It comes with 2GB of internal memory for video, pictures, music, voice recordings, and even text (if you need a handy reader to tote around). What’s more, it comes with games and applications such as Tetris, an FM radio, an alarm clock, and built-in speakers. If you take up Shiro’s offer as above, they will even throw in a Shiro speaker and a 2GB micro SD card for free*.

However, being finicky with gadgets, we rated the device based on three most important qualities we thought a media player should have, which is: Good sound, good video compression, and a friendly interface.

We’ll start with the interface. Shiro has nicely organised its applications into nine folders – text, videos, pictures, voice recorder, music, etc – into very clear icons that are easy to distinguish. A thumbs up for that, but however its keypad is a little difficult to manoeuvre, being so small and sometimes unresponsive to touch.

The touch pad is easy to understand. But the scroll keys are programmed to respond to left and right scrolling, although playback options are shown in vertical format. So if you want to scroll up and down, you’ll have to press the left and right keys instead.

Video playback can be un-engaging if the screen is the size of your... compact mobile phone screen. It is a handy size to view for brief entertainment, but not for serious film watching, you’ll be disappointed at the small aspect ratio, especially with films in widescreen format.

The colours are actually fine, and compression is pretty decent. The overall viewing quality, at a 320 x 240 resolution is pretty good for its size, but we must emphasize the screen size is disappointing.

One thing we must point out is that the player only accepts video files in AVI and WMA format, so if your files are mainly in MPEG or other formats, you’ll need to go through the arduous task of converting them.

Sound-wise, we had no problems, as long as the volume is turned up to the max. You would have difficulties in listening once the volume is adjusted to less than three quarters of its maximum volume.

We liked that the player included a radio, which you can tune in whenever you need to get your daily dose of news, and also a recorder to record your favourite songs. In overall, we think this player is well worth its price, as long as you’re not expecting too much in terms of navigation and dynamic audiovisual experience.

*Available only at Harvey Norman outlets

Quick Bites
S$200.80
Harvey Norman
http://www.harveynorman.com.sg/stores/stores.html

Quick Specs
Playback capacity: 40hrs of music
Built in Memory: 2GB
External Memory: Up to 4GB MicroSD
Screen: LCD 2.4” TFT colour LCD
Music format: MP3, WMA, WAV
Connector: USB 2.0
Bundle: In-ear earphones, USB cable, user manual + freebies*