Lets call it like it
INTRODUCTION
is… Apple’s iPod owns the portable digital audio
player market. There are lots of different MP3
players out there, but the iPod is the gold
standard. It seems like every company out
there is trying to knock Apple off the throne, but
so far no one has. In fact, Apple’s market
share keeps on growing.
If you want to put a new MP3 player on the market
how do you differentiate it from all the other iPod
wannabes? mobiBLU decided to stuff their
latest MP3 player, the B153, to the gills with
features not found on the iPod. Plus, the B153
claims to have the world’s longest battery life.
Will this player take the place of my iPod as my MP3
player of choice? Read on to find out.
It seems like mobiBLU threw in everything
WHAT’S HOT
but the kitchen sink. The B153 features:
- World’s
longest playback time (up to 153 hours on a
single charge) - World’s first
Podcast ReadyTM -enabled MP3 player - Supports MP3,
WMA and WMA DRM files - Available in
512MB, 1GB and 2GB models - OLED (organic
light emitting diode) display - FM tuner and
FM recording - Voice
recording (built-in microphone) - Line-in MP3
encoding (direct recording) - SRS WOW
high-definition audio enhancement - SRS TruBass
sound enhancement - Plug-and-play
mass storage device - USB high speed
2.0 - Clock and
timer functions - Pivot display
180 degrees
Whew… my fingers
hurt from typing that list of features! The
fact is, there is not anything besides video and
photo playback that the B153 is missing.
Once you open the B153′s box you will see
SETUP
a very nice assortment of included accessories. mobiBLU realizes
that most accessories out there are for the iPod and they provide you
with everything you need.
(all images link to higher resolution)
Included in the box are instruction booklets, a
mini-USB to USB charging and connection cable, a
CD-ROM including the Lyrics Manager PC software, ear
buds, a clear protective case, the player itself, a
mini-USB to 3.5mm line in recording cable and a
lanyard.
Setup is pretty straightforward. Plug the
mini-USB side of the power and connect cable into
the B153 and the other end into a powered USB port
on your computer and you are good to go. The
device will start charging immediately. You
can tell it is charging from the blue light
surrounding the joystick on the front (more on the
joystick later). One odd thing is that the
blue light does not seem to go out when charging is
complete. I let the battery charge for about 4
hours and it was full.
At first, my computer did not detect the B153 as a
mass storage device. It turns out you have to
slide the HOLD switch on the back of the device to
the hold position. This is stated in the
instruction manual, but I apparently missed that
page the first time I read it. Once I slid the
HOLD switch, the PC immediately detected the B153
and the display on the B153 clearly showed
"CONNECT". While files are being transferred
to or deleted from the device, the display changes
to "DON’T DISCONNECT" much like the iPod. You
can use Windows Media Player 10 to load music to the
device, but I prefer the simple method of dragging
and dropping files onto the device using Windows
Explorer or My Computer. You can drop entire
folders of music onto the device along with
playlists.
If you want to use the Lyrics Manager software, you
will need to install it to your PC using the
included CD-ROM. The installation process was
the same as for any PC application and when
completed, it drops an icon on your desktop.
Considering the long list of features this
PRODUCT FEATURES
device has, I am going to concentrate on the unique
features and general use of the B153.
The mobiBLU B153 is a nice looking MP3 player.
It is very small and not very thick. Although
it is not as sexy as the iPod Nano, beauty is in the
eye of the beholder. Let’s take a look at it:
The
right side of the B153 has only the mini-USB
connector which is covered by a small door.
The door seems pretty flimsy and I doubt it will be
durable. The left side of the player has the
built-in microphone, the headphone jack and the
lanyard loop.
The
back is home to the HOLD switch. The top of
the player has 4 hard buttons which are (from left
to right) REC (record), SRS (to control the SRS
audio enhancement settings), LDB (view lyrics and
switch modes) and a Play / Pause button.
The
top of the unit has the OLED screen and the 5-way
joystick. These 2 pictures show the device in
the clear plastic protective case, which has a belt
loop on the back. The case is a bit odd and
since it uses metal snaps for closure, it adds some
bulk to the device. It does allow access to
the device controls and protects the screen.
One
of the best features of the device is the OLED
display. Although it is only 2-color and
cannot display photos or videos, it is VERY bright
and crisp. The display will scroll information
about the track being played and shows other
information such as the bit rate of the file, volume
and how much time has elapsed.
My sound quality testing methodology consists of the
following:
- MP3 files
ripped from CD at 256kbps variable bit rate
using
Exact Audio Copy and the
LAME
encoder - A 4G iPod 30GB
Photo to compare sound quality - Bose Quiet
Comfort 2 headphones - Logitech
z-5500 computer speaker system using the line in
I believe this methodology will provide a good frame
of reference for the sound quality of a device.
