iubi Blue review

The Blue uses USB OTG (On-the-go), a standard that lets you transfer data from devices like digital cameras without the need for an intermediary computer. For example, digital camera owners can transfer photos to the Blue with a USB lead alone.

Bluetooth range on the iubi Blue is around 10m -- well beyond the distance at which you can no longer see what's on the screen. There are no Bluetooth headphones bundled with the player, but this is probably a wise decision, given that most owners will probably want to choose their own. iubi does bundle a generic pair of wired headphones, however.

The navigation interface on the Blue is frustrating at first. Our biggest annoyance was the location of the contextual menu key, which for some reason has been placed in the middle of the directional pad. This is where the select key should have been. As a result, you'll find yourself bringing up unwanted contextual menus all over the place instead of selecting the track you want to play. Given that ten minutes of user testing would have highlighted this issue, it's a shame it was neglected -- it's like giving someone a mouse and not telling them the left and right buttons have been reversed.

Performance
The iubi Blue's screen is bright and punchy. It struggles to accurately represent some of the finer detail in scenes, however. Although video quality depends to some degree on the way your movies have been encoded, there is room for improvement here.

For clarity and contrast, the Blue does a competent if unremarkable job, and Bluetooth support will be attractive to wireless fiends. The player's native support for every video format going looks appealing, but the Blue failed to play our library of Xvids. We couldn't get to the bottom of why this was, as the codec is prominently listed on the Blue's box, but perhaps a firmware update will remedy the problem.

The iubi Blue may be no Superman, but at least it's got ambition. Bluetooth functionality is useful, but it's not quite enough to make this player essential.

Edited by Mary Lojkine
Additional editing by Nick Hide