The TX's Killer App - Kinoma Player 4EX
Let me tell you something, dear reader. Reviewing things isn't all it's cracked up to be. More often than you would really want, you end up installing something that you don't want and that, as an added bonus, doesn't work. You then spend some time thinking what to say that is both honest and that will not end your reviewing career. Sometimes, you get that little nugget of gold that is something that you do want and that does a passable job at doing what it's meant to. This is much better as it's easier to review and you don't need to uninstall it after. You might just leave it there for an occasional peek.
Sometimes, though, it's different.
Some people get to test the first ever computer or that ground breaking car you've had your eye on or maybe review the latest offering from some holiday company that specialises in luxury skiing breaks. Or, if they are really, really lucky, they get to review Kinoma Player 4EX.
Regular readers will have read my recent TX review. To cut a long story short, it's almost perfect except for a few minor gripes. Personally, I wanted to see some decent streaming apps.
However, I did not really fully appreciate how good they could be. I was thinking maybe a crackly medium wave type signal for audio. Barely moving frames for video. Something like that.
Kinoma Player 4EX is almost too difficult to review. Because it is just too good.
Where to start? Right, so here are the basics. Kinoma Player 4EX:
- includes audio streaming software that can effectively turn your TX into a Digital Radio or Internet Radio;
- has a nifty little tie-in with TUNED.mobi which allows you to use their directory of digital radio stations for tuning your TX radio;
- lets you record some audio streams;
- includes video streaming that seems to overcome the potential processor backlog when downloading video;
- can play pretty much any audio or video;
- intergrates seemlessly with Blazer;
- works on a whole host of Palm-driven machines (not just the TX that I have tested it on).
I have had this for a couple of days now and I've tested the audio streaming to destruction - except that I could not make it destruct. I could not make it fall over or crackle. I paused it and unpaused it and it just carried on happily.
I recently bought a lovely Pure DAB Oasis radio. It cost me somewhere in the region of £100 and I think it's very good. I have had my eye on internet radios for a while but not seen anything that really hits the mark and, anyway, they are still coming in at £200 plus and that's a lot for a radio. Kinoma Player is £12.99 (or $24.99). The quality of the audio is excellent - no drop out, no crackling, just as good as it would be on a full powered Mac or PC. And yet it's under £13. The cost of a CD. Just one.
For that tiny amount, you get a world's worth of radio. And you can carry it around.
I have also used it to take a quick test drive around Google Video and YouTube and it performed admirably. The video was clear, the sound in synch. Imagine streaming video as good as it can be - well, it's about that good.
And another thing, it looks very cool. It uses a clean black and white interface that is simplicity itself. There is also a big manual but, to be honest, I'm not a manual person. I like to just try things and see what they can do. If they're designed properly, I should be able to make them work - even without reading the manual, this thing flies.
Deep down, when we buy our TXs or whatever Palm we have, we want certain things. One of those is for it to metamorphose into an all singing all dancing multimedia centre and we know that can't really happen. Well, prepare to see a caterpillar turn into a butterfly, folks.
Kinoma Player 4EX is the killer app for a TX. How can I make this clearer? If you don't have Kinoma Player 4EX, get it now. If you don't have a TX, go out and buy one so you can put Kinoma Player 4EX on it.
You will simply not find a better piece of software on your Palm.
Key facts:
What: Kinoma Player 4EX
Cost: $24.99 or £12.99
Where from: www.kinoma.com
Devices supported: Palm - Treo 700p, Treo 680, Treo 650, Treo 600, LifeDrive, T|X, Tungsten C, Tungsten T*, Tungsten T2*, Tungsten T3, Tungsten T5, Tungsten E, Tungsten E2, Zire 31*, Zire 71*, Zire 72
Sony - PEG-NX60*, PEG-NX70*, PEG-NX73, PEG-NX70V*, PEG-NX80, PEG-NZ90, PEG-TH55, PEG-TJ25* (video only), PEG-TJ27* (video only), PEG-TJ35, PEG-TJ37, PEG-TG50, PEG-UX40/50*
Garmin - iQue 3200, iQue 3600
Tapwave - Zodiac 1, Zodiac 2
* Marked models have lower performance which limits video playback performance. For example, on these models Windows Media Video 9 is limited to 160 x 120 at 12 frames per second. Use Kinoma Producer 4 to compress your high bandwidth video for optimal playback.
