Customer Reviews

Latte Café 32 GB Video MP3 Player with 4.3-Inch Touchscreen -- Amazon.com Exclusive (Silver)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I have used latte's products and very satisfied with this little-knwon company's product.

First thing I would like to mention is that they have a very good customer service. I had my Ice 8GB mp3 player that I accidentally broke the screen and the latte replaced the whole unit to the new one.

Now I needed more memory space to upload my home videos and found this latte on Amazon. Ice 8GB is now passed to my son and I got this 32GB mp3 plus the 16GB extra memory. I uploaded most of my home videos(about 40GB) and still have plenty of memory space left for the music. My husband is using the Archos 60GB harddrive mp3 player, but now he wants this latte 32GB cafe mp3 because the response time is a lot faster than the Archos. My husband is telling me that it is becuase of the memory: flash memory should run faster than the harddrive memory.

*Screen: Very sensetive touch screen. Unlike ipod touch, cafe mp3 requires the double click to activate any buttons or lists. But for the price that is around half of the ipod touch 32GB(nowadays, it is around $399), I am very impressed about the quality of this cafe.

*There are not many choice for the high capacity mp3 and the prices are too expensive. I had my research on the high capacity mp3's and found ipod touch($399), Archos 60GB($269) , Sansa($175 but not touch screen and small screen), Zen($235 but not a touch screen), cowon($269.99), and latte cafe($189).

*Sound: reasonable sound quality. pretty much same sound as my previous latte Ice mp3 player(of course, they are from the same company ^_^)

*Video: I am very happy that I can now carry all of my home videos with me. cafe has TV connection feature but I haven't tested.

*Accessories: Nice leather case and the touch pen. Also, the good earphone.

I think the other 32GB mp3s are very overpriced compare to this latte. I hope my review helps.

Cost:
Good: $190 is a great price for a 4.3" screen video player. Half the cost of an iPod Touch 32GB.
Bad: Cannot use it to play audio playlists. Limited functionality. Not a platform decision, no apps.

Video:
Good: Plays AVI, WMV videos WITHOUT conversion.
Bad: Does not play MP4 (iPod Video or H.264 iPod Touch files). That does save hours of conversion time, but takes up 3X more storage space.

Display Screen, Navigation:
Good: Large screen, clear display. High quality video playback.
Good: Display will turn off after user selects time for backlight. Good for conserving battery on audio playback. Instant backlight response when screen is touched. Case protects screen adequately to prevent some mis-touches.
Bad: Slower response time when using finger or stylus. Not as precise or responsive as the iPhone or iPod Touch. Menu selection means double tapping.

Audio:
Good: Headphone quality is better than most other players including iPod earphones.
Good: Plays MP3 files. Can drag drop individual MP3 files. Can drop folders of MP3 files (by artist, albums etc.).
Good: Sound quality is excellent. EQ settings are cool, although limited.
Good: Connects directly to the PC and can be used as a external flash drive. Can drag & drop video, MP3 files etc. directly onto the player.
Good: Reads IDTag v2 information well, including song album art (if already included in file).
Very Bad: Needs some work on the interface and features - cannot create play lists externally to the player and just upload the play list MP3's. All MP3 files will list in alphabetical (or folder) order or by artist, album order, not playlist order. Cannot execute M3U files from file manager or Audio button.
I have tried WinAmp also to preserve the playlist order, that didn't work. WinAmp does create a M3U playlist file that automatically copies over to the player-but I cannot find a way to execute the file!! Until I can resolve this, I won't use the player for audio.
Bad: No software that allows playlists, music libraries, video libraries to be managed (see issue above with playlists).
Bad: Cannot capture album art from software - as no software provided. No software available on website.

Power Switch:
Good: Cannot acidentally turn the player off.
Bad: Power switch is slow to respond.
Bad: EQ settings do not remain in last selection after power off. They default to normal on power up.

Case:
Good: Nice design including the stand. Protects screen well.
Bad: Magnet needs to be stronger. Plastic "clips" to hold player in place are not strong enough and need a redesign - why not use clips and a magnet in the center of the case?? No place to store stylus.

Speakers:
Good: Speakers are excellent for a portable media player.

TV Out:
Good: Works Well.

Stylus:
Good: Stylus is a good idea, although not much better than using a finger.
Bad: No place to store the sylus, not magnetic.

Software:
Good: Not tied to using iTunes, Zune etc.
Bad: No choice to to use a third party product. Winamp does not create playlists that the player can use in playlist order!!
Bad: No software listed on www.lattefone.com

Text Viewer:
Good: Can read text files.
Bad: No PDF or formatted text support. Limited usefulness.

OS:
Good: Works well on Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7. Driver available for 9.x, ME.

Website:
Good: They have one at www.lattefone.com
Bad: No useful information. No detailed user guides!!

