Out of the box, the Xcom MP4 contains the unit, a user's manual, a warranty card, a travel charger, earphones, a USB cable, and the mini CD-ROM for the software. The nice thing about the box of the MP4 is that it can be recycled for storing your knick-knacks. Nothing goes to waste, as they say.

The Xcom MP4 Digital Audio Player measures 39.5 x 70 x 16 millimeters and weighs about 44 grams. It has a screen size of 1.5 inches, a screen resolution of 128 x 128 pixels, and has a 65K color TFT LCD display. The MP4 is powered by a built-in Lithium-Polymer 400 mAhs battery.

The main power switch is located on the left side of the MP4 and there are three buttons on the right side that correspond to the play/stop/pause functions, the menu, and the voice recorder. On top of the unit is the plug slot for the USB cable and a neck strap option if the user wants it worn like a necklace. In front of the MP4 are the color screen, a jog dial for the volume, and selection arrows for browsing.

The MP4 menu is composed of Movie, Music, Record, Voice, FM, Photo Browse, E-book, System and Game functions. Let's try to tackle them one by one.

For the Movie function, the MP4 can be uploaded with a set of your favorite movies. Here's the catch though, the MPEG file of the movie should be converted to AMV format (using the software provided) so that it will fit and be playable in the player. We uploaded a VCD version of the Harrison Ford movie Air Force One and it played well. Although the screen is only 128 x 128, listening to and watching the movie was fun while this writer was riding the LRT-2.

For the Music function, you can upload about 120 MP3/WMA files from your favorite song collection for endless listening fun. The good thing about the MP4 is that is that you can just copy or drag the selected MP3 files to the player after connecting it to your PC or laptop using the USB cable. And while listening to your uploaded MP3s, you can adjust the MP4's equalizer and select from Normal, Rock, Pop, Classic, Soft, Jazz, and Bass.

For the Record and Voice functions, the MP4 can record music directly while you're listening to your favorite local radio station, and also can be used for voice recording during interviews and lectures. The files are saved in ACT format and can be converted to WAV format by using the software provided in the mini CD-ROM.

For the FM tuner function, you can select between two band frequencies, Normal and Japan (that is if you're staying and working in the Land of the Rising Sun). I went for the Normal band for this review. The FM radio tuner of the MP4 is clear and crisp, and it can save a maximum of 20 radio channels.

For the Photo Browse function, you can browse through your uploaded pictures on the MP4. The photos can be copied and dragged directly from your hard drive to the player using the USB cable. The nice thing about the MP4 is that you can browse through even high-resolution photos at a maximum of 3MP. It reminds me of a lot of things whenever I browsed through the pics I uploaded on to the MP4; it’s like carrying a small photo album of memories.

For the E-book and Game functions, the former is quite tricky and I found it a bit boring. Maybe I'm just not used to reading books in E-form, but I consider it a good feature nonetheless.

And lastly, for the System function, this is the menu where you can adjust settings on the MP4's clock/date, LCD, language (multi-language), style set-up, screensaver selection, power off time, replay mode, memory info, firmware version, and on-line mode (select from multi-drive, normal, or encrypted).

The one unique feature of the MP4 that delivers a Pacquiao-like punch to the competition is the so-called "secret space" feature, wherein you can upload and encrypt sensitive data to the player without having worries that someone may see it. With this feature, your username and password protect the privacy of your data.

Charging the MP4 takes about 3-4 hours at full charge and can be plugged in using the travel charger and/or via the USB slot of your favorite PC or laptop. Battery life is quite modest for the MP4, three hours at maximum use and it has a standby time of two days.

The MP4 supports most operating systems (OS) like the Windows 98/SE/ME/2000/XP, the Mac OS 10, and the Linux Kernel 2.4.2 and above. The MP4 is a USB plug and play unit except for those with a Windows 98 OS (a driver is needed for this OS). And by the way, the MP4 is also a flash memory drive besides being a digital audio player. Talk about being mobile!

The Xcom 512 MB MP4 Digital Audio Player is a new generation of cost-effective yet quality media players in the market, supporting MP1, MP2, MP3, WMA, WMV, ASF and WAV files. Technews finds this player a good alternative to high-end media players.