Review: Onida NexS HD Media Player and SoundHound
A Must-have app for smartphones and an affordable media player.
Onida NexS HD Media Player
Onida NexS HD Media Player
It has game, not a pretty one though!
There are several media players available in the market which can play a whole host of formats. You may not need them if you have a High-Definition Flat Panel Display TV bought in the last few months, which can play back most HD formats. But these products are useful for the slightly older HD sets. Until now, they were not that cheap, but this one is a relatively affordable player from Onida. Unfortunately, it is not as good as the competing products. The interface feels slow and the remote response is leaden. Plug in a high-capacity drive (in this case, a 500 gigabyte drive) to any of the two USB ports, and the device goes apoplectic with rage at having to process so much information. So, one is best off transferring data to smaller pen drives, which seemingly defeat the purpose of the device.
+ve: Affordable, plays most High-Definition formats
-ve: Remote range is limited, interface could be better, poor performance on high-capacity drives
Price: Rs 6,490
SoundHound
Music Explorer
There are several amazing applications you need to download for your smartphone, Angry Birds being at the top of the list. But this application, SoundHound, is beyond amazing. Ever listened to a song on the radio whose name you could not remember? Ever hummed a tune in your head but could not for the life of you remember who sang it? Well, this application answers all these questions, with a detailed response providing you song lyrics, artiste biographies and more. The application does all this using a technology called 'Sound2Sound', which analyses song wave forms and sounds. But you really do not need to know the underlying technology. It works, and it works fast.
+ve: Amazingly accurate on songs from speakers, fast recognition
-ve: Slightly heavy application; no BlackBerry app
Available on: iOS (iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad); Android (2.1 and above); Symbian S60 (S60 Series 5) - Basic version free
Kushan Mitra
It has game, not a pretty one though!
There are several media players available in the market which can play a whole host of formats. You may not need them if you have a High-Definition Flat Panel Display TV bought in the last few months, which can play back most HD formats. But these products are useful for the slightly older HD sets. Until now, they were not that cheap, but this one is a relatively affordable player from Onida. Unfortunately, it is not as good as the competing products. The interface feels slow and the remote response is leaden. Plug in a high-capacity drive (in this case, a 500 gigabyte drive) to any of the two USB ports, and the device goes apoplectic with rage at having to process so much information. So, one is best off transferring data to smaller pen drives, which seemingly defeat the purpose of the device.
+ve: Affordable, plays most High-Definition formats
-ve: Remote range is limited, interface could be better, poor performance on high-capacity drives
Price: Rs 6,490
Music Explorer
There are several amazing applications you need to download for your smartphone, Angry Birds being at the top of the list. But this application, SoundHound, is beyond amazing. Ever listened to a song on the radio whose name you could not remember? Ever hummed a tune in your head but could not for the life of you remember who sang it? Well, this application answers all these questions, with a detailed response providing you song lyrics, artiste biographies and more. The application does all this using a technology called 'Sound2Sound', which analyses song wave forms and sounds. But you really do not need to know the underlying technology. It works, and it works fast.
+ve: Amazingly accurate on songs from speakers, fast recognition
-ve: Slightly heavy application; no BlackBerry app
Available on: iOS (iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad); Android (2.1 and above); Symbian S60 (S60 Series 5) - Basic version free
Kushan Mitra
