Kingston 2GB K-PEX 100 Portable Media Player Review

Battery life and conclusion

In order to charge the KPEX you do have to have the KPEX plugged into a usb port on the computer using its propriatary usb connector(shown as the top connector vs a standard mini usb), there is no option to use a wall charger. The bad side to this is that you will not be able to charge the KPEX anywhere but where there is a comptuer. The KPEX does have battery saving features like auto power off when idle and auto screen power off when listening to the radio or mp3s. The Auto power off is nice but can be a hassle if you dont set it to a high enough time (highest is 5min.)When I was watching a movie the phone rang, I paused the movie and after a few minutes the devise completely shut off leaving me with having to fast forward through the whole movie to get to where I left off. But the battery life does make up for any mishaps. Its advertised 17 hours is fairly close to the real deal. The KPEX clocked in around 11-13 hours of use watching movies and listening to music with only a 3-4hour charge time. I was able to watch 5 or 6 movies at full volume before the battery died. And when the battery dies there is no warning, it just shuts off. I am extremely happy with the battery life on such a small device. The only problem is the lithium-ion is built in so when the battery goes dead.time for a whole new unit.

Personal experience with the device

We are not allowed to bring laptops to work for security reasons and trying to find something to do on a 45 min train ride to work can be tough. This certainly kept me entertained while watching DL.TV and Family Guy to and from work. Also going to college it killed 2 birds with one stone, I put my class schedule on their so I wouldnt have to carry around more papers, and was some nice entertainment between classes. When formatting windows on a computer, it sure made time fly.

Conclusion

How well did Kingston do on their first PVP? Id say they are just a few degrees off from hitting the nail square between the eyes. With just a few quarks, a boat load of provided accessories and decent performance, I would recommend this little guy to anyone. If you do not completely want to jump on the IPOD bandwagon, give the KPEX a peak. Sure the memory is only limited to 2 gigs, but who is going to watch that many more movies before having to charge it which requires you to get next to the computer anyway.

Legit Bottom line

With the plethora of mp3/video players out there to choose from, the KPEX really needs to be somewhere at the top of your list when shopping even on a budget level.