Creative Zen Micro Photo wins “Audio To Go” Best of CES award.

What better way to kick off the New Year than in Vegas baby! Of course I was there on official business checking out the latest and coolest gadgets at the 2005 Consumer Electronic Show (CES). Booth babes and first look at the freshest gear, yes I know you wish you were me. Being the “Audio to go” judge, I sifted through the sea of portable audio devices at the largest CES to find the next “it” product. 

Creative Surprise!

With a spinning wheel carnival game and sexy booth babes wearing Zen Micro belts, the Creative CES booth was an all out media blitz pimping their multi-color Zen Micro. Having just launched the Zen Micro in November, I wasn’t expecting Creative to have anything new for me to look at.  However, when Creative Labs CEO Sim Wong Hoo pulled out the Creative Zen Micro Photo, I was surprised and impressed.

With the ability to view JPEG pictures (a la iPod Photo), the Zen Micro Photo retains the fun-fashion look and flexible functions of the Zen Micro, but with a larger and brighter OLED screen.

Here are the bullet points:

• 1.5” OLED screen
• 130 x 130 resolution jpeg photos
• 256 color
• Just $50 more expensive than current Micro: $299 (5 GB); $349 (6 GB)

Creative’s choice to use an OLED screen over LCD got points in my book as OLED screens are lighter, brighter and consume less power (thus still maintaining the same 10-12 hour battery life of the Zen Micro)

The Zen Micro Photo will ship in April or May.

Final Thoughts

With a slew of me-too products scattered through out the show floor, I looked for the best product for the every-man consumer in 2005 and I found it! Creative has thrown the first punch but with Macworld just a few days away, Apple will come out swinging. The battle rages on.