Tactile interfaces are often a cause of much debate in my circle of technology-obsessed friends and colleagues. Some like their immediacy, elegance and flexibility infinite, some hate the lack of feedback and the fact that they can not feel physically controls. But when it comes to MP3 players, there is no doubt that, if done well, they sell - the tear-roaring success of Apple iPod has shown that. The problem is it something difficult to remove, and for this reason, most major manufacturers have abandoned the path of plain old buttons.

Little known Chinese company Meizu still believes that the clickable nuts can be cracked, however. And if the latest version of Flash Player - Mini Player SL - is a passer, his confidence appears to be without merit. Let’s get one thing straight before traveling anywhere, however - this is not an imitation rip-off. Meizu took an entirely different tactic with his control. Instead of a touch ring, you have here a large, cross-shaped four-lane click of a button tactile surface.

Surprisingly, it is also readily usable as a system of Apple and a few moments, you’ll be happy swiping your thumb up and down the strip to whizz through long lists of monitoring and adjust the volume and dragging your finger across it to select and play tracks and modify the settings. It is very well thought-control system, and that is remarkable for its reliability. Unlike the scroll rather bizarre groove available on the iAudio 7, it works, reliable, and exactly how you expect it - it is a little more sensitive than the nano, and it takes a little more care select tracks with precision, but that small trade-off pays dividends when it comes to browsing long track lists. The Mini-eat these for breakfast … then an additional demand for bananas.

The Mini is not only well-designed for ease of use point of view, physically and aesthetically, but it is too impressive - it bears all the hallmarks of design in question. The matte aluminum finish back and sharp-edged glass facade can not quite match the plume Apple’s compound curves, anodized finish and crisp detail, but it always generates one of the most elegant flash players that I have encountered in the last year. There are slick key style: the hold switch on the upper edge of the device’s design borrows directly from Apple’s iPod with its simple lines and red indicator to show the poster, and hunting and helmet-mounted mini-USB outlets current on the right side just add to the sense of class.

However, things start to diverge, and a quick glance at the specifications suggests that the Meizu Mini is the most accomplished player. For starters, it has a larger 320 x 240 2.41in screen that the nano narrow 2in display - and this is a package not much bigger either (78 x 46.5 x 7.3mm - L x P x H, if you’re interested in the raw data). In him, you can watch the video format Xvid to 20 frames per second - you’ll have to convert images using software provided, but it is no different from most media pocket flash players. What is different is the quality. It is super light and strong, and what is for what appears to be a relatively slow. In practice, it is perfectly possible to watch television episodes and even shorts on the screen without giving you a headache.

Music support the file format is also very impressive. In fact, apart from the very impressive iAudio 7, the Mini is the format the broadest support of any pocket-sized flash-based player that I met. Not only can you play MP3 files and WMA, but also OGG, APE, and losses Lossless formats WMA, FLAC and WAV. It’s really a player for music aficionado, although in a slightly disappointing turn, there is no support AAC and, therefore, all those who are looking for words of support will also be disappointed - it there is no support for Audible format Book.

On the plus side, the Mini can be switched on medium-term plan to MSC mode, so you can also play WMA DRM restrictions if you were stupid enough to all purchases. The battery life is impressive too, cited by 36 hours of audio streaming, compared to the Apple device 24. And there is the usual selection of extras, games through utilities such as a stopwatch, calculator and calendar, a microphone for voice recording. The United Kingdom player FM tuner has been disabled for tax reasons, import, but can be reactivated with a firmware update (though by doing so, according to the site advancedmp3players, cancelling your warranty ).

Unfortunately, the sound quality is not as strong as the rest of the package, and in this crucial area, the Meizu fails to match the iPod nano, and lags far behind superior quality products such as Sony NWZ-A829 and the Creative Zen. His biggest problem is that it simply lacks punch. I pulled up the excellent Simple Kid Staring At The Sun and plugged my headphones reference Grado and the result was thin, insipid music with very little low and a bit muddy details.

Then I went to biffy Clyro’s Love has a diameter and found the same lack of momentum. Listen to the same track on an iPod nano, and drums jump you here, it’s flat and slightly muffled, as if life has been sucked out of them. Thinking May have been a problem with the great and demanding helmet I just plugged in, I tried a pair of Denon £ 140 AH-C751 headphones instead, but the result is the same - the Mini is sorely disappointing.

Kings of Convenience quiet acoustic style of music that really hammered home. It is simply a lack of atmospheric conditions, airiness and musical information is there in spades with clients like Sony, Creative and iPod nano. I even played around with the equalizer and “Spatializer” settings to see if it can solve the problem. It is interesting presets are different types of helmet included, but seem to improve the dynamic range of the player, but no amount of violin could eliminate cotton wool sound, or add detail that seems to be lacking.