OVERALL RECOMMENDATION:
Video: 5/5 (excellent display)
Audio: 2/5 (no playlist support, no software).
Text: 2/5 (limited usefulness)
Hardware: 4/5 (excellent screen quality, speakers, slow screen responsiveness).
Value: 3/5 (some improvements needed, more function/support for formats, software plugin for WinAmp perhaps, playlist support).
Cost: 5/5 (hard to get lower for the screen size). However, Samsung, HTC & iPhones may be better value overall.

I have been a Samsung fan for all my electronics. I own the Samsung LCD TV, Cellphones, Bluetooth, Laptop, and pretty much everything that I own is the Samsung brand and I really satisfy them. But I decided to try out the other MP3 player besides the Samsung since the Samsung P2 is way expensive compare to other brands. Actually, my budget was very tight. :-)

I had researched many other options and I found several MP3s that I liked with 32Gb. iRiver, Cowon, Latte had the reasonable pricing and pretty much similar specs. So I went for the cheapest which was the Latte cafe. And I had to buy the one which supports the flash movie files.

=Sound & Touch: I was surprised that the sound is very nice and the 3d sound sample was amazing. Touch screen is not like iPod which is "Resistance Touch", but the touch sensativity is still great if I compare cafe to the other "Pressure" touchscreens.

=TV connection: Good, Good, Good. I can watch my videos through my TV. The TV out cable comes with the box and very simple 1 touch transmit to my TV. I very much like this feature.

=Flash movie & Memory: As soon as I receive the device, I had to test if the FLV file really works on this as described on Amazon. And it did work. I was excited and dump all my flash movie files and still have plenty of space available for my music collection. I realized that 32Gb is very large memory space and I think I won't be changing my MP3 player for long time becuase of the capacity.

=Simple: Interface is very simple and easy to navi. Latte seems to eliminate unnessessary fundtions from the cafe and it makes easier to use. Nowadays, many electronic devices have tooooo much functions and it bothers me a lot. That's why I like the simple electronics like Flip video and Cafe.

=Bundles: The box comes with the nice leather case which I can flip the nob and make it stand as the picture frame on my desk. The noise reduction earphone is also a plus. I always didn't like the cheap earphone that comes with the iPod and ended up spending extra $30 on the new earphone, but the Cafe's earphone is good to use.

=Battery: The battery time runs for very long time for Audio & Video playing. But it seems that I have to wait little long time to fully charge the battery.

Great MP3 and Video player for the price. Very solid design. Very simple to use and Navigate. And Amazon sent the unit to me very quickly.

Pros:
-Supports text files, so you can load and read e-books, a feature most other mp3 players don't have
-Comes with many accessories: a nice leather carrying case which can be propped up, earphones, extra earbud covers, a separate carrying case for the earphones, stylette, connector for you computer, a wall charger adapter
-Plug and play with your computer, no software download needed
-Easy to manage files and user friendly interface
-Excellent sound quality
-Built-in speakers
-Supports avi and wmv files

Cons:
-You connect to the computer both to transfer files and to charge. You CAN NOT transfer any files until the unit is fully charged, so plan several hours ahead.
-The on-off button is a cheap plastic piece. At least on my unit, it takes several tries before the unit will turn on.
-There is no scroll wheel, so if you're looking for a file in the middle of a list of thousands, keep pushing the down arrow and hopefully it won't accidentally jump you to the bottom of the list and you'll have to start over again.
-The manual is too simplified, and there is no tech support or customer service to speak of. I sent them an email and never received a reply.
-There's no place on the unit itself to store the stylette. The screen is touch-sensitive, so you could do without it, but again, for scrolling through lists the stylette can be handy.
-Does not have AM/FM capabilities

Overall I have mixed feelings about this gadget. It does have some capabilities (like text file support) that I really like. But I do find the first 3 points I listed under "cons" to be very annoying. And the price is still pretty steep compared to other products you can get on the market these days. I've never owned an iPod or Zune, so can't really compare. My previous player was a Sansa, which I liked, but I needed to upgrade to something with more memory.

ADDENDUM:
Thanks to the reply to my review by the Latte representative, I was able to get a hold of their customer service by phone regarding the file transfer/computer connection issue (see above). They sent me a new USB cable, which did not solve the problem. Then they replaced the player, which still did not solve the problem. But ultimately, I was able to solve the problem by using a USB cable I had from a different device. The new player they sent me still has the problem with the on-off button (takes at least 3-4 attempts to turn on), and makes a slight buzzing noise when the screen is on (sounds fine when playing music if the screen is off). I still give this unit 3 stars.

