Published on 08/ 5/2005
Click to enlarge Reviewed by Anything but iPodWith a quirky name like Qoolqee, one can expect some pretty unusual features as well. The Qoolqee K7 comes with a lovely 65,000 1.5" color display, dual headphone inputs (which is great when it comes to sharing music with your loved one), a jog dial for the ultimate in menu navigation, a marathon 20 hour battery life, an FM tuner along with an almost uncountable number of permutations when it comes to customizing both the sound and display. The K7 supports MP3, WMA, and OGG files that come out beautifully through the high end Wolfson 24 bit DAC. It is not available in the US at the moment and there are no plans for anyone to bring it in but if you ever see it overseas, that will be your only chance to buy it.
Plugging the Qoolqee into your computer's USB port turns it into a universal mass storage device, making the task of transferring data and music painlessly easy. Your playlists can be placed directly through this method as well, but the K7 does not allow you to manually arrange the songs from the player itself, instead it follows the order where you originally placed those songs.
Battery life is more realistic at the 15 hour limit, so with an average use of 1 to 2 hours a day, you will only need to recharge this device via the USB connection once a fortnight. There is no AC charging unit, so USB is the only way to go - that takes approximately 3 hours, so you can plug it in and have a go at Doom 3 or some World of Warcraft while waiting.
FM radio reception works great no matter where you are, and there is the extra caveat of recording any programme on the radio whenever you feel like it. Neat stuff! Not only that, you can directly encode music from different devices such as CDs or other MP3 players. There is a track detection function included to break up the CD into separate tracks automatically. Acting as a mini PIM, the K7 syncs your Microsoft Outlook information so that you can have all the data that you need at your fingertips 24/7.
What's new would be the karaoke function. The microphone is there for a very good reason (other than taking down voice notes in WMA format) - sing your heart out while listening to your favorite track. A clock is included so that you will not lose track of time, while the stopwatch function works great whenever you want to keep track of how long a certain activity would take. With so many functions thrown in, I doubt you'll ever be bored enough to try out the 2 mediocre games that come bundled with the K7.
The sound emanating from the K7 is nothing short of amazing - even at the highest volume nothing is distorted, thanks to the high end 24-bit WM8750 Wolfson chip. The bass is rich even when pushed to the limit, allowing you to tweak the sound using various EQ presets and individual settings.
The K7 is a truly great device that does nearly anything imaginable, from browsing text files to customizing your LCD screen with animated backgrounds - but its build quality is suspect. With not a single part made out of metal or glass, take extra precaution not to drop this or leave it under the hot sun! Plastic tends to get brittle after a few years of use, so its a shame that the manufacturer skimped on the casing quality.