Related Sponsors

Creative Zen Vision Review

Home » Handheld Electronics » Portable Media Centers » Creative Zen Vision Review

The Creative Zen Vision has a large, impressive screen. It offers an astounding audiovisual experience. Some pros of the Zen are that its screen is high-resolution, it includes earbuds and has a strong output for headphones. The beautiful screen makes photos and videos look amazing, and it has a good battery life. Some drawbacks are that it has a narrow viewing angle, you can't record line-in audio with it, and it doesn't have a repeat when viewing slideshows. There is also no sequential playback or playlists for videos, and its documentation is not adequate. The price of the Creative Zen Vision is between $300 and $420.

Even though the Creative Zen Vision has a narrow viewing angle, since the screen is large (3.7 inches), it provides a very comfortable experience for viewing photos and videos. It's not as small as an iPod, however, and it doesn't record video. Overall, the Creative Zen Vision gets high marks from reviewers. It's smaller and lighter than Creative's first model, the Creative Zen Portable Media Center. The Zen Vision's measurements are 4.9 by 2.9 by 0.8 inches. It has a sleek magnesium shell that doesn't show fingerprints. It comes in black or white and has a 30 Gigabyte hard drive.

The Zen Vision's controls are well laid out, which is an important feature. The controls are on the right side of the screen, and the volume and power buttons are on the top, along with the built-in microphone. It has the capability to be docked on a cradle, so it has a USB 2.0 port and dock connector on the bottom. The CompactFlash card slot is on the left side, while the headphone jack is on the right side next to the A/V output and power jacks, which are covered by a rubber flap.

The Zen Vision doesn't support Mac, and nothing can be loaded onto it without Windows Media Player or Creative's software. But it makes browsing through your files easy, allowing you to browse by ID3 tag and filename. The main menu is also customizable.

Next Page: Archos AV700 Review

Related Portable Media Centers Articles