Updated 13 Feb, 2012, 6:30 pm IST

MobiBLU C5 DAP

01 Jul, 2009, 12:00 pm IST | Shayne Rana | PMPs PMPs

We keep seeing DAPs that appear to be getting smaller and smaller. Here’s one that just about takes the cake - mobiBLU’s C5 Mp3 player. Following in the footsteps of its older brothers the Cube 2 and 3, the C5 has been further compressed in size and stature. So extreme portability is the in thing, but does it also deliver in terms of quality? That’s what I’m here to tell you, take a look.

Form Factor
In one word it’s tiny. That pretty much sums up the overall design. It’s just a little larger than a sugar cube. The front face of the cube has a small single color LCD display. The top has a standard 3.5mm earphone socket with a small clasp for running the tether through. The tether itself is attached to the earphones, which are looped together so as to be worn around your neck. Thankfully the device is quite light and although it may swing a bit if you’re on your daily run, you can simply opt to use your own earphones and hold it in your hand or something. The earphones themselves are quite comfortable to wear even for long periods of time.

On one side are a set of two buttons, one for activating the Menu and the other to lock the keys. On the opposite side is what looks like a five way navigation system meant to control the volume and scanning of tracks with a play/pause button dead center.

Features and Performance
Music
Sound quality is a not too bad but there seems to be a consistency with a hollow tone that it emits. I tried using my own set of test earphones where the overall sound quality was better but the hollow tone was still evident. The C5 does have 6 EQ presets available including an option called Microsoft Sound FX to help adjust the sound. The MS Play FX option allows for further adjustment in tone in the form of Pure Bass, 3D and Auto Volume adjustment. They didn’t seem to do much for the hollow tone, but they did make the music sound a whole lot better.

There’s no playlist option so you can copy paste files into respective folders for quick access. A repeat and Shuffle mode are both present. I’m recommending you change the earphones but if you happen to own a good set, you could use those.

FM Radio
The radio took quite a while in auto scan mode while trying to locate all the available stations. Unfortunately it located just one. I moved to an area where I usually get the very best reception from other devices and found it still took as long to locate the stations but managed to find all nine. Reception was fairly decent during my daily commute with a little disturbance here and there, which is quite normal.

Misc. Features
Additional features that the C5 comes equipped with include a .TXT reader, which seems a mite over like it’s trying a little too hard to please. The screen is too small to read anything off of so I’m not even sure why they bothered installing it. A voice recorder is also available for taking voice memos. This could be helpful in certain instances, but not something you’ll miss if you weren’t there.

Battery
The battery life of the C5 is what really drags this player down to some seriously murky depths. On a single charge (after charging it for almost 4 hours via USB) it ran non stop for just about 5 and a half hours. It could be something with this particular piece, but then again it could not.

The Bottom Line
The price tag on the C5 is Rs. 3,250 for 4 Gigs of storage space. For that money there are other options. Even if they have half the space with the same features, the battery life could be better. The sound quality though is good and it’s designed for extreme portability. It’s a pretty good player overall but the battery life is what really put me off.

Tags: DAP

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