Fans will also be
pleased that the player also comes with the original weapons - shoulder
gun and blaster - as well as extra hands for these weapons and the
pointing 'eject' finger. Sadly the extra hands do not fit into
place into place very well, and keep moving around. For display
purposes, you would be better off buying the actual Transformer rather
then this mp3 player.
However this is an mp3 player first and foremost, so is it
really worth buying this over an iPod or mp3 Walkman? Well at
around £50 this isn't a bad buy for something which can play up to 2gb
of music and has the added gimmick of being a fully-transformable
Soundwave, even if it is a little flimsy in 'display mode'. When
it isn't transformed though it is a reasonable size and weight and works
perfectly well as a mp3 player. I found the sound quality to be
very good, with it playing songs over
128kbit/s. I also like how
the player keeps the original button layout of Soundwave, so there is
only five buttons - play/pause, volume up, volume down, track forward
and track back - which keeps things simple. There are drawbacks to
this layout though, namely that you cannot rewind or fast forward
through a track or adjust sound settings. Another annoying feature
is that the player resets itself to the first track when you turn if off
(you turn it on/off by holding down the play button), so you have to
skip ahead to the track you want every time you turn it back on.
Some may be put off by the fact that this has no USB ports and instead
runs from a single AAA battery. That said the battery life is
amazingly good, offering well over ten hours of playback.
Overall then this is not a perfect mp3 player nor a perfect
Transformer. Once you get over the initial coolness of the product
it is sadly underwhelming and you will probably go back to your USB mp3
player or iPod. Since the release of this product the price of mp3
players has dropped, with a 2gb player from the leading brand now
costing around £35 and those are the size of a flash drive. With
more practical, cheaper and better mp3 players out there, the Soundwave
mp3 player
is all about the style and not about the content. There is no
denying it is a very cool and an excellent product to show off to others,
but, talking about the product as a whole, it is only average.
Extras
As well as the original weapons and extra hands mentioned
above, a basic pair of in-ear headphones is also included. Other
then that instructions are included on how to transform the mp3 player
and a poster of other products available in the Transformers Music Label
range (Optimus Prime iPod base and Frenzy & Rumble headphones).
The product is packaged in a box with a folding display front.
Product:
Extras:
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