The ultimate fitness and daily commute companion?
It's been a long time since we've had a dedicated music player in our hands. These days we tend to listen to our music collection through our phones, which is very good, but does pose a bit of an issue at times due to the size and weight of the device. However, the Transcend Digital Music Player offers superb playback of music in a neat 88 x 44 x 10mm package that weighs just 39g and looks for all the world like an iPod Nano. That's not all, though.
Alongside the 8GB of storage available for your album collection, it doubles up as a fitness device thanks to the inclusion of a built-in G-Sensor that will measure steps taken, the distance travelled, and calculate the amount of calories burnt based on the body information you enter into it. There's also a specific Fitness Mode, whereby you can set the total exercise time, the number of steps, distance to travel, and the set number of calories you wish to burn. The activity tracker will then closely monitor these goals you've set and inform you when you've achieved them.
If that wasn't enough, Transcend have also seen to it that the MP710 comes with a built-in microphone for voice recording, an in-line recorder, and FM radio. You can even record programs from the radio using a scheduler from the menu. This of course means the device can be used in a variety of ways, while still remaining devilishly discrete when compared to even a smaller smartphone.
The 2" LCD has a resolution of 240 x 320, and is clear enough to display the menu system without too much difficulty. The fact that you also play AVI and AMV video formats and read TXT based eBook formats is a bonus, but in all honesty the screen is a little too small for viewing and especially reading.
The battery life, though, is excellent; after a couple of hours' charging via a USB port, we managed to squeeze out close to forty hours' worth of use. With the screensaver active and a few other functions disabled we're pretty sure we could have had a few more hours there as well. Overall it's an impressive lifespan, and should be good enough to last the week's commute to work or a week's worth of exercise.
In the box you get a weighty set of instructions, a set of ear hook in-ear earphones, neck strap lanyard, USB cable and 3.5mm audio cable. There's also the two year Transcend warranty card, and finally, a bag of replacement rubberised earbuds - always handy.
Sound quality from the MP710 is perfectly fine, better in fact than some of the HTC phones we've used in the past. The G-Sensor appears to be calibrated well too, where a step is actually registered without you having to emphasise the movement too much; likewise it's not over sensitive either.
We were quite pleased with the Transcend Digital Music Player. The 8GB capacity is more than enough, the workout and fitness mode is easy to understand and quick to setup, and the addition of the other functions make it a more versatile device. All that, and it's small and light enough to carry around in the pocket without the associated bulk of other like devices.
Naturally, you could opt for other devices - or one of the newer additions to the wearable tech market - but you'd hard pressed to find one that does so much, and for just over £40 as well. David Hayward
A lightweight quality music player, with some extremely useful extras.