1.5" 2GB and 1.8" 4GB Ipod nano clone review
 

I recently purchased two nano clones on ebay, 1.5" 2GB and 1.8" 4GB versions from two different sellers.

The first one is a 1.5" 2GB version bought from "marketingrus*com". This is what was stated in the item description:
- Digital music player
- Digital video player
- Digital voice recorder with built-in microphone
- FM Radio player
- Photo viewer
- Ebook viewer
- Games
- Phonebook function
- USB mass storage / removable disk
- 3.5mm headphone jack

As it turns out, the player doesn't have games. A bit dissapointing but truth be told, I don't care. The 3.5mm jack is in fact a 2.5mm which means you'll need an adapter to use your own headphones or use the ones provided (which I don't recommend because they suck). Navigation is ok and song skipping is painfully slow (mostly due to the fade-out and fade-in). The buttons are pretty good except for the play/pause which for some reason doesn't always work. Some simple modifications to the navigation system and button layout would make things a lot more pleasant.

On the plus side, the unit has a real 2GB hynix chip and has a free spot to add another memory chip. The LCD display is crisp and bright but doesn't refresh fast enough to enjoy videos, it has major ghosting issues. The built-in microphone isn't that bad and gets the job done. The FM radio player is a nice touch as is the recording option. Don't expect clear and noise free reception tho.

The ebook is extremely basic and a PITA to read. I haven't used the phonebook function and probably never will since you can't add anything from the player.

The device works good as a mass storage disk but uses a "not very standard" usb plug.

Build quality is ok I guess. Nice metal case and smooth buttons. USB and headphone jacks are tight. Display is well glued to the circuit board (although it's a bit crooked). The LCD isn't protected very well and could suffer damage easely.

Second one is a 1.8" 4GB version bought from "rapistore". It has the exact same advertised features as the 1.5" player. However, as you might suspect, it's not a true 4GB player. Upon disassembly, I found a single samsung chip of 2GB capacity. There isn't any space to add another memory chip and the way the player is made makes it nearly impossible to add the chip above the one soldered to the board.

This player did have games installed and a real 3.5mm headphone jack. The LCD is crisp and bright and does not suffer from any kind of ghosting when watching videos. Navigation is a lot faster and intuitive but could still use some work. Song skipping is, again, painfully slow because of that stupid fade-out/fade-in "feature".

The device works good as a mass storage disk and uses a more common usb plug (same as my canon camera and many other devices).

Build quality is way better than the 1.5" unit. Metal case and buttons are nice. LCD is protected by a real glass screen. The buttons are mounted onto a daughter board that's screwed on a plastic frame and clipped to the main board.

Both players are nice but the 1.8" does everything better than the 1.5". It's faster, has a better screen, nicer menus and is more intuitive.

However, they both will not be used as MP3 players. Why? Because they both suffer from MASSIVE interference. Don't get me wrong, both players have amazing sound quality (when listened to with good earphones) but there's non-stop popping, whinning and whatnots going on in the background. It can't be heard when listening to rock but anytime a song slows down (like a ballad), you'll hear it and hate it. If I pause a song and hit "menu" it goes to a page with numerous options like "equalizer" and "repeat". These text, when selected, will scroll from right to left one letter at a time. Everytime it scrolls one letter, you'll hear a pop. Same thing when it's loading a menu or song.

Some people won't or don't even care about sound quality. Not me. I was planning on using these as MP3 players in my car thru the auxlliary input but the interference would make that torture. I guess they'll serve and storage devices.

They both share the same firmware version (9.1.50) and were manufactured by " Wilson Co. LTD." s1fwx sees the 1.5" unit as an S1 MP3 Player and the 1.8"unit as a LISONG MP3 Player. Sadly, s1fwx cannot extract the firmware from the dump.bin files.

I took some pictures when disassembling the 1.8" unit.
1.5" and 1.8"
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...r/Photo020.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...r/Photo021.jpg

1.8" front and back
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...r/Photo018.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...r/Photo019.jpg

Whole thing appart. The glass screen is glued to the white pastic frame.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...r/Photo001.jpg

Close-up of the case.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...r/Photo008.jpg

Close-up of the plastic frame and main board.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...r/Photo009.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...r/Photo010.jpg

Mainboard. Everything you see is hidden under the LCD display.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...r/Photo011.jpg

USB plug, microphone and headphone jack.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...r/Photo012.jpg

Accessories. I really hate those small CDs. My slot loading Imac can't read those (it'll probably break if I try). The rubber sleeve doesn't look really good but gets the job done. I won't even talk about the earphones, throw 'em in the garbage. The USB cord is short but has standard plugs.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...r/Photo015.jpg

Packaging was really bad. I can't believe it made it from Hong Kong in one piece. The player was wrapped in bubble wrap and the rest just tossed in there. The 1.5" unit came in a cardboard box and the player and accessories were in a cool transparent plastic case.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...r/Photo017.jpg

Overall
Build quality (materials)
1.5": 7/10
1.8": 8.5/10

Build quality (engineering, related to sound quality and interference)
1.5": 8.5/10
1.8": 6/10

LCD quality
1.5": 7/10
1.8": 9/10

Navigation/user friendlyness
1.5": 7/10
1.8": 8/10

Sound quality
1.5": 6/10
After isolation: 8/10
After freezing+isolation: 8.5-9/10

1.8": 6/10
After isolation: inconclusive...
After freezing: 8/10

Very nice review; thank you for posting, I also have a nano clone 512MB which I got from a friend who was selling them and it worked fine for like a week and then it started making a horrible background sound or interference as you describe it, in mine the sound is painfully noticeable though, so it makes the player useless, mine was also build by Wilson Co. LTD so I wonder if it has something to do with bad quality from this particular manufacturer. I haven't manage to get rid of the statatic sound no matter what I do.

