Latte ice Portable Media Player Conclusion

Sound Quality

During my testing I found that the ice has surprisingly good sound quality when listening to high bit rate MP3s through the supplied earphones. The sounds was detailed and had clear separation between instruments. When listening to some rap and rock songs, the bass notes were very pronounced and only slightly muddied. The mids and high frequencies sounded smooth, for the most part, and were not harsh. I did find that some EQ adjustment was needed to reduce brightness in the high frequencies. The soundstage was open and well spaced out, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that localization of instruments or certain frequencies was not easy to place.

The included earphones are adequate and will do the job for most users. Aftermarket headphones do increase the clarity of music, as well as tighten up bass frequencies.

Volume levels of the ice were also more than adequate using the included earphones. Even with a lot of background noise from my surrounding environment, it was easy to drown out by increasing the volume from the player. I was also able to sufficiently drive my Sennheiser HD280 Pro headphones with the ice, which is a good indicator that the player has plenty of power available to crank out tunes.

The built-in speaker of the ice was useful for listening with another person in the room, but the sound quality suffers dramatically. The speaker reminds me of a clock-radio – acceptable for listening to talk radio or weather updates, but that’s about it. If you want to enjoy the music you are listening to, hooking up headphones to the headphone jack is the obvious choice.

Video Quality

The review unit was pre-loaded with a Shakira music video and the full-length movie “Mission Impossible 3”, so I used those along with the JPEG pictures I had loaded to evaluate the video quality. While I wouldn’t normally expect to watch a movie on a handheld player, it is nice to know that the ice has the capability to store and playback an entire movie.

The 2.8-inch TFT screen is very sharp and has clearly defined colors. The 320x240 resolution is a welcome step up from the iPod Nano screen that I am used to using. The screen is bright and easily visible for both straight-on viewing as well as up to about 40 degree viewing angle. Video playback was smooth and I did not notice any dropped frames during playback.

The screen does suffer a bit when viewing in direct sunlight or directly under an indoor light, but the pictures and video are still easily seen and you will not need a lot of eyestrain in order to focus in on the details.

Battery Life

Battery life was around 4-5 hours during mixed usage, which is sufficient for most trips between charges. I typically used it for about 2-3 days before I needed to plug it in for a recharge, which is about the same amount of time between charges of my cell phone. With the included wall charger, it is much more convenient to charge the ice than to charge an iPod, given the fact that an iPod has to be connected to a computer first.

Latte ice Flash Portable Media Player

The Latte ice Flash PMP has a lot going for it – low cost, good MP3 audio and AVI video quality, good battery life and an outstanding 2.8” display. Add in the expandable memory with the MicroSD slot, included USB cable and worldwide charger along with the additional features of FM radio, built-in mic and a built-in speaker --- and the Latte ice becomes an outstanding value. The user interface and the “ease of use factor” are really the only sore spots that I am left with after extensively using the ice, and ones that I can easily forgive given the low price of the player.

Pros:
• Low cost
• Good audio and video quality
• More features than comparably priced iPods
• Good battery life

Cons:
• User interface and "ease of use" leave a lot to be desired

Rating: 4 out of 5

www.latte.com