we tried did not give any problems, with the player recognizing it within 10 seconds.

The top of this player has a power button, a 3.5mm audio jack and a mini-USB jack. Connecting the iOta to a computer will cause it to show up as two removable drives, one for the internal memory, and the other for the SD card slot. Music and images can be dragged and dropped into either of the two drives with no particular folder organization rules that need to be followed. The battery also charges when the iOta is connected, which makes it convenient for travelers since no separate AC adapter is required.

Downside:
Even though having metal surfaces is generally good for any portable gadget, the iOta squanders that advantage with poor construction. For one, the power button feels flimsy and is sunken in so it may be difficult to press for some. The selector key is similarly loose as well.

An FM tuner is built into the iOta, which works as it should, detecting most of the major radio stations without hiccups. Up to 20 radio stations can be preset and saved, which surely is more than sufficient for most users. We had no problems with reception, with the iOta detecting most of the popular radio stations. What we did find lacking was the user interface. The skip forward and backward buttons are used to adjust the frequency. To move between preset stations, you press the select button. The problem with this is that it allows you to move only forward. To move back one earlier preset station, it's a four-step process: Press and hold the select key, next press and hold the volume up key, then release the select key before releasing the volume up key. Yet, these are not even foolproof instructions. We found ourselves failing to perform this simple task because the length of the button presses sometimes caused unintentional results.

The lack of a hold key is another aspect that needs to be corrected. The way to keylock the device is to wait. A short press of the power button doesn't turn off the display or lock the keys. It stops the music playback--but to unlock the keys, you press the power button. This is unintuitive to say the least, and Luxpro would have done better with a regular hold switch like in many other MP3 players.

Outlook:
We had no complaints about the sound quality of the iOta. With a decent pair of headphones, this player sounds as good as more well-known, comparably priced MP3 players. The retail prices for the iOta are S$118 and S$148 for the 512MB and 1GB versions, respectively. That does not bode well for this MP3 player. Even though it does have a screen and extra features like an FM tuner, the fact that a 1GB iPod shuffle costs just S$138 may work against the Luxpro. For a budget-oriented user who has a spare SD card lying around, the 512MB version might be a compelling buy. But as the iPod has shown, ease of use is paramount for success, and the iOta has a lot to improve on in this area.

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