[Young Spade]

@lnks: Same here man; I just dropped mine and cracked the bottom part of the screen (the black portion so there no "real" problem) and I would love another player to carry around..

 

[Berserker]

 
Quote:

Originally Posted by ychao24 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Seriously, if mp4nation cannot produce a proper touch-based player, why bother?
 

They don't produce them, they re-brand them. It's a re-branded Teclast T51.
 

 

[Kayzo]

 
Quote:

 
@ Kayzo ... when scrolling down or up, be sure to start the *contact* and *slide* of your finger on the screen *outside* of the interface proper (IE, in the black glass areas at top and bottom) ... this will absolutely not select any songs or otherwise on the screen and will simply scroll the list for you.
 
I had the same problem till I figured out the above...
 
Cheers.
 
.s1rrah.

Thanks, I'll try this !

 
Quote:

I've just got my s:flo2 yesterday but I am so frustrated now that I'm on the verge of putting this up on the FS forum. The touch/scrolling/selecting UI simply KILLS the player, imho. How slow do my fingers have to be to scroll? When and where do I touch the player to start and end the scroll?!

Seriously, if mp4nation cannot produce a proper touch-based player, why bother? I'd pay even more for the same product (with the same specs) but without the touch controls if they suck like they do now!

I honestly cannot describe how disappointed I am in the unit, especially considering the raving reviews it has received and that I've waited almost 3 months for this. Make no mistake, the SQ is top class, but what is the use when I can hardly select my songs accurately with only 3 'pages' of it? I shudder to imagine how it would be like when I fill the player with >10gb's worth of songs.

@Kayzo, I honestly, really, utterly and truly admire your patience! I totally feel you there!
@s1rrah I've tried your suggestion, but the same thing still happens so frequently!

I seriously wonder if it's just me or everyone has such seemingly inexhaustible patience with the player. I really want to like the player, I do - but right now I feel like throwing this out of the window from my 5-storey flat!

Desperately in need of help here!
Boy, what a let-down

/rant

Yeah it is a big pain to try and select something accurately.
And only being able to make one playlist is a big letdown. In the end, I just renamed some of my songs name to the same almbum, (ie. Playlist 1), so they'd all show up on the same album and I could play them all continuosly .

 

[Young Spade]

Yea not having playlists could be something of a problem albeit I haven't had the need to do that yet. However because you can't sort with genres I have gone through and edited the naming of artists to include the albums in some soundtracks because I like my music to be completely organized. I would really love it if I could sort by genres soon. 

 

[ychao24]

 
Quote:

 
They don't produce them, they re-brand them. It's a re-branded Teclast T51.
 

Yep you're absolutely right, in the heat of my frustration I totally forgot that fact. I'm not sure if they make their own players and/or allowed to make changes to the design of their re-branded products, but if they do I honestly feel they should make a 'touch-less' version of the s:flo2 seeing that it is so popular. Touch-screens are overrated and I definitely prefer the good old tactile-based players if the touch controls/UI are not up to par. As I've already mentioned, I'd pay more for that - though I'm not sure if I will pre-order anything from them ever again.
 
Once my RWA iMod gets back next week I'll do a A/B between them, if the flo loses then I guess it'll have to go... 

 

[Berserker]

 
Quote:

 I'm not sure if they make their own players and/or allowed to make changes to the design of their re-branded products, but if they do I honestly feel they should make a 'touch-less' version of the s:flo2 seeing that it is so popular. Touch-screens are overrated and I definitely prefer the good old tactile-based players if the touch controls/UI are not up to par. 

Well, they can certainly have input, but ultimately it's up to the manufacturer to say yes or no. MP4Nation was able to get the S:Flo² in 16GB, where the T51 is up to 8GB. That's at least one thing they were able to pull off. I agree with you about touch vs. buttons. I much prefer button over touch. The screen stays much cleaner to begin with.
 

 

[ychao24]

Quote:

... I much prefer button over touch. The screen stays much cleaner to begin with.

 
Exactly. And not to mention it gets more 'portable-friendly' too, I would be able to change tracks w/o taking looking at the player in the pocket...
Although I must admit if the manufacturer can nail the touch UI/controls (e.g. Apple) touch players can be pretty fun to use. Less practical maybe, but surely more fun.
 
