trane

at a glance : Meizu M6 is not 'killed'* by the Cowon D2

in detail : well later (for tech details )

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(**only the iPod Touch does --for sure !! so if Meizu does not release some 3,5" "similar" PMP very soon , they will simply vanish )

iversonjack

Yeah I kinda agree the new generation of iPods are pretty stunning...

DimaMP4

Yeah, I love my iPod Touch. I love my music card too though.

trane

and when you 'see' that actually it only supports the Baseline Profile of H264 , it means there is rooooom for even further improvement on image quality with higher profiles ; I guess it was on purpose to keep cpu load low and given the fact that a 3.5" screen @165dpi is very forgiving on artefacts

the same applies to M6 and Mpeg4 Simple Profile ;quite probably ASP with B frames etc.. would not improve much visually , but yes would save on file size ; not so much though

I had the opportunity to check side by side the iPhone and the iTouch (with same file of course) and it is true that the screens don't give same result ; with the iPhone taking a (very) small lead ....

small ; a bit like just like the D2 versus the M6

mbarry

I would buy an iPod Touch, the only thing keeping me back is the whopping price.

DimaMP4

Well, $259 for the 8GB on amazon, with free shipping. Definitely worth it.

wilbordxp

That is just it's going to happen with the M6

trane

well , il they were that late on developing both M8/M7 , they possibly should have released some revamped M6 with say a 3" screen ; keeping all the same ; including a low price tag indeed ; no development cost , fast release

I guess (?) it would have kept new buyers to come to Meizu while they take time to release these M8/M7 , for which I really start wondering if they can do it ; that's quite a lot of R/D , there are lots of patents from Apple (well yes I know :D ), etc..

iversonjack

Yeah, the price of Apple products is keeping me away from it - also the non-drag-and-drop system is just annoying.

Blackstar

M6 isn't killed by D2, basically because of the price difference.

trane

I was only refering to tech aspects

1) audio : sure the Cowon is a better HiFi device for purists ; now I would think that many people don't use such kind of tiny PMPs as their main source enjoying super sound etc...

otherwise there would not be all these options for processing sound , which is all but clean HiFi ; they are here to permit users to shape the sound in a way they like and on this aspect Cowon does not do much better , if any, than the M6 ; still with twice the output power the D2 can drive more headphones ; for instance the M6 output would hardly be enough for my HD595 ; but quite frankly this is not the type of headphones and overall listening experience I look after coming from an M6/D2...

on the other hand , being able to shape a "big/broad" sound on my MX500 is what I expect from the audio output section here

2) video ; the D2 screen is a bit larger with 51*38mm versus 49*37mm for the M6 ; a mere 7% increase which you do notice and 'feel' side by side , but soon forget (and forgive) otherwise

the D2 screen is overall a bit sharper, cleaner, more detailed; but really not that much ; its bigger advantage is to provide a better , more acurate, color range ; on the M6 you see , well you "feel" that there is some color decimation ; with less acurate tones ; especially on the Blue (!?)

now again, as soon as they are no more side by side , the more limited color range of the M6 is not really a problem ; again for such tiny PMPs

more annoying is that Meizu manages to get a more "sexy" rendering by really boosting the video level of the LCD ; then it raises some problems at the black and dark levels ; this you have to anticipate and compensate at the time of encoding , not a very natural thing I agree as you don't have to use/anticipate such 'tricks' with the D2

the D2 provides with a true 29.97fps smoother frame rate , where the M6 'can' play 20fps, provided it is not complex , hight bit rate , frames ; if it is rhe case, the cpu is too weak and the -true displayed- frame rate can then fluctuate quite below 20fps

now the M6 gains almost nothing but stutter troubles when encoding above 350kbits (video) ; caping there and you will most of the time get smooth (display) frame rate ; while not as smooth as the D2 , but again without a side by side comparison, you soon forget and 'forgive' this ...

(sure the D2 cpu is much more powerful ; for instance it can play video peak rate of 2Mbits without any stutter !! did not check even further ...simply totally useless )

this is so true that on static Pictures viewing , there is even less difference in a side by side comparison

the M6 has a terrible limited viewing angle , but the D2 has one too (vertical from down ; which could indicate some TN+film lcd ?) , otherwise the H angle is definitely larger

in a way since the M6 display seems to be a vertical rotated to horizontal LCD , its is normal to get poor H angle here

3) overall ergonomy : I really like the very simple and straightforward M6 touch pad ; now you soon get used to the D2 touch screen as well ; it is overall more precise, more complete, but there again I can live and even prefer the M6 touch pad !

as a size , the D2 is bigger in the pocket

it IS a more refined PMP but not as much as many 'specialised' sites wrote ; the M6 is close behind....on a par (imho) :D

but once you get to compare all these to an iTouch, you instantly see they are yet things of the past ; still nice things though

now the audio section of the iTouch is for sure no better than the D2, for instance ; so there is room for improvement ; that could come in the future with a wider support of H264 as well

Blackstar

well we could also have a chip implanted in our head in the future that allows us to play music in our heads. :D the interface is in your head and gets displayed through your eyes, the possibilities are endless.

trane

first will come 3D video and glasses
( I mean good ones ,at last )

Blackstar

Well not to hijack your thread or anything but Zalman has released a new 3D monitor, and i have no idea how it works. Maybe you wear 3D glasses, but i don't ever recall reading about the need for 3d glasses. Technology just gets better and better.

tails2

I have to say that I think your review is totally off. I feel that you were biased and on the side of the M6. You listed many flaws and/or things the M6 lacked in comparison to the D2 but on every turn passed over it saying it wasn't a 'problem'.

I have both the M6 and the D2 and I have to say that the D2 wins hands down, and is much more Quality and Value for money.

madman

I would have to agree, I have hardly touched my M6 or M3 since getting my D2 7 months ago. For me the D2 is a hands down winner that just keeps getting better with every firmware release.

trane

okay , I could pinpoint more techy on ALL these aspects, that I keep assuming ; now might get boring ...

I did not list many flaws at all !! on the contrary

I would even add that for the difference in colour gamut , well if you cleverly anticipate that when encoding , you will (can) get just about the *same* (video) picture

as for frame rate, remember video in Europe is 25fps , and worldwide film is 24fps ; so getting "down" to 20fps is no severe issue at all

as for Pictures , they are already just about the same from the start !

for the sound , I gave my point ; these things are definitely not for the true HiFi enthusiast but for 'mobile' music , with light earphones ; then many like to process the sound ; and here in the end, again, the M6 will be very close to the D2 ; given you know what you do with sound processing