As media players get smaller, even companies such as Mitashi, which seem to be more popular in the mid-range TV and DVD player segment, are jumping on the PMP bandwagon. I had a chance to check out Mitashi's MWI-4GA PMP, and here’s my take on the player.
Form Factor
The MWI-4GA has a sleek and slender design with a chrome finish. It’s also extremely light and hence very portable. The 2.4 inch QVGA display supports a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels and is great for watching videos. The controls are at the top and there's a 2.5 inch earphone socket along with the miniUSB slot on the side. Why Mitashi decided to go with a 2.5 inch earphone socket is anyone’s guess. It’s irregular and inconvenient. The 4GA has an integrated speaker at the back.
Oddly, the 4GA doesn’t support MMC/SD cards but does support miniSD cards. Even stranger is the fact that the slot located at the bottom, near the Hold key (that more often shuts the player down rather than simply lock the keys), doesn’t take the card all the way in. Although it has a pop-out catch, the card can still be easily pulled out. My explanation for these obvious design quirks is that the company simply wanted to make the player as slim and light as possible. Which is great but inconvenient – what should have been done is cut out the speaker from the rear to minimize space.
Features and Performance
Mitashi has managed to cram the 4GA with plenty of features to meet most requirements without compromising on the quality of reproduction. It comes stocked with a .TXT viewer in case you happen to be an avid reader, and a JPEG viewer for showing off your images. The device also comes with a built-in microphone for voice recordings. It comes with a Tetris game preinstalled. The interface, though clear and attractive, is a bit inconsistent. The main menu and submenus, including the music player, are in portrait mode and yet the videos and images appear in landscape.



