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Rumors have circulated for quite some time, some of which were totally wrong. Today, we can put them all to rest. SKYFi2 is now a reality and another fine addition to XM Satellite Radio’s quickly expanding product line.

At first glance, the SKYFi2 is identical in dimensions and exterior housing design to the original SKYFi. This is a great feature making the SKYFi2 completely compatible with all existing car, home, and marine kits, as well as the Delphi boom boxes that now exist.



Introducing the SKYFi2 XM Satellite Radio receiver from Delphi. Here is a shot of the unit as first displayed to the public at the XMas in August product showcase.





As you can see the front face has three extra buttons. The category buttons that were at the top right on the original SKYFi have been replaced by a “SEARCH” button above the 7 key. The space at the top right now has three buttons; PAUSE, BACK and FORWARD. These are what control the 30 minute replay feature. The SKYFi2 constantly records the last 30 minutes of whatever you listened to, regardless of your changing the channel. One thing to note is that this 30 minute memory gets wiped out every time the unit is turned off. Pressing the BACK button will take you back one event (song change) at a time.

The purpose here is to give you a way to pause the program if, for example, your phone rings, you need to pay a toll, or you want to hear something you may have missed. It’s my guess that this feature is not here to allow you to record music for storage and playback. That’s something which violates XM’s subscriber agreement and likely the reason why this feature only records 30 minutes and does not retain that memory.

With that cleared up, lets get to some of the other cool features and improvements over the previous SKYFi. The new SKYFi2 has an AUTO ON feature which works just like the Commander and Roady, where the unit will power up on its own as soon as you start your car, as long as the power is provided form an ignition controlled source.

Built in FM MODULATOR. Just like on the Roady 2, you can enjoy SKYFi2 in any vehicle or location that has an FM radio close by.

Next, the SEARCH button now gives you the option of searching either by category as before or by scanning though your existing presets.



The TUNESELECT feature has been significantly improved as well. Now not only can you select your favorite songs as before, but you can also set it up so it will prompt you when your favorite artists are on. Something we all have wanted for a long time.



A CLOCK! Everyone has been asking for a clock on the radio. The original SKYFi was sophisticated enough to bring us over 100 channels of programming from two satellites 22,000+ miles away, but it couldn’t tell the time. The addition of a clock is a welcome enhancement to this XM tuner.



Menus and navigation have been improved. In all menu screens there are now simple instructions at the top to guide you through the features. The STOCK TICKER is easily set up and scrolls across the bottom of the screen.



Another improvement to be noted is when scrolling through the channels, the highlighting band now moves up and down instead of the channel listings moving with the selection band being stationary in the middle. Also, the unit no longer flips to the channel you scroll to automatically. You must press the “XM” button for a channel to be selected when scrolling though them. This makes channel surfing much more pleasant and avoids your SKYFi radio tuning to something that you are not interested in.

Taking a look at the some of the internal workings of SKYFi2, you can see the firmware is as new as it gets (08/05/04), and from my understanding it isn’t completely finalized yet and is still being worked on. The one feature that was not available on these display units is the SPORTS TICKER (Info Extras), so we will have to wait to see that in action.



The next two shots show another feature of the display. The display is crisp and clear and does not get washed out by any bright lights. It is similar to the Commander in appearance. You can adjust the brightness and contrast of the display, and even turn it “NEGATIVE” for easier viewing at night.





The reverse display in all its glory:



The SKYFi2 is set to hit retail stores this fall at a price of $129.99. As with the original SKYFi, you will also need a car, home, marine kit or a boom box to enjoy the SKYFi2.

Now Available: BIG DISCOUNT!
http://www.myradiostore.us/xm-radio-receivers/delphi-skyfi-2-sa10101.html
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Last edited by Ziggy on Tue Jan 04, 2005 11:11 pm; edited 2 times in total

great review. I absolutely can not wait. I already have plans to pass my current Sky-fi to my brother and pick up a sky-fi 2 for me
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I guess that the USB connectivity was one of the false rumors. Oh well. Still looks like a great unit.
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Both Skyfi screeens are LCD. teh earlier version was an amber design that was difficult to see in the sun. This new design is much better and the sun does not wah it out at all.

One thing to note, the actual display screen on the S2 is exposed directly form the PCB and does not have any plastic lenses over it like the originla Skyfi.

This is similar to the way the screen on the Roady is made.
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quote:

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Originally posted by joker454:
Do you know if it can display more than 16 characters for the artist and song name areas? Also, did you check if the 2-0-7 debug menu is still in there? I veru much need that for aiming the antenna at work.

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The FM Modulator is in the unit, not the cradles.
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quote:

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The new vehicle kit is upgraded for wireless FM modulation through the antenna allowing users to easily self-install SKYFi2 in their vehicle.

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Wow, impressive stuff. I am hoping against hope the new unit comes out before my warranty ends on my first one from Circuit City which allows me to upgrade the receiver. We will see.
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XM SkyFi Boombox & Car kit - Jan. 29th 2004
XM PCR - March 31st 2004

SkyFi2

XM My Fi - April 22nd 2005

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