Promising, but falls short of being praiseworthy...

It seems like they put too much effort into keeping this as small as possible, and it is a poorer product as a result. The separate XM Passport is a pain, and it doesn't have nearly enough memory to be useful as an mp3 player, since it isn't that small, and only holds 512 MB of mp3s (it's bigger than a Zune or a video iPod, and when it is out of it's dock, that's what it is competing with). Either it needs to be smaller with this functionality, or it should be a tad bigger with the passport inside, and more memory. If you aren't looking to listen to recorded XM content while taking a walk or something, I'd go with a different model.

Rating:


Never used product

I'm sure this item would have received a 5 star rating if I had used it; I have found Samsung products to be very good. I did not use this item because of the additional charge it would have added to my XM Satellite Radio Subscription. I already am paying costs for two radios. I purchased this item to have more portable capabilities, but I did not want to incur an additional charge on my XM account. Consequently, I returned the product without using it.

Rating:


A niche product that falls short of expectations

Unfortunately, I found the Nexus to be a very niche product. I'm sure anyone who is researching this product knows by now that it does not allow you to listen to live XM. Fair enough, since it never claimed to. However, the idea of this being such a small player only for use of MP3 content and recorded XM content did not impress me.

The screen is incredibly small. Of course, this isn't a problem if you are using this player hand held, or in a situation where you don't want to see the display anyway. However, listening to live XM content is entirely different. Don't expect to have this receiver docked in the home kit a yard away from you, and still have the ability to read the screen.

This also becomes a problem in the car. I drive a small compact two-door car, and had the receiver mounted at eye level on the dash. I could see the display okay. Not perfect, but okay. My passengers, however, could not see the display at all. Before you have the chance to think of any bad eyesight jokes, I have had both an XM Roady 2 receiver and a Sirius Audiovox PNP3 receiver mounted in this same position, and never got any complaints. Adjusting the brightness and contrast didn't do much good. The artist text is easier to see than the title text, as it is in bold letters. Having a black and white screen did not help.

To record live XM content, you must begin the recording within 45 seconds of the start in order to get the entire selection. This may be great when you hear the first notes of a song you know, love, and want to record, but it's a huge flaw for discovering new music. How many of us can decide within the first 45 seconds of a song whether it is or isn't a song we'll want to hear again? Since XM boasts of having the largest play lists on Satellite Radio, how can you assume that song you just heard on Deep Tracks will be a song you will ever hear again on XM?

Wait, you could've just add it to your TuneSelect, so it will notify you next time it is played and you can record it then, right? Nope. The Nexus does not include a TuneSelect. Nor does it even include a memory option, where you can store the artist and song title. There is an option titled "Bookmark" though, where the Nexus and the included Napster software will make it easier for you to find and purchase any song you "Bookmark" when you have the Nexus connected to your PC. However, I could find no way to see what songs I bookmarked without using the included Napster software.

The User Interface on the Nexus could use a lot of help. There are way too many buttons to press to find your way around the unit. Simply going from Live XM to Recorded/MP3 content can take a while. Be prepared to wander around aimlessly with this receiver for at least the first few hours.

Of course, this receiver does not have the 1-10 presets that other satellite radio receivers do. I did find switching between stations more challenging while driving due to this. You can set up a "favorites" category list on the Nexus, but I would have liked more options for customization with this category.

Both the Nexus Home Kit (included with the receiver) and the Car Kit come with remotes. I found the remotes to be pointless though. The remotes could have offered an easier way of getting to your favorite channels, but there was no such option. The number keys on the remote only guided you in accessing a channel if you knew the channel number. If you could dock your Nexus across the room and see the display clear enough, the remotes may have been of more use.

As for MP3s, you are able to search by artist or song title, but not album. You just transfered the entire Led Zeppelin II album onto your Nexus, and you want to play it from start to finish? Well, if you have some other Led Zeppelin songs on your Nexus, you'll have to find "Whole Lotta Love" and begin playing there. The album title will not be displayed on the Nexus screen though, and the track number won't be either. I'm not expecting the Nexus to be an iPod, but I did find this to be an extreme annoyance.

Note that the Nexus can be partitioned to store either 50% XM content and 50% Personal content, or 100% XM content. Don't expect to fill 1GB of your own MP3 collection.

The Nexus also contains a new technology for XM known as the Passport. The passport is a small chip that is docked directly behind the Nexus in the home or car kit. It is not and cannot be physically connected to the Nexus. The passport is only required for Live XM content. If you purchase a Nexus and activate it with XM, you are not actually activating the Nexus. You are activating the XM passport. Essentially, you can purchase as many Passport enabled receivers as you desire and only pay one subscription fee, assuming you will only want to listen to live XM content on one receiver at a time. Of course, this is a plus side to the Passport technology. If you only have the desire to own one Nexus, it can be a real pain to have to carry around and dock both the Nexus and the Passport with you every time you go from the car to home. The Passport's small size could make it much easier to be lost or misplaced as well.

I have heard that satellite radio companies make it hard for thieves to get away with stealing equipment. The victim of the theft just needs to contact the company, and they will blacklist the ID of the receiver so it cannot be reactivated. The Passport makes the Nexus an easier target, since it is impossible for the receiver to be blacklisted, due to the ID coming from the Passport.

Although I am well aware that the car kit is sold separately, I feel the need to mention in this review that I was not comfortable with the cosmetics of the car dock. The bright silver color of it made it very easy to see, regardless of the time of the day or the amount of light coming into my car. Needless to say, I was concerned that this would be a huge theft magnet. Most satellite radio receivers and mp3 player car docks are much more low profile, and for good reason.

Although I'm sure this is the result of stricter FCC guidelines, FM Modulation is only an option with the car kit. Unlike previous satellite radio receivers I have owned, you can use any FM frequency you desire with the Nexus. One thing to note is that the FM Modulation will not work if you have anything plugged into the "Line Out" of the car kit, such as a cassette adapter or axillary cables. I was very disappointed that no FM Modulator is included with the home kit.

I can't say there is nothing positive about the Nexus though...

Loading your personal music collection onto the Nexus is very simple. You can even simply do a copy/paste or drag and drop though Windows. I used Rhapsody instead of Napster to load some of my songs onto the Nexus, and it worked perfectly.

I also liked that there was an equalizer included. Of course this is an expected feature of an MP3 player, but it also works with live XM content.

It doesn't play only MP3s either. I have all of my music library encoded with iTunes AAC, with a VBR of 128Kbps. I had no problems with playback of these files.

Overall, the Nexus does what it is advertised to do. I feel the receiver comes short on many features and with it's portability though. I noticed the price of these have already gone down substantially since the holidays, and some retailers have already stopped carrying them. It should be interesting to see if Samsung and XM continuing with this design. Hopefully they will address some issues and create a receiver worth while.


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