I spent a couple months looking at portable XM radios in search of one to meet my needs. I eventually chose this device and I've been more than happy with my decision.
My needs were fairly simple. I needed to be able to listen to new music daily from within the concrete installation that is my workplace, and be capable of delivering it for the duration of my day. I also wanted to listen to it in my car or through a stereo. I had no interest in playing MP3, nor did I care about online functionality or interface with my computer. The NeXus has met every one of my requirements(with the purchase of the car/FM transmitter), and has done so exceptionally.
The radio will only play live XM when it's in the cradle. This seemed strange at first, but made sense as I got familiar with XM and it's capabilities. The decoder is separate from the radio(likely to keep the radio itself small), which I imagine is needed to recieve the signal. You must plug the decoder into the cradle along with the radio to play live XM. Also due to the relative weakness of the XM signal, the antenna needs to be long. These factors are likely the reason for only having recorded content on the go.
The menus on the device are fairly intuitive, though not entirely elegant. You can navigate by artist, by recording session, or with a flat list of songs for your recorded content. Live XM will allow you to navigate through stations naturally. There is also additional functionality that I have yet to use that seems to allow you to keep an eye out for certain artists. Navigation from the device is fairly simple, using the arrows on the face to move around, and the middle XM button to select. The remote is more robust in functionality, but is less intuitive in spots. The remote is also fairly weak, and the display on the radio itself is small. This limits the distance you can be from the radio when using it and making the remote a little on the useless side.
Battery life for the radio is very good, and has performed better than advertised for me. I get over 8 hours of continuous play from a full charge. I haven't run the battery completely dead yet, but it lasts my entire work day and still has a bar or two left when I plug it into the cradle in my car on my way home. Charging time seems to be very quick as well.
Storage is very good, though it doesn't sound impressive with only 512MB. You can partition the drive into 50% MP3 and 50% XM or 100% XM. I have opted for 100% XM, as I am sick of my MP3 collection. I currently have over 200 songs on my XM player, 8 of which are 30 minute segments, and one which plays slightly over an hour and a half. Assuming the average track is 4 minutes, that puts my current load at about 17 - 18 hours of recorded content.
The device itself is put together well. It small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, and is about a half an inch thick. That makes it about the size of your average flip phone - which is easily pocketable. The earbuds that come with it are not good quality, and are uncomfortable. I already had a pair of higher quality earbuds that replaced those. The music quality is decent. I'm no audiophile, so if it doesn't sound crunchy, or like it's playing in a can I'm happy. The other pieces like the audio cables and the carrying clip thing are of average to below average quality, but get the job done.
All in all I'm totally satisfied with the NeXus 25, and have recommended it to friends who are in the market for a portable XM radio. Samsung YP-X5X NeXus 25 XM Ready Digital Audio Player with 25-hour Playback
I had orignally purchased the Pioneer Inno, but I returned it after I learned that the FM Modulator ability would be limited to use in a car dock with the first firmware update. To me, that wasn't going to justify the cost of that product.
Having said that, I have had XM in my home for a few years now, and I love it. So, when I found out that the NeXus 25 would let you record from XM to play back later, as well as recieve live XM in it's home dock, I decided that would be a much better match. The NeXus 25 costs about half the price that the Inno did.
I find it easy to schedule recordings, and the one-touch record button is very useful. I also like the fact that you can partition the memory of the unit so that you can record 50% XM content and 50% of your own MP3's. It is because of this feature that I have retired my portable CD player when I go out walking. I'm really looking forward to taking it on the family vacation this year, and turning it on when we hit the dead spots (you know, the parts of the trip where the only thing you can find on the radio is static!)!!
Firstly, understand what this player is NOT. It is not a receiver that will allow you to receive Live XM broadcasts when you're out walking around. for that try the Samsung Helix.
What it IS, however, is a very good portable player that also has the ability to record ANY XM channel for playback (the player must be docked to record). What this effectively does is allow you to have a near-endless library of songs or talk shows, etc. that you can play on your device.
I love and have an iPod, but part of the problem is that I'm stuck listening to the songs that I have in my library. What the Nexus does is allow you to record various XM channels - then you can sort back through the songs and play the ones you like - very cool. You can still use it like an iPod as well and put music from your library onto the Nexus as well.
As for the functionality of the device, it's small but has a good build quality and fairly easy to use (albeit not as intuitive as the Ipod). The screen is monochrome with a blue backlight.
This unit also utilizes the XM Passport Mini-Tuner, which allows you to use one XM subscription on any Passport-ready hardware such as a factory-ready stereo unit, home tuner, etc. This is a big savings - perviously you had to purchase a new subscription for each separate XM device. Now with the Passport, you can have 1 subscription and simply take the small Passport chip with you and plug it in.
Overall, a very useful device and certainly a very good buy for the money. - Portable Xm Radio - Discontinued - Xm2go - Gadget'
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