This thing, for better lack of wording, SUCKS. The touch screen is awful, the stylus it comes with doesn't even really work as it should. I mean, it's a stylus, you should be able to get pretty accurate with where you poke it, but nope. I found myself having to switch back and forth between fingertip and stylus at times. When I tried to put it into "hold", the entire device would literally SCREAM into my headphones and crash. Despite all the features of this thing, it really is not worth the hassle. Thank god Amazon has a great return policy. I wish I had more constructive criticism about the faults of this thing, but I guess what I really want to say is DO NOT PURCHASE THIS.

This is an unbelievably bad product. Someone at Latte Communications (if that is even a real company) must be sleeping with someone at Amazon, and paying their unemployed brother-in-law to write good reviews about this product. The touchscreen is horrible, the OS is garbage, and the sound quality is a step above a gramophone. I owned it for 11 months, hoping for a firmware update that never came. The other day when I turned it on, the screen was solid white. I've reset it and recharged it, and nothing more than a white screen appears. If you go to [...], you won't see any reference that this player even exists, much less any support for it. Now try calling them. Press any menu option (even sales!) and have a couple good novels with you, because no one is going to pick up. I waited on 2 different occasions; once for 50 minutes and another time for 1 hour and 15 minutes and eventually hung up both times.

Please do not let the positive reviews persuade you to buy this thing. If you don't believe me, go to the website and call them.

I really think that someone at Amazon was asleep at the wheel when this item went on sale exclusively at Amazon. Price point was too good to pass up. Then when I received it and started playing around found it had inexcusable limitations that render it almost unusable. I didn't mind that it had no software to speak of that helps you transfer files back and forth. I can make my way around a computer alright and I simply used what is already at my disposal. However...what use is a music player that cannot allow one to choose an artist and then choose amongst that artists albums. Imagine my surprise when I chose an artist only to find the songs listed in the order they appear on the album. Imagine if you uploaded an artists entire catalog and go to play one album under that artist and you see 15 album song # 1's appear in order and no way to separate them into their respective albums. All of the first tracks appear first followed by track 2's and so on. If you want to play a particular album you need choose "Album" from the main menu and EVERY ALBUM appears in alphabetical order....not by artist. If you have 500 albums this can be a very time consuming affair. To make matters worse the touch screen is very clunky and often overshoots the intended album forcing you to back track only to overshoot it again and the whole process starts anew.

The battery is also a problem in that I set limits on the screen time "on" and device time when left unattended and the battery still would drop to practically nothing after only a few albums. This is unacceptable. The movie player has too many restrictions on file type and screen resolution so I never even tried to upload any videos to test out. I received it on a Monday and by Friday it was on it's way back to Amazon via UPS which was, unfortunately, the easiest part of this whole ordeal. My only solace is in the hope that the engineering team that gave their final approval to sell this as is is now working at the Walmart's Kids shoe department as their form of penance.

So far I'm very very happy with this MP3 video player. I had the Archos 404 30gb MP3 player but after a while it keep freezing up and now the power button doesn't work. I have to plug into the USB cord to turn it on. So I started searching and I found this Latte Care 32gb Player. I was a little weary at first because I never heard of this company Latte Communications before. I'm so glad I took a chance and bought this.

The sound is awesome. I plug it into my car audio jack and bump this little baby.

The 4.3 touch screen is excellent. The video quality is perfect. Its also very easy to transfer videos into this player. Just drag and drop.

Its Also easy to transfer music music files. I like to create my own music folders on my computer and just drag and drop them into this player.

The 32gb was just what I needed. And the good thing about this is that you can add up to 16gb extra memory. That is a plus.

For the price this is a deal. Once again I'm glad I took a chance and bought this.

Café was the only 32g out there in my budget. This is my first time heard about Latte Comm. so I was very skeptical about spending $189 dollars to the Café. But as soon as I received the Café, I was really happy on my purchase. Easy to load the movies which I didn't have to convert the files. Easy enough for me to learn the functions about Café without even searching in the user manual. Pretty good with my purchase so far. I will update my review if anything comes up while I am using it.

I purchased this player primarily to play my large collection of Mp3's. I would say do not buy this player if you want to use it mostly for music.
-With so many music files, it was near impossible to scroll to the exact file I wanted. Example: The player would skip from the J's to the L's when I'm desperately trying to access the K's. Apparently there is no search feature.
-The icons are difficult to translate and I'm constantly pushing the wrong button. I also kept accidentally hitting the Update File Library button, which would take several minutes to update before I could go back to my frustrating attempts to scroll.
-After turning on the power, it would take a good 30 seconds for the player to actually turn on.
-I was hoping for a feature where the player would shuffle through ALL of my music files, but I don't think this feature exists.

Other than that, I enjoy using this player for video. The screen is large and clear and the sound quality is good. I may keep the player for use as a video player only, but I will continue shopping for a music player.