Using high-quality headphones and speakers to test
output will help to ensure that it is not the
headphones or speakers that are causing any sound
differences.
While playing MP3 files, I found the sound on the
B153 to be somewhat flat in comparison with the
iPod. The quality was not bad, just a little
flat. If you were to use the included ear
buds, you would probably not notice the flatness of
the sound since the ear buds are pretty low quality.
If you get this device, plan on upgrading to a
better set of ear buds. I went into the
settings menu of the B153 to adjust the sound using
the built-in EQ and also the SRS settings.
Despite my efforts, I was not able to achieve sound
on par with the iPod. Many of the EQ settings
did not seem to have any effect and the SRS settings
seemed to just make the sound louder. Keep in
mind that everyone’s ears are different… the way I
hear something may not be the way you hear it.
It is always a good idea to test the sound on your
own, but to my ears the sound is definitely flat.
On the positive side, the FM tuner on the B153 is
excellent. It picks up radio stations very
well and even has a cell phone-like signal strength
meter on the screen… very nice. Sound
quality was equally good when recording from the FM
tuner… although the sound quality was better
taking the same file and playing it back on the
iPod. If you want to use the B153′s built-in
mic as a voice recorder, it is fine for simple
recording. If you want to do more
complex stereo recording, use the included mini-USB
to 3.5mm mini-jack cable. Sound was much
better using the cable instead of using the built-in
mic, which is to be expected. When recording,
the B153 encodes the recording into MP3 format,
which is nice because it allows playback on nearly
any mobile device. Overall, I was pleased with
the FM and recording capabilities of the B153…
especially since the iPod has none of these
functions without 3rd party accessories.
The biggest complaint that many iPod users have is
with the battery life of their device. Suffice
it to say, battery life is NOT an issue with the
B153. As the name implies, the device will
give you up to 153 hours of playback depending on
the volume and screen timeout used. An
interesting side note is that if you are using WMA
DRM files, battery life drops to a 150 hour maximum.
Obviously DRM files take more computing power to
decode resulting in slightly lower battery life.
Either way, the B153 has better battery life than
anything else out there. This makes it an
excellent traveling companion since you will
probably not need to bring along the charging cable.
Even if you do need to bring a charging cable, the
B153 uses a standard mini-USB to USB cable for
charging and connecting. I really wish every
manufacturer would standardize on the mini-USB port
and I applaud mobiBLU for using it here. Since
there are a lot of devices out there that use a
mini-USB to USB cable it is easy to find accessories
to use for car charging, wall charging without a PC
and even retractable cables. Again, every
device should standardize on this type of cable.
I do need to comment on the menu structure of the
B153. It seems to be needlessly complex.
The screen clearly states what the various functions
are, but accessing them is a bit confusing.
There are 2 menus 1 for settings with multiple
layers of sub-menus and another to switch the mode
from music to recording to FM etc. The mode
menu is accessed using the button marked LDB on the
top of the device while the settings menu is
accessed by pressing the joystick in at the center
for a few seconds. The menus themselves are a
bit convoluted. You will eventually figure it
out, but no one has topped the Ipod’s interface yet.
Along the same lines, there is no easy way to browse
from folder to folder on the B153. You have to
advance song by song. I’m really not sure why
mobiBLU did this. Basically, playlists are an
absolute must on this device otherwise you have to
keep clicking the joystick sideways over and over
and over again.
OK, enough about the device itself. One of the
most unique features of the B153 is that it is the
first PodcastReady device. This means it
includes software that runs directly from the device
to help you find and download podcasts.
The
device has a "Podcast Ready" folder on it with these
contents. Simply double-click the podcastready
icon to launch the program.
When the application first
launches, it gives you this splash screen with a few
helpful hints. You can turn this screen off by
checking the box in the lower left corner.
The
application loads content for the channels listed in
the myChannels tab.
This
is the podcastready home page and to the right the
free registration screen.
Once you register and select channels, the website
is supposed to save the channels you select on the
device. Here is where I began to run into
problems. No matter what I tried, the channels
I selected were not saved to the application that
runs from the device. The application on the
device is the only way to load podcasts to the B153.
Eventually, I downloaded the podcastready software
from the website and installed it to the B153 by
copying and pasting them over the files that were
pre-installed there. Even though I had v1.0 on
the B153, v0.9 is the latest version available on
the podcastready website. Downloading the
software seemed to link it to my account on the
website and from this point on it worked fine.
Although I was able to overcome the problem, the
podcastready function should work out of the box
with the podcastready website. The problem
seems to be that there is no way to add your user
account to the application that runs from the B153.
When you download the application from the website,
it is already set with your user account information
which allows it to pull your channels from the
website.
