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Many thanks for the info spiderhole, glad to hear you managed to fix the audio skipping problem too. I was really hoping to purchase a TAO and completely replace my other 3 devices however I am still not sure. Here is the dilemma....

I have a 20gb sony NW-HD5 for music and an unbranded ramos RM970 and an Original SmartQ T5 for video. Now the sony has amazing battery life and great sound but obviously is quite dated now, requires syncing software (which I don't want) and obviously does not play video. The RM970 while Ok for playing video has a pretty weak interface, bad navigation and too many issues to list, plus it is only 8GB. Now the T5 is a great device and I had considered it as my main device.

However....They have stopped updating it and it has a few glitches that piss me off. Notably....every song must have it's own album art file to work meaning you have to put the same picture file like 12 times for an album! It also has the skipping problem you mention with the TAO however your tool may fix this. These both are not major though. The real issues are that the battery completely runs down if left off charge for more than a few days. Also the screen is too small, too low res and 4:3 is not a good aspect ratio for watching tV series (not cartoons).

However, I really liked the UI on the T5 and had high hopes for the TAO. All these problems with dead pixels, dust and build quality not to mention what you say about high pitched noise affecting the sound has really put a dampener on it replacing all my other devices. In addition the price is very high at the moment (may go down though).

Initially I was looking for a reasonably priced device around 3.5 inches that could play higher res xvid video (properly, not like the RK2706 devices) without re-converting, but I realised they actually do not exist. The thing is I am quite superficial and none of these Chinese devices have good looking enough interfaces for me and often many irritating glitches. The T5 was easily the best Chinese device (and had the best interface of any chinese player) that I have used (apart from the Meizu m6 perhaps) and I am not really looking to buy another chinese device until the other compnies improve their interfaces, so the TAO seemed like a great option. Another option is buy a big name brand but they are too expensive at the moment, often do not have the code supoort and none of them seem to be making devices around this size either.

I think I may just save my money and wait for the Meizu M8. I would like to know though is the sound on the TAO really that bad? I though they used wolfson chips? Have you noticed any other bugs?

apologies for the length of this thread and all the questions!

_________________
Audio: Samsung YP-Q2
Video/Web: On the lookout for an Android Tablet
Blog: http://themonesthere.blogspot.com (Relaunch Soon, with any luck)

lots o' questions....let's see if I can give you lots o' answers.

first, I've gotta say that I don't think the perfect PMP exists. they all have flaws somewhere, so if you're waiting for something without any shortcomings you'll wind up with nothing.

now, for my needs, the TAO comes pretty close to perfect. some of the features are both simple and brilliant, like having everything on the external SD card. why? because (1) I have yet to see a PMP that seamlessly integrates internal and external memory so better to have everything in one place, (2) SD cards are the cheapest, and (3) it is literally impossible to brick a TAO with a bad firmware upgrade -- just yank the SD card, reformat, put new firmware back on, and you're in business.

also, whether I happened to get lucky or maybe SmartQ worked out the bugs, all I can say is that my TAO is almost flawless. it has a couple firmware issues that still need to be worked out, but the unit itself is top notch quality. and as to your T5, it sounds like you have a problem with your battery...maybe because of over-charging or maybe because it's just old...or both. anyway, it shouldn't run down this fast. FYI, if I am going on a long flight and need extra long video time, I use the Tekkeon MP1550 external power supply... you can pick one up for about US$17, pop a bunch of rechargeable NiMH AA in it, and you're good to go for hours....or days of audio.

as to your question about album art, I'll play around with the TAO and see if I can answer your questions. I don't know off hand because I myself never use it -- videos I watch, MP3 I listen to...personally, I don't care about album art because when I listen to music the player is closed in its case and in my pocket, but that's me. I will say that the TAO firmware overall is a real pleasure...very well thought out, very flexible.

as to pricing, the TAO is priced higher than a lot of other PMPs, but you can't compare it to the M8...the M8 is a full blown phone, and will cost at least 2X the TAO. different products entirely. and as a PMP, I would take the TAO even over main stream products like the iPod Touch for too many reasons to go into here, but the biggest ones are the TAO's superior codec support and external memory.

to anyone who wants to watch xvids without any converting, my advice is to forget PMPs and get a netbook...but, again, this is a totally different product category. even with the ADI Blackfin chip....which is screamingly fast for a PMP...you're gonna want to convert to avoid jerkiness. video just takes a lot of brainpower to process, there's no getting around that.

the only remaining bug I've found on the TAO is the minute audio hiss, and again, it really depends on your use as to whether you will even know it's there. if you're like me and you use your PMP on trains & planes, no, you never will, because the environment is too noisy. and for these settings the sound on the TAO is actually great...very punchy, very tight. but if you're someone who's gonna say "hey, this thing can play lossless audio formats and I've got some high-end earphones" and you're gonna sit down in a quiet room and really LISTEN to your music, then on quiet passages you will hear the interference. so I discovered the problem but it doesn't bother me so much as it annoys me that SmartQ didn't design it out.

all in all, I've been impressed & pleased with the TAO. for my purposes, it's just about perfect. if you DO get a TAO, a PERFECT case for it is the Lowepro DMC-Z, which you can pick up for around US$10. get this case, cut out ALL the inside pockets, stick a piece of velcro on the back of the TAO and the other piece inside the case, and you're all set. the case is padded but snug, and if you use this you won't need a screen protector.

Many thanks again for the info. I have actually just ordered a netbook, Eee Pc 900HA. Was going to get a Samsung NC10 but wanted the smaller form factor (although I may regret this as the samsung looks amazing). Only problem with Netbooks are they are not pocketable and have low battery compared to a dedicated media player, still want a device like the TAO to carry around. We are slowly starting to see smaller 3.5 inch and smaller devices supporting higher res video which is nice. Don't think the sound hiss would be much of an issue as I also would mainly be listening in noisy envirnments anyway.

The TAO will certainly cost a lot less than the M8 but the M8 looks incredible I may just save the money I would have spent on a TAO for saving up for an M8. The M8 after all will support loads of video codecs up to 720x480 >>>> http://www.meizu.com/cn/m8.html .The sound should be top as well as they are using a Wolfson DAC.

I think i'm gonna wait until after christmas anyway. I'm hoping with the ecomomic issues that maybe we will see the TAO drop in price. Hopefully be able to pick one up for a bit cheaper.

_________________
Audio: Samsung YP-Q2
Video/Web: On the lookout for an Android Tablet
Blog: http://themonesthere.blogspot.com (Relaunch Soon, with any luck)

hey doest it have touchscreen???

No, the Tao doesn't have a touchscreen.

no smartq player have touchscreen yet