You might consider buying from Uxcell next time, I got my new player from there couple of weeks ago (you can see my review here on this forum) and I'm very satisfied with the player this time.

nice in-depth review. (I just love reading these things! :)) anyway, even though you detest the supplied earphones, looks like you got a lot better than what I did! (1-cent ipod knockoff earphones that sounded washed out and tinny while listening to music - painful, just painful). Love the pics, and keep us up to date with the longevity of your players! (I personally havent heard of one lasting over a year - feel free to prove me wrong though!)

Re: 1.5" 2GB and 1.8" 4GB Ipod nano clone review
 

Well see how long these two last.

I've got a small update tho. I've been browsing this forum and another one on how to reduce or eliminate the interference. It seems to be internal and related to a tantalum capacitor not being good/powerful enough. What happens is that several data and power lines on the circuitboard run next to audio lines, creating noise and popping. The capacitors are there to reduce these interference.

Earlier this evening I took appart the 1.5" unit to try and find the capacitor. I didn't really know what I was looking for. To make sure the player worked when taken appart I fired it up and played a song. To my disbelief, there was no interference. So it got me thinking... metal case, poorly isolated electronic components... hmmm... What I ended up doing is sticking electric tape to the inside of the case (only on the backside where the electronics would come in contact with it), thus shielding it. I reassembled the unit, took a deep breath, turned it on and played a song.

Nothing, zero, nada. No more interference.

Taking it appart worked for me but I can't say if it will for anybody else. What I can suggest is that you try the player outside it's metal case.

I tried the same thing with the 1.8" player. Unfortunately, it still has massive interference. The metal case doesn't seem to be the problem. Internally, both players are very different.

1.5" (electronic components, circuitboard and LCD screen at the bottom)
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...r/IMG_3132.jpg

1.8" (LCD screen, electronic components and circuitboard at the bottom)
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...r/IMG_3134.jpg

The 1.8 has the LCD resting directly against the chips. It's not the main interference source but it does create a low pitch noise when rested. Once lifted from the chips, the low pitch noise goes away. From the pictures you can also see that the 1.5" makes better use of circuit board space.

1.5"
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...r/IMG_3132.jpg

1.8" (the area under the orange LCD cable is not use for anything)
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...r/Photo011.jpg

Right now both players are in the freezer, we'll see if it can help the interference issue on the 1.8" player.

Well the players went thru "operation big freeze" succesfully!

I gave them 6/10 for sound quality. After the freezing, the 1.5" unit would be a 8.5 to 9 out of 10. This impressive result is in part due to the "upgraded" isolation I used on the electronic components to get rid of the interference. The freezing process made the music more vivid even thru the sh*tty earphones it came with (which were also freezed).

The 1.8" unit sounds much better but isn't on par with my standards. The music is vivid and really crisp (better than the 1.5") but there's so much background interference from the player itself it's unbearable. Constant popping and buzzing. I tried to isolate it better to no avail. I'm still looking around for a fix.

Re: 1.5" 2GB and 1.8" 4GB Ipod nano clone review
 

Hi there

I'm a bit of a newbie to these flash ram players, but I believe that I need firmware 9.1.50 to re-flash a 1.5" and 1.8" iPod Nano copy players that both have the dreaded sand-timer icon and can only be seen by WinXP as ADFU devices. Can anybody e-mail a copy of this firmware please to maxwellbin@gmail.com this would be much appreciated.

Re: 1.5" 2GB and 1.8" 4GB Ipod nano clone review
 

Sorry if the question seems stupid, but by 'freezing", do you mean actual freezing? :oops:
Why does that improve the isolation? What about locating the capacitor that stabilizes the interference and replacing it with a bigger capacity one?

Yes it is actual freezing of the players :P It doesn't do anything to isolation but it can help reduce noise. I tried a big capacitor on several ones on the board without success. I don't think it's something that can be easely fixed :(


Read this thread, it has every info about freezing your player :D

http://www.mympxplayer.org/how-to-im...e--vt4234.html

Well that review was seriously helpful.. I'm going to buy better earphones next time, if this is really good quality (before I was buying cheap crap).. Also, I don't feel like reading this all (including disassembly part), but did you meniton that battery isn't good?
Watching avm isn't bad (only when light flashes on and off you can see diognal lines)
Also one very offtopic question, you said that S1fwx couldn't extract firmware, but if I want to modify it with S1res, is it possible and will it be alright? (Using import and export fw thing :\) I would really appreciate answer, because it's my first mpx (fw version :ACT209x_S75 with 1,8'' (I think so because I got vol button on bottom))

Re: 1.5" 2GB and 1.8" 4GB Ipod nano clone review
 

oh, my god, so many pictures :shock: