Nov 07, 2009 by justin
How can you pass up on this?

REVIEW: Mintpass Mintpad

>> S$339 >> www.mintpass.com

Mint passed Mint pad sounds like kiddie talk but this adorable little toy costs a whopping S$339. Kiddie no drop this for sure.

Let me sum up the typical first-time experience in a nutshell: You pick up the Mintpad with bemusement, and you fiddle around with it for a while. Then you find that hey, it plays MP3s; and you go, ok so what’s the big deal?

You observe a camera on the back of the Mintpass; and you think, well this device is kinda gimmicky isn’t it? Do you really need one?

Then you fiddle around the menus, with the stylus, and you find that it’s quite silly fun. Digging around, you’ll find that there’s WiFi…now you can surf the Net, play videos, view text and pictures, record stuff, do scheduling, stream TV, run Windows CE programs…

And at this point you recall that this was designed to be a notepad, and my oh my, weren’t you surprised. It’s not just creating awesome notes no more. By this time you learn that you can slip the notes to nearby Mintpad users. Hmm, how about that cute newcomer in your class perhaps?

RATINGS
>> Performance: 5/5
It can do almost everything, but just don’t expect notebook performance. Nonetheless, you’ll be surprised by what you can accomplish with that ‘toy’.

>> Ease of Use: 5/5
I didn’t need the manual to use this (truth: the review unit manual was in Korean). You’ll have a lot of fun fiddling around anyway.

>> Style Factor: 4.5/5
To be honest, the packaging looks cooler than the Mintpad, but it still looks very good nonetheless.

>> Frills: 3.5/5
Why doesn’t it come with earphones? Hello?

>> Overall: 18/20

Verdict
Its charm is unquestionable and it’s not like it’s all just all show and no go. Much like a girl receiving a sweet memo from an admirer; it’s nicely packaged and reeks of sincerity, but yet calculated and purposeful. It’s an instant Editor’s Choice because it’s silly, fun and surprisingly practical all at the same time. I kid you not.

QUICK SPECS
Size/Weight: 78.2mm x 63.8mm x 15.2mm / approx. 90g
Storage type: Internal 4GB, microSD (SDHC) support up to 16GB
Audio Format: MP3, WMA, WAV, ogg, APE, FLAC
Video Format: mpeg4, wmv7, wmv8, wmv9, MPEG-1/2