iRiver U10 hands-on
There's one thing that Ryan and I discovered at last night's DigitalFocus press event: that the iRiver U10 is freaking hard to properly photograph. There was something about the mini media player's glossy screen that defied our every attempt to snap a decent pic, but we managed to nail a couple that should give you a good sense of just how small it really is. The 2.2-inch LCD screen is definitely more like what you'd find on a cellphone, but the UI is totally slick and the U10's "D-Click" navigation system (which actually hides the buttons behind the edge of the screen) works way better than we'd imagined it would. Anyway, iRiver's rep told us that the U10 should ship next month, confirming that the 512MB will go for $199 and the 1GB version will sell for $249. Seems a bit steep, especially in light of, uh, recent events, but whatevs.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
The U10 uses Macromedia Flash Lite for its slick GUI. http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashlite/
Tom C. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
May I recommend Burt's Bees (http://burtsbees.com) cuticle cream to the person in the first picture? : )
z iz 4 zigma @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
sweeet supreme slickness
Tim @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
That thing is freaking tiny! I don't see how it would really be conferable to try to watch movies on that (unconformable to handle).
ItsAllVerbatim @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
Good lord, that's sexy.
Doing a Google-fondle to find out specs, video codecs supported, etc.
I have a Toshiba F60, but this plays video, or no? If so, I'm all over it. Like white on rice.
Does it run on generic store-bought batteries, or..? Also, USB 2.0 support? Drag and drop?
Ah, I'm going to shut up now, and go back to the Google tab. The answers await, I hope...
David @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
Engadget said "whatevs?" You guys are freakin' awesome!
z iz 4 zigma @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
i meant, supremely sweeet slickness
midnight @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
you can go to iriver's official website (in whatever language) for more details.. the buttons are not hidden behind it, but actually, the screen panel works has a d-button. So, if you press left, the screen will tilt left by left side sinking and the right side popping up by like 5 mm. Which makes it hard to play flah-lite games, but the flash lite application is only a small feature anyways. I love how the video plays.. the only disappointment (compared to recent something taht suports video) is that the MEMEORY IS TOO SMALL! when iriver first announced the prototype, i thought it wuold be HDD-based assuming from the rectangular shape.. But some say 1Gb is just enough to fit low res movies...but I say its not enough.. and the price!! However, overall its a good mp3 player with lots of features, not a good portable media player. (unlike as described in this blog, its an audio player, not a media player.)
midnight @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
and the sexy docklet is the reason why some people buy it for.
Endeavour @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
In Europe we have a 2Gb. version...
Stu L Tissimus @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
I have no doubt in my mind that we will see a hard-drive-based U10 soon. Why? Quite simple. iRiver US no longer has any mention of the H3xx series on its' website. Meaning that the only thing they make in the US that's bigger than 20GB is their PMP. I'd be extremely surprised if they didn't make a larger HDD-based U10...
CoreyTheGent @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
With the introduction of the 5G iPod, if an HDD U10 wasn't already in the works, I'm sure the iRiver division is scrambling to create one now.
ydnar @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
i really really wanted this player, but the price-to-storage ratio is ridiculous. i was completely turned off when i found out how much the u10 was going to cost.
chase @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
I'd love to have one of these, but at $249.. I couldn't bare bring myself to buy one, when for $50 more..... well.. you know.
Tom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
$249 for 1GB, you gotta be kidding me.
Jake @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
I would hate to be iRiver, or Archos, or Creative, or . . .
Seems to me it's basically impossible to compete with Apple at this point.
Not a good thing for consumers in the long run.
Jake
Max @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
That's too expensive...I'd rather get a Nano.
Skirl @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
HOLY SMOKES $250 for 1gb. Talk about price gouging.
Barry @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
What? No photo of it next to the Nano?
Computers.net @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
I definitely like the idea, style, and functionality (from what I can tell). They will have to work on price, though I'm still one to root for the underdog...
Aidan Maconachy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
Looks too small - especially for movies. It's also kind of pricey.
alv @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
Wellll, were they living under a rock for apple's accouncement? It may be sexy and small, but 29GBs extra for $50....
What do you think Im choosing?
