Kingston K-PEX 100

Seeking to branch out beyond the company's traditional role of memory supplier, Kingston has introduced its first entertainment device, the Kingston Portable Entertainment eXperience, or Kingston K-PEX 100. Unfortunately, this foray into the PMP market is a major disappointment on several fronts.
 
Sporting a slick-looking black-and-silver design, the K-PEX 100 won't weigh down your pocket. It measures 3.7 x 1.8 x 0.6 inches and weighs a mere 2.2 ounces. The buttons are small but spaced well enough for easy manipulation. The K-PEX 100 sports a two-inch, 220 x 176-pixel color screen, which is larger and has better resolution than the iPod nano. Unfortunately, that's all the K-PEX 100 has over Apple's icon.
 
The first weakness was immediately evident upon pressing the power button: a long boot-up time. It took the K-PEX 100 nearly 20 seconds to arrive at the menu screen. For a flash-based device, this seemed like an eternity.
 
The controls are hard to figure out. On some screens, the Select button is used to confirm a selection, while on others it's the Play button. We're not fans of the volume-control placement, either, with the buttons located on the bottom of the device.
 
One might expect a portable media player to support a variety of file formats, but that's not the case with the K-PEX 100. Photos are restricted to JPEGs, and the only video files that the K-PEX 100 can play are in the MPX format. If you attempt to transfer any other video files, including the familiar AVI, MPEG, or WMV formats, they will not appear in the K-PEX 100's library; all non-MPX files must first be transcoded.
 
Kingston is kind enough to bundle transcoding software with the player. Our videos maintained a smooth frame rate with only a slight drop in quality compared with that of the original files. As one might expect from a device with such a small display, tight viewing angles prevent you from straying too far from the center before the visuals become distorted.
 
The K-PEX 100 offers more flexibility when it comes to music. The device supports MP3, OGG, and WAV files. Seven preset equalizer settings allow you to tailor tunes to your liking, but the 3D Sound setting is easily the best of the bunch, as using it resulted in the most robust sound. We also like that you can view pictures while listening to music.
 
Kingston throws in an FM-radio feature, but we experienced quite a bit of static. Line-in recording is available for those who wish to import audio from CDs or other sources. In another attempt to stand out from the crowd, Kingston bundles two games with the K-PEX 100, Battle Armor and Star Fighter. Too bad both titles are plagued by shoddy music and even worse controls.
 
With so many PMP competitors out there, Kingston's attempt to venture into new territory is admirable. However, the K-PEX 100 would have benefited from better controls, a much shorter start-up time, and the ability to play the most popular types of video files without transcoding. We'd pass on this player.