The first change that smacked us in the face was the revised screen which is now a full colour OLED system which makes the most of the limited real estate available. Control for such a small device was always a challenge and you have to want your cube for style otherwise you'd never have put up with the old Cubs controls. However Mobiblu have made an attempt to improve the navigation and interface on the new Cube, a revised 4 way pad is located on the upper side of the cube, this is very small and requires careful operation in order not to select the wrong options.

Things get a bit trickier as the main 2 buttons are located on one side of the unit and are very close together, these are the menu key and the hold key and it is remarkably easy to whack both without even realising it. However with a little time and patience we managed to master the frankly fiddly controls, you do have to remember that owning a Cube is a bit like high heeled shoes, impractical but stunning to look at.

Compared to the old Cube the Mobiblu 2 has a rubberised finish which is wonderfully tactile and gives the unit a sense of better build quality, although the assembly looks almost identical to the older model. Inside the dice like shell was a 2gb memory chip capable of holding around 1000 tracks, the Cube also comes in a 1gb version which holds nearer 500 tunes.

Stored files can be MP3, Ogg or WMA including DRM enabled WMA's, these tracks are transferred via the earphone socket which doubles up as a USB port when using the customer lead which is supplied in the box. You can also store and display both images and video on the device, for images JPEG files are supported and all video files are converted via the supplied software into MSV files. Although this is a nice touch, in reality it is highly unlikely you'd attempt to watch even a short video on a 0.6" screen and the same goes for ideas of flicking through your digital snaps. Like many extras on the Cube this is another wow factor gimmick.

If we concentrate on the main purpose of the Mobiblu Cube 2 (MP3 playback) it is actually quite good. you can handle play lists or navigate through your collection by folders using the small controls, there is an amount of scrolling text in order to read the full track titles on the screen but it is a workable method. Audio quality via the supplied earphones is average with everything sounding a little muddy and confused. You will probably want to use these earphones as they forma kind of necklace which plugs to the Cube so you can wear it like some weird gadget pendant. We did have a concern that using the earphone jack in this way could lead to damage should you get the earphone cable caught.

We switched to a set of Shure E2C's and found that the Cube is quite passable in terms of audio quality and the muddiness is purely a feature of the earphones. There was some very slight electronic noise between tracks but nothing that you'd notice in daily use when commuting.

Given that storage is limited to a maximum of 2gb with our review model we decided to test a daily track swap using Windows Media player (rather than Mobiblu's suggested software). Sadly we couldn't get it to work with Windows Media player despite the device being a "plays for sure" approved unit. It was only when we did some research and found it may be windows media payer 11 at fault and downgraded to WMP10 that everything came good and we were able to schedule tracks to move over as the unit was recognised as a mobile device.

Should you forget to refresh your stored music there is the backup of an FM radio with 20 presets, sadly our tests showed this to have very poor reception making it next to useless with only classic FM and Radio 2 being picked up. Battery life was surprisingly poor for a small player, these devices normally run for 15 - 20 hours so we were disappointed when we only managed a paltry 8 hours before needing to hook up to a USB port for a top up.

The one constant throughout our review was the reaction for anyone who saw the Cube, first they were incredulous that such a small device could be an MP3 player, then they were impressed with the full colour screen and rubber finish and finally they became frustrated when they tried the controls. In truth the Cube is a fashion MP3 player and the equivalent of having a trophy girlfriend, she looks stunning, amazes your friends but is difficult to handle. You better pray that you can work out all the Mobiblu Cubes features by yourself as the manual reads like something that has been through Bablefish twice!

Priced at £99 for the 2gb version and available in blue, black, pink and silver, you do get an awful lot for your money when compared to an iPod shuffle which doesn't even have a screen let alone the Ogg playback and video / picture replay. The Cube isn't really for serious music fans it is for those who want to make a statement rather than those who want real useable, controllable MP3 playback.

Published - 24/12/2006

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