Hugo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
Works with subscribtion-based Yahoo! Music Engine ... Way cool! Your Nano won't do that ;-)
Hugo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
Works with subscribtion-based Yahoo! Music Engine ... Way cool! Your Nano won't do that ;-)
David @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
yeah, iriver did take a bit too long to get this out, but it is a very nice player, hopefully they'll make a hardrive version of the player with a bigger screen
Tariq @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
This is the Ipod Video killer right here !!!!!
P0iNT @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
It could be if iriver released it earlier. Iriver has had this hype going for months now. I remember when this was firsted announced everyone was like wow that looks awesome. But alot has happen in a month with the nano and the ipod with video capabilities being released. With the U10 being priced at $249 for 1gig the average consumer isnt going to look at its functions, they are going to look at the nano or the new ipod and compare the amount of space it has. eg nano has 3gig more for the same price and the new ipod has 29gig more for 50 dollars more. Iriver really has to look at there pricing structures.
I love my h340 but nowadays there is so much other stuff out there and iriver is still sticking it with there high prices and there products are starting to loose all there functions.
Sebhelyesfarku @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
I am a troll: sebhelyesfarku@freemail.hu
midnight @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
to point.
I agree, and a comment, h340 is the best iriver model ever if ignore the size of it, and u10 would be the best if the PRICE and MEMORY were to be ignored..where it is very hard to ignore. i mean, the size doesn't really matter when it comes down to med-size hdd player (before ipod released 5th gen, i guess.. but they go into bags anyways.) but price and capacity really matters in media market.
iriver should take one step down, not "two steps foward" (u10 commercial). The company itself is too big now.
norbert @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
no killer
another anonymous coward @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
why would anyone ever get anything but the nano? I mean, have you SEEN that thing? ;)
Cashmore @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
"Engadget said "whatevs?" You guys are freakin' awesome!"
Yeah, Engadget is totally down with the kids. But don't encourage them - they might start saying "natch" again.
chip @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
#22 (Hugo),
enjoy renting music from yahoo, i think i'll stick to owning music from the itms--not to mention itms has twice the songs. third and final point, if yahoo raises prices of subscriptions you're shafted, if itms raises prices--i stop buying. enjoy your walk in the park (on a leash)
L. M. Lloyd @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
What a neat, and totally useless design! I mean, from a pure industrial design point of view, it is really cool, and amazingly elegant, but who wants to watch video on a 2" screen?
If this thing was twice the size, with accompanying higher resolution and storage, it would be one of the best designed gadgets I've ever seen. As it is, it is like some weird video business card.
Luis @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
Here is the new enty from iAudio that will give this iRiver a run for the money http://iaudiophile.net/comment.php?comment.news.115
TZK @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
1GB simply isnt NOT enough for a player of any type these days if its going to play video.
2GB perhaps.. but seriously.
Rich @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
I'm quite looking forward to seeing an HD version of this. I currently have a 20GB iAudio M3; but I need waaay more space. A nice perpendicular 80GB drive in one of these would go down well. Sort of like an m:robe without the pointless camera, and shedding a few pounds.
I don't really like the iPod -- not for any really good reason. It's just become the BMW of audio players. It's not that it's bad (in fact, like a Beemer it's very good at most things), it's just that it has become the default buy for people who don't really know anything about these things.
And to the smug bloke who buys all his overpriced music from iTMS -- get over to AllOfMP3.com. You'll find plenty of choice and a reasonable price based upon the quality of file you encode. And it'll do it in AAC for you without all the DRM nonsense.
Mike @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
I've said it before regarding this player... it's too little (memory), too late (announced months ago and is only now seeing the light of day), and too expensive (now that the new ipod is out).
rothgar @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
I agree that they should make one with more storage.
"it is really cool, and amazingly elegant, but who wants to watch video on a 2" screen?"
apple apparently thinks people want to watch movies on a 2.5 screen...so i guess that is only .3" bigger. but in this case the whole product is a screen so it is considerably smaller.
Bryan Kennedy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
Excellent song!
Matt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
Hey, come on.
This is just ridiculous.
50 dollars more and you have a 30 gig ipod.
Apple, rock on
Pozdravlenie @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
Player's on hard disks cheapest then on flash.
For $249 i can buy player with 20Gb hard disk.
