Creative Zen X-Fi2

The Zen series is Creative’s offering in the personal media players market - consistent and decent little performers. We have their latest Touch screen model called the Zen X-Fi2, a sleek looking product which we hope will keep up to the expectations we have secretly summed up for it. Let’s check it out.

Design
This PMP is easily in the higher echelons of superlatives. It’s subdued finish and confident geometry of the exterior all add up to a brilliant aesthetic scheme. Color wise we have a glossy black front panel, and a gunmetal colored back plate. The surfaces are very clean, as the only button on the front panel is absolutely flush, with just a square outline contour. The on and reset button are on the sides, tiny little round push buttons that are mostly inconspicuous.

The screen also is glossy, and does attract fingerprints, so it’s not perfect. It’s a 3 " TFT touch screen with a resolution of 400 x 240. The videos playable are SD, with a max res of 640 x 480. Formats available for video are vanilla options: WMV9, MPEG4-SP, DivX 4/5 and XviD. For audio there is regular MP3, wma and also AAC and Flac, so at least in audio we have some options. Picture again is only JPEG and BMP. All this works on drag and drop, plus there is also a bundled software that allows video format conversion.

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This model too has the X-Fi DSP inbuilt. Basically it’s Creative’s proprietary technology that enhances the audio experience. I quite like it from previous use. It has an “expand” function that does well with movie soundtracks. Last but not least, there is a TV out function.

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Performance and battery
The UI and its subsections are pleasant to view but not flawless to use. The touch screen is not oversensitive, rather it needs a harder touch sometimes. Multitouch operation like scrolling and tracking during a movie can get iffy sometimes. The response of the system is fine. The folders open quickly once touch is registered, even when the player is filled with data to the brim.