I was pleased to discover that Creative designed the box so that the digital player has it’s own compartment at the front of the packaging, away from the accessories inside the box. This design protects the player and holds the device securely in position while in transit. Let’s get everything out and take a closer look.

Unpacking the entire contents we have: Creative ZEN, USB Cable, Earphones, Installation CD-ROM and a Quick start guide. Creative have also supplied us with some of the companion products available to buy for your Creative ZEN and they are: ZEN Leather Case, ZEN Clear case, ZEN Screen Protector and the ZEN Skin with Wire Management. Upon arrival everything was in outstanding condition, if I must, the only accessory Creative left out was a Lanyard and the arm strap. Now let’s get a closer look at the MP3 player itself.

The Creative ZEN has got an understated coolness appearance, Creative have created a player that looks smart yet really stylish at the same time. Designed with a highly glossy, black plastic front that you can easily glide your finger across every button, the only down fall being is that it’s a fingerprint heaven. The player dimensions are 55 x 83 x 12mm, pretty small for a feature packed digital media player and really comfortable  when holding in your hand. Creative have described the ZEN as credit card sized and I have to agree with them, but thicker, the perfect shape for controlling the device in your palm one handed.

For the dimensions of the ZEN, Creative has given it a substantial 2.5-inch colour LCD screen, considerably larger then most devices on the market including the ipod nano.  The LCD screen has been set under what appears to be a thick sheet of plastic which is a highlight for me as many devices have just a thin sheet which can get cracked quite easily while in your pocket or when sat on accidentally.

Creative have designed the control interface to be really user friendly, made with the same glossy black plastic front in a square shape that resembles the shape of the ZEN perfectly, no round knob dial or chucky joystick here. They have kept it smooth and flat, just how a credit card is.

Taking a closer look at the control interface you get the capture the glossy effect plastic Creative has used. All the buttons have a reassuring clicking sound when depressed, letting you know you have pressed the button and it just takes one click of the button for the device to respond in the correct way. I really liked the way Creative have designed to control interface, they sit right into the body of the ZEN which gives it a really smooth, sleek styling effect that allows the user to slide the device in and out of there pocket without engaging any of the buttons.

Starting from the left hand side at the very top we have: Menu/Back button, Options button, below this the Direction Pad, in the centre is the OK button. And finally below we have the My Shortcut button and the Play/Pause/Record button. Every button has a robust, durable feel when pressed, the only down side of have these buttons covered in the glossy black plastic is the scratches that will eventually appear after a few months of operation. 

To the rear of the ZEN, Creative has gone for a much more sensible material which I can only describe as a matt black hardened plastic, with a speckled effect. This material is much more practical for the back of the ZEN which is less likely to get scratched when handling or when in your pocket/handbag. Also Creative have moulded into the material the sound-wave pattern that is present on the packaging for the ZEN which has a really textile feel to it. Also to the back, Creative has included a printed logo of the size of the player and the name: ZEN and the size of the player bellow that.

Creative have designed the ZEN so that one side of the player houses to side control buttons, starting from the left we have: USB port, On/Off/Lock button and the Headphone Jack. As you can see the hardened back material scoops around all the sides of the ZEN, making the device much more strong and durable and these ports and buttons have been built-in to this stronger material which I really liked. The USB port hasn’t got a cover which is a shame but in my opinion it would spoil the smooth shape of the ZEN and stick out to much. The ON/Off/Lock button is a slide mechanism, slide down for on/off and slide up to disable all the buttons, a must have for an media player device.

The button has a robust feel to it when slid to disable the buttons with a reassuring clicking sound when activated, also behide this button is a Blue LED light which glows when the device is switched on. Another highlight for me in this section is the Headphone jack, Creative have given you a 3.5mm headset port meaning the user can plug there favourite headset into the device.

What really made me sit back and admire the Creative ZEN was the built-in SDHC Memory Card Slot. This is where the ZEN comes into its own, beating many of its rivals like the ipod nano. The ZEN is available in 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and an impressive 16GB with a 32gig on its way, where as the nano is only available up to an 8GB and with the SDHC expansion slot you can in theory boost your ZEN with the impressive 32GB SDHC memory Cards that have been released this year!. I boosted the ZEN with an 8GB SDHC Card and as Creative sent me the 4GB version; my total was an outstanding 12GB.

Further alone the body of the ZEN is a built-in Microphone to record all those special occasions or school lectures at brilliant sound quality which does come in handy when you can least expect it to. 

Creative have also included a Reset button hole for you to insert a paperclip to reset the Creative ZEN if you incur any problems with the which is not really advised unless it’s totally necessary.

All accessories shown above are available for the ZEN and accompany the device perfectly, each accessory has its good points and bad, I just guess it’s up to your individual needs which one you would purchase and how you would be using the device. I really enjoyed attaching every one and I really liked the way Creative have designed a whole range of accessories knowing not every users is going to use the ZEN in the same way.

So having come to the end of the Physical layout section, I can truly say that the Creative ZEN is by far the best digital media player I’ve come across this year. This palm controllable, lightweight device would be my first choice on looks and styling alone, but with the added bonus of being memory upgradeable makes this little player that even more desirable. I hope the testing stage doesn’t let this media player down so let’s load it up. 
 
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