Max @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
It's kinda funny to hear about iAudio's competition for iRiver considering that even the best competition there can't come even marginally close to the iPod. PS, this thing IS pretty cool, but the price is insanely out rageous for what you get (You say apple is pricey!)
retrobot @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
U10. 28 hours playback of music when fully charged
Havent found any specs for the continuous playback of video or photo.
im guessing 5 hours of continuous video playback
iPod Video playback when fully charged
30gb version
2 hours continuous video playback
3 hours photoslide show
14 hours music playback
60gb version
3hours
4 hours photoslide show
20 hours music playback
(under Tech Specs on apple.com)
A hdd version would be great !
Mike @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
I imported this from Korea just a couple of days ago. It's freaking awesome. You can download flash games on it so you do not have to make your own.
Everything is great except for 3 things:
- The capacity is too small
- The video function only plays a CERTAIN type of video (NOTHING ELSE) This means that it has to be an AVI file with 320x240 resolution with MPEG-3 audio with a CERTAIN bit rate. (This makes the video function completely obsolete)
- It's very slow (When you click on a song to play you have to wait about 7 seconds for it to start playing.
Other than that, the sounds quality, size, style, easy use, games (better than the ipod), etc is exceptional.
WindozeBloze @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
iRiver's U10 looks pretty chunky! Like Matt said above... $50 more and you have a 30GB iPod! How sad that iRiver can't even come close to competing with Apple!
wilson @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
iRiver's drive may be smaller than Apple's since it's a flash drive rather than an HDD, but this also means it won't crash the first time you drop it and the battery won't lose its charge as quickly. plus, iRiver works with subscription music services, and Apple refuses to do so. honestly, who's gonna buy 100,000 songs at $.99/pop? you can either waste your time downloading crappy versions of the songs you want to hear from morpheus, or you can pay $7/month to download as many high-quality songs as you want. i've been craving an ipod for the last year, but i refuse to buy one if it won't work with a subscription service - it's just a waste of money until then.
"Plays For kinda, maybe, depends" @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
For all the early adopters of overseas U10, it won't work with US subscriptions services. iRiver customer rep says no way to update or modify. If so, it's not supported.
It's been entertaining working through Windows Media, Yahoo! Unlimited and iRiver support info. 5 hours later, it's time to cancel!
KF @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
There are many negative comments regarding price, memory size etc on U10. I dont think those comments are completely correct.
Price although the price of U10 is higher than ipod nano, they are different type of media player. Therefore it is no point to compare two different types of player. Some people think ipod nano is pricey as well when compare to other MP3 player on market.
Of course when compare price between U10 and ipod video, ipod video is much cheaper in term of GB/$. In this sense, ipod nano is also very pricey when compare to ipod, ipod photo or ipod video. However, ipod video contains a hard-disk which is much cheaper than RAM. Imagine, how much you have to pay to replace a computer 80GB hard-disk with 80GB RAM.
Memory size The biggest memory size for U10 is 1 GB. Please remember that when encode music into windows media audio (WMA) format, the same quality music of WMA format is only half the size of MP3 format (Some mac people may not know that). This means a 1GB U10 can hold same amount (and of course quality) of music of a 2GB ipod nano. If Apple thinks 2GB is too small, I dont think they would produce 2GB ipod nano
In term of video, some people mention that memory size of U10 is too small and they think ipod video is better. I agree this view partially. From various testing web pages, they found that U10 can play 5 hours video. Ipod video can play 3 hrs video which is from Tech Specs on apple.com (I think most ipod owners may find that the real battery life is much shorter than what apple claims). Of course you can put a many films on an ipod video but you can only watch one or two films after one full charge. Additionally, ipod video has only slight bigger screen (2.5 inches) than U10 (2.2 inches) but the overall size of ipod video is much larger and heavier than U10.
Therefore I still think both U10 and ipod are great media players. Just pick the one you like and suit your needs.
General Specific @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM
It looks a pretty nice gadget.
Not being a fan of the ipod, how many gullible people out there have???, for all the obvious reasons it looks like this product seems to be the next step in mp3 players and a good step.
It offers something new. Not sure what the sound quality will be like tho, it must sound better than the underpowered ipod variants hopefully, if it's as good as previous irivers then it should be a winner. Toyr'r'Us are bound to stock it at a better price after release has settled down.