Anyway I've been listening to the flo2 for quite awhile now, and I must say now I really know where it gets all the nods. If the UI is of no issue, the player is definitely a keeper. I guess now it's only the matter of if I like the SQ enough to compromise on its functionality. Sigh.

 

[CronosX9x9X]

DId you get the 18$ shipping for yours? I got free shipping and it said it left hong kong last tuesday how long will it take to get here I'm wondering?.

 

[ychao24]

 
Quote:

DId you get the 18$ shipping for yours? I got free shipping and it said it left hong kong last tuesday how long will it take to get here I'm wondering?.

 
If you're addressing the question to me, I chose free shipping - my status got updated to 'Mailed Out' on 7th June and I received it yesterday (18/06/10). Cannot really complain on the delivery service there. For EMS (from past experiences) it'll probably take half the time - Monday perhaps?
 
Good luck, and I do hope you'll enjoy your player as much as I'm trying to! 

 

[slaters70]

I owned the S:flo2 and found the SQ excellent. In the end, I didn't like the absence of external controls (other than volume), so if this is going to be used as an on the go player (operate blind, so to speak), it's not going to work. I then bought the 16GB J3 (soon to be returned for the 32GB model), and head to head, found the J3 could compete with the SF2 HP out. Others may disagree, but it's what I heard. So the SF2 became expendable, since I don't need it for home listening, which I don't do as much (use speakers/sound system mainly). Sold it with the 2.2 FW upgrade, so the lucky new owner didn't have to spend a day trying to update the FW, which I did.
 

 
Quote:

Oooh, S:FLO2 arrived today, Interesting. Worked straight away out of the box, recognized and read the memory card I'd been using in my J3, loaded another 9GB of stuff I threw at it, no problems so far.
 
My only real gripes are: Album art isn't showing despite embedded art in the tags AND a separate 'cover.jpg' in every folder (yes, I know why; what a PITA). None of the "free gifts" were in the package. If you're not going to include them, don't mention them on the website MP4Nation. Mains charger has a US plug. Not the end of the world, but a bit useless. Other than that, an impressive start. We'll see how it goes under real-world usage...

Quote:

Looking foward to J3 vs SFlo2 impressions regarding sq

 

[Berserker]

 
Quote:

 
 I guess now it's only the matter of if I like the SQ enough to compromise on its functionality. Sigh.

I understand the importance of functionality, but to me it's SQ over functionality any ol day.  I always just hit play all anywhos, and let it go through them all.

 

[slaters70]

That's how I used the SF2 as well, one giant shuffle player. But many others won't like that. If it had external controls, I'd still own it too. Guess I should have known better, but I wanted to hear it for myself, and it is that good. Just not good enough for the road.

 

[swanlee]

Well we have been saying all along in this thread this player is strictly for those that prefer SQ over anything else. I only use flac and browse by directory so the whole ID tag issue doesn't really effect me. Personally I find navigation fine when  you choose the text scroll speed to 1 and even though the UI is not as smooth as the zune or ipod touch it works for simply picking music and playing.
 
When you compare to other high end SQ players like the HIFIMAN and the AMP3 the gui is actually a dream and alot more modern and the FW  has alot less bugs then those players.
 
So coming from the zune or ipod side the gui will freak you out coming from the high end portable player side you will be relieved that it has a fairly modern touch screen interface.

 

[koonhua90]

^ Agreed. The interface is actually quite good, given that you have the necessary skills to use it smoothly. I can definitely see the effort that has been put in to design the interface.

 

[slaters70]

Nothing wrong with the interface for sitting around with time. So yes, it can be managed easily enough. It is NOT a mainstream player either re the UI. But when I compared it head to headwith the Cowon J3 and my IEMs via HP out, the J3 performed close enough, as did the Sony X for that matter. Yes, it is very very good, but not light years ahead of the J3 for me. Even with the better UI from FW 2.2, most of the time, I just hit play all and let it go, and I had a 16GB card in it with flac files too. The SQ wasn't that much better to me with the SM3s or DBAs than the J3 is all, so I let it go for the lack of functionality re external controls, as noted.