Why You Can Trust CNET DigiArmor DMS-S20 (20GB review: DigiArmor DMS-S20 (20GB
This hard-to-find PVP may not be worth the energy you'd expend hunting it out. Read our review for the details.
DigiArmor is not a well-known company, and it will surely fade into obscurity if it cannot manufacture a better product offering than the DMS-S20. The recommended retail price is 2,880 Chinese yuan, or about $348; at this time, the device is scarcely available in the United States. The easiest way to get your hands on one is by importing the device from the Far East, and we hardly think it's worth that kind of trouble. Despite a sufficient array of features, DigiArmor's DMS-S20 is already obsolete when compared to Apple's 60GB iPod. While similar in price, the DMS-S20 offers much less storage capacity (20GB) and has significant firmware flaws.
Physically speaking, the DigiArmor DMS-S20 is the disfigured love child of the iPod Mini and the Motorola Razr, with an oversize (4.0 by 2.5 by 0.8 inches) aluminum shell and cramped brushed-steel buttons. It is offered in four colors--black, green, blue, and red--and has a 1.8-inch-diagonal, 280x220-pixel 262,000-color screen. The LCD is fine for music navigation, but we weren't inclined to watch much video on the thing. The device does boast a couple of positives, such as an On-The-Go USB 2.0 host port for off-loading pictures without a computer and above-average sound quality when paired with a good set of headphones, which you'll need to provide anyway, as the DigiArmor doesn't come with a set. However, these attributes are completely overshadowed by the unattractive, unresponsive firmware, as well as by the derivative, poorly executed navigation system.
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The DigiArmor DMS-S20 plays back a variety of music, photo, and video formats (audio: MP4, MP3, and WMA; video: AVI; picture: JPEG, GIF, and BMP; other: TXT), but it doesn't support protected files or MPEG-4 video, both of which we have come to expect in these devices. The manufacturer includes only a USB cable and a vinyl carrying sack, and it has neither headphones (as mentioned before) nor a power adapter. Other features include a CompactFlash expansion slot, an FM radio with presets, voice and line-in recording, and onboard gaming capability.
The DigiArmor DMS-S20's rated battery life of 10 hours of video is certainly above average, but the 15 hours for audio isn't all that exciting. Sound quality, however, was good, probably thanks to the device's integrated high-performance Texas Instruments TLV320AIC23 audio chip. Voice-recording quality was merely average, though. If you're looking for a video-supporting MP3 player with a decent array of features, get the Creative Zen Vision:M instead.