Do you own a recent SRS capable Actions-chipset player?

[Zaphod]

I recently got this $30 (shipped) Actions chipset player, and in most ways it's your average (but seemingly well built) Actions chip player. 2" 220x176 screen and all the usual features and annoyances. Menus and firmware look like the Uxcell Glacier.

Here's the thing though: It does almost 14 hours of continuous OGG playback (with the occasional fiddling in the menu to switch folder/song).

I guess that, before I pry it open, what I'm wondering is whether other recent players also show better battery life than the norm (i.e. it's chipset related), or if it's just that the manufacturer of this particular model somehow decided to throw in a decent capacity battery.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Nice nice nice. But i guess it's just that they dropped a proper battery in this time. :lol:

[Zaphod]

Yeah, probably. The comparatively cheapness of this one just made me wonder if Actions might have improved their stuff. I'm looking to pick up another OGG-capable player w/radio (video not that important) on the cheap for a friend (who values the look of things) and some of the new touch sensitive Actions players look pretty darn good. Battery life is important though (10 hours minimum), so if it's not a 'general improvement', I won't just order one one a whim.

Eventually, if I have to pick mine apart to find out: I will.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

Battery life is important though (10 hours minimum), so if it's not a 'general improvement', I won't just order one one a whim.

Eventually, if I have to pick mine apart to find out: I will.

Well, that's the spirit man! Keep us informed!

[Zaphod]

The battery was 350mAh @ 3.6V (which works out to a power consumption of 0.09W). I guess this is better than the norm, and it looked like reasonable quality. In fact the whole thing seemed decently built with neat soldering jobs on the PCB. Overall not as haphazard as some Nano clones I’ve seen previously.

I also Googled up (I think) references to later Actions chip revisions using lower voltages than previously. The chip was under the LCD on the player, though, so I couldn’t be bothered to look at the markings. Perhaps the correct answer might not be either the battery or the chip, but a combination of the two.

Oh, well. At any rate I’m quite happy with the playtime from this particular device.

[Zaphod]

Oh, somewhat off topic, but I forgot: It plays lossless Monkey's Audio/APE files as well. That is something I didn't know these things could do.

Edit: Perhaps it's built using one of these things then.

Originally Posted by EETimes Asia, via Google Translate

Acurio7500 series of the company's first to use 0.18 micron process MP3 player control chips that can support non-standard format video software decoder (AMV5.0). Allegedly compared to the previous generation products, they can provide more power design optimization (prolongs the battery life 10-30%), available in CD-quality (audio algorithms frequency domain without loss of APE format), a new set of flash management techniques in support of the memory capacity of up to 16GB. Their prices will be maintained allegedly ATJ209X series with the considerable.