By Andrew Liszewski
One of the best parts about the advancement of technology is the fact that gadgets get smaller and smaller. In only five years the iPod went from a clunky white brick to the sleek and small Nano we know today. However it saddens me to think that in many cases devices can only shrink so small. Take screen size for example. Sure they can make screens with decent resolution at less than a millimeter in size but what’s the point when the human eye only sees a small colored dot?
I doubt Apple will ever endow the Nano with video playback capabilities for this very reason but it clearly isn’t stopping other manufacturers. The TA 454 is an all-in-one media player with a screen that’s barely as wide as a quarter. (1.5″ to be exact.) It does however manage to cram a whole lot of functionality into its tiny package with support for JPEG, MP3, WMA, eBook and SMV formats, 256MB of internal memory and an SD/MMC slot when the built-in memory immediately fills up. It’s also mass storage compliant when connected to your PC via USB. While watching video on this thing might be passable I can’t see it being at all usable for eBooks. You’ll be flipping the page every two seconds given how little text could be displayed on that screen.
At least the little device is relatively cheap selling for $79.95 from Gadget Universe.
[ TA 454 Digital Video Player ] VIA [ Uneasy Silence ]
I was given this player as a gift. It seems a bit cheesy, but is really quite cool. The built in speaker makes it fun. It’s very easy to add file, and the video converter tool works great, despite the engrish documentation.
I’m not sure how large of an SD card it can take. I’ve read 1GB or smaller…but I haven’t tried it yet. Works fine with my 128mb card, of course.
The USB connection is a standard size, and the battery charges while plugged in to USB, or with included adapter.
So far, so good.