As
it ships, podcastready only works with the choices
you specify on the mobile application and does not
allow you to browse the web for new ones… in fact,
if you click the "find more podcasts" button you
receive this message box. Once you click OK,
you are taken to the podcastready website to browse
for more podcasts. Again, until I downloaded
another version of the podcastready software none of
the choices I made online were saved to the device.
The
podcastready website is quite easy to use.
Hovering over a podcast logo will give you a brief
description of the podcast. Clicking on the
logo will take you to a detailed episode description
screen where you can add the podcast to your
channels.
One
really nice feature of the podcastready website is
the ability to add a button to your web browser that
automatically adds podcasts from the site you are
viewing to your channels list. The website
correctly detected that I was using the Firefox
browser and the button is available for both Firefox
and Internet Explorer.
The podcastready client seemed to take a really long
time to download and copy podcasts to the device.
I think this may be the fault of the B153 since song
transfers to the device also seemed slow. I
tried plugging the B153 into a few different USB
ports on my computer and it did not seem to improve
the speed. If you are really into podcasts,
the podcastready system is a great addition.
Unfortunately for mobiBLU, you can install the
podcastready software onto any MP3 player and do the
same thing. In fact, if you do it that way you
won’t have the same problem that I described above.
Another piece of software that comes with the B153
is Lyrics Manager. When you load Lyrics
Manager on your PC and connect the B153 to the PC,
you have the option to search for and load lyrics
for songs onto the device.
This is the Lyrics Manager main
screen. Here you choose which song you want to
add lyrics to. You can only add lyrics to
songs that are already loaded on the B153. You
also have to select which model player you are using
from a drop-down list above the fish picture.
Despite the player being called the B153, you have
to choose DAH-1900 from the drop-down list.
DAH-1900 is listed on the cover of the player’s
instruction manual, but I am not sure why there are
2 different model numbers for the same device.
When
you double-click on a song, a search box pops up.
You then need to type in the singer and title and
click the SEARCH button. The application does
a good job at finding the correct song. Once
you find the right song, double-click it.
The
application will then transfer the lyrics to the
B153 and tell you that "Lyric Marking is Complete."
When you go back to the player, a song with lyrics
has a little "LDB" symbol displayed on the track
information screen. All you need to do is
press the LDB button twice and the lyrics will
display. Unfortunately, the lyrics do not seem
to sync with the music and scroll by quickly.
The screen on the B153 is also very small and many
words are split between 2 lines.
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Included in the box is a
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HELP SUPPORT
detailed instruction manual for the player and a
brief instruction manual for Lyrics Manager.
podcastready Has included a small flyer in the box
and there is another flyer in the box explaining how
to reset the device if it locks up.
mobiBLU’s Website includes links to download drivers
and firmware updates as well as the instruction
manual. Also included on the website is a
helpful FAQ about the device.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
All you need
to use the device is a PC with a USB port. If you want to use the
podcastready or Lyrics Manager software, the computer must also be
connected to the internet.
BUGS AND WISHES
Although the device did not lock up on me at any
time there are definitely some areas that need
improvement. First, the menu and navigation
structure of this device needs some serious work.
It is needlessly complex. I really do not like
not being able to browse by folder and instead
having to go song by song.
Second, the podcastready functions should work
correctly out of the box. I doubt
inexperienced users would have figured out to
re-download the software from the podcastready
website.
Third, I would like to see the Lyrics Manager
program sync the lyrics with the song’s timing.
Without this, the lyrics are pretty useless.
Fourth, the sound quality of the device needs some
work. As I mentioned, the sound seemed very
flat to me.
Lastly, I would like to see the connection speeds
improved. The device seemed more like USB 1.1
than 2.0 to me.
PURCHASING
I found the 512MB B153 listed for $99.99
Froogle.com.
PROS
unmatched by any other player
screen
included
port on the device
capabilities
CONS
complex
not work correctly out of the box
with the music
Value
Ease
of Use 
Features
Overall
OVERALL IMPRESSION
Again, I am going to call it like it is… Apple is
in no danger of losing the MP3 crown from the B153.
The iPod simply has one of the best user interfaces
ever designed. In comparison with the iPod,
the B153 falls flat in sound quality and ease of
use. That being said, the B153 has a great
many more features than the iPod most notably an FM
tuner and recording capability without 3rd party
accessories. I believe that the B153 may be a
good fit for some users who need all the
functionality and battery life it offers and are
willing to make a trade-off in ease of use and sound
quality. I can especially see students wanting
to use it to record lectures during class and listen
to tunes between classes… all without worrying
about battery life. Personally, I will be
sticking with my iPod. If mobiBLU improves the
ease of use and sound quality, the next version of
the B153 will be a real contender.
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