Wesley's Tool-Box

I've been using an interesting combo of input devices lately. Namely, Art Lebedev Studio's Optimus mini three keyboard (left) and I-ROCKS' KR-6600 'nano slim' keyboard. The two keyboards are relatively unique in that the mini three is the first keyboard to implement OLED displays for the keys, and that the KR-6600 is probably the smallest 'full set' keyboard you'll find on the market. It's barely bigger than the Half Keyboard I used for my wearable computer back in the old days.

(Continuation of "The $14 MP3 Player")

Curious to find out what made this cheap MP3 player tick, I had to take it apart... carefully, of course, because I wanted to keep using it. You unscrew two tiny metal bolts, then have to unhinge the two plastic hooks that stick the top and bottom pieces together. The plastic hooks were a bit hard to get around, since it looked kind of easy to break. I did manage to do it without breaking anything, and the device revealed its innards.

While Apple iPod is dominant in most of the world's portable MP3 player market, there are always some niche products scattered around. One such class is the MP3 players that are very cheap because they lack any on-board storage. They use the flash memory cards you plug in for the storage instead. If you somehow end up with a flash memory card left over doing nothing useful, these MP3 players may attract you, despite common sense telling you it's money wasted. Here's my story.

M4300 was the smallest WM2003-based PDA-phone on the market before X501. X501 is even smaller. Let's see how they compare.

For those of you still waiting for this device to hit the local shops, here are the photos of what final production model CP-X501 looks like.