Samsung XM Helix Review

MP3 — 26 January 2006

DAPReview has posted their first impressions on the Samsung XM/MP3 Helix. For the most part they liked what they saw, noted great battery life and sound, but were turned off by the steep price tag of $400 and the additional $10/month XM fee (stuff we already knew). At just 1GB of memory they felt as though $250 would be a more suitable price tag, but we’re glad to know the Helix isn’t a load of brown smelly stuff.

About Author

Christen Costa

Grew up back East, got sick of the cold and headed West. Since I was small I have been pushing buttons - both electronic and human. With an insatiable need for tech I thought "why not start a blog focusing on technology, and use my dislikes and likes to post on gadgets."

Anonymous

THE HELIX DOES DO “LIVE” XM BROADCAST. IT IS THE OLDER AIRWARE UNITS THAT RECORD FOR LATER LISTENING. SIRIUS IS MILES BEHIND XM IN THE TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT, SO YOU WILL BE WAITING SOME TIME FOR SIRIUS TO CATCH UP WITH XM.
Bern

I agree, the price is a little steep right now. I’ll wait till they start discounting them. O&A got a preview of them and they are blown away by it. I like that they kept the Tune Select feature on this device. I would choose this over an ipod just due to the fact that XM plays music I haven’t heard in a long time or wouldn’t have thought about dowloading. The Napster compatibility now allows me to save the song as well.
Lucas

“SIRIUS IS MILES BEHIND XM IN THE TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT, SO YOU WILL BE WAITING SOME TIME FOR SIRIUS TO CATCH UP WITH XM.”

Maybe you should check out the Sirius S50 that is already out.
Murphy

The Sirius S50 still can’t play live programming on the go, it has to be docked in your car or home. XM has had a portable unit for two years now that can listen live on the go.
Zorro6204

The S50 is also rife with bugs that presumably won’t be available in a unit made by Samsung as opposed to “Directed Electronics”, whoever they are. And it doesn’t receive the sattelite! Heck, you may as well plug a Sirius box into a PC and just record the stream to MP3′s, what do you need an S50 for?
PartyRock

The posts above are right. Not one Sirius handheld unit can play live programming while XM has been providing live programming handheld units for a couple years now. The new generation of XM handhelds are the size of closed flip phones while the Sirius playback units are large enough to mug somebody with.
Virus

Lucas…

Maybe you should know what the fuck you are talking about before making any comments.
http://www.gadgetreview.com Stenspect

Anyone notice that XM sound quality better then Sirius? I have beared witness to this, but want a consensus.
chris

My question about the product is if you have to be outside to play it, i hated that the myfi didnt get service inside, i understand its a satellite but isnt there a way around this? i want to listen to it on the train and stuff and in the mall
Mike

from the Sirius site

“Listen whenever and wherever you want. Get SIRIUS live with the included car or optional home dock or go portable with your stored content. Just detach the Satellite Media Player and listen to your favorite commercial-free music, news, sports and shows wherever you go.”

NOTICE LIVE WHEN CONNECTED TO YOUR CAR OR HOME DOCK!

Ya Tool! Hoo Hoo I invented the word tool… tell em Fred….