JXD comes out swinging with the JXD638 PMP

JXD, one of our favorite Chinese knockoff manufacturers (its previous victims include the PSP and iAudio M3) is back on the scene to delight us with a new PMP that's surprisingly heavy on the features and light on the ripped-off design cues. Thanks to some sweet machine translation, we're able to report that the 1GB JXD638 sports a 3.0-inch display (high definition, it's claimed, but we have our doubts), two megapixel camera, video in as well as video out, some manner of videogame functionality, an SD slot, and the usual bells-and-whistles additions of a calendar, calculator, and electronic dictionary. As far as file support goes, you're getting DivX, XviD, and ASF on the video tip, MP3, WMA, and WAV for music, and obviously JPEG for annoying all your friends with those boring slideshows. The major downer here seems to be the measly four to five hours of battery life that this thing manages to squeeze out of its 1,100mAH pack, but at around 1,554 yuan ($196), you can't really expect all your portable media desires to be fulfilled.

[Via dapreview, photo courtesy of AVING]

[Jason @ Oct 2nd 2006 4:44PM]

Most product designs, even Apple's, are not doing well with the tactile feel of the interface. I can tell just by looking that this thing (like most PMPs, to be fair) would be difficult to operate without holding it up in front of your face. Ideally when playing music you should be able to switch tracks and albums without removing the player from your pocket.

Otherwise, it's nice looking, even if it looks like an iPod's half-sibling. I just wish more thought were put into usability with these things. It's funny how the iPod competitors seem to spend most of their effort on looks, but they usually can't even get that right.

[Nimish @ Oct 2nd 2006 4:44PM]

Why does it have a picture from Guild Wars on it?

[Richard Bailey @ Oct 2nd 2006 4:45PM]

Why do they have a pic of the Ranger chic from the GuildWars box art?
- rmjb

[Storm9 @ Oct 2nd 2006 4:57PM]

huh??

Isnt that img from Guildwars?

[Paul @ Oct 2nd 2006 6:03PM]

lmao at the previous 3 comments because that was my thought exactly, why in gods name is the concept art for a ranger in Guild Wars on the screen for this thing?

[Zack Brandenburg @ Oct 2nd 2006 6:08PM]

Well, it got my attention. I guess that's why you see brands like "Sasmung".

[Paul @ Oct 2nd 2006 7:48PM]

This thing actually looks pretty good - stick an 80 gig hard drive in it and it's not a bad looking player.

[Paul @ Oct 2nd 2006 8:52PM]

Hmmm. Even though my company designs accessories for the iPod and I'm an iPod user myself, it's stuff like this that gets me worried. I still believe Apple has by far the best hardware/software implementation, but Apple has been quite conservative lately with their industrial design. All their products continue to become ever more refined, e.g. the 2G iPod nano, but it's been a while since they released something that really wowed people on design terms alone.

So while I'm sure the iPod will remain king of the hill for a while, competitors seem to now be really pushing more and more on getting products out with better industrial design (software and interface is another question entirely).

I just hope the "true" video iPod ends up really wowing us. Because it seems that no matter what, all widescreen video players like this will end up having a similar form factor and industrial design (which is actually kinda disappointing to me).

Still, I have to admit the JXD638 is actually pretty nice, compared to the other PMPs out there right now.

Paul
http://www.kiwali.com

[Shmoe @ Oct 3rd 2006 10:24AM]

Looks better than the Zune

[Alex @ Oct 3rd 2006 8:42PM]

I'm sorry... "Light on the ripped off design"?

The thing looks exactly like the Meizu M6 miniplayer!

[ishan @ Dec 7th 2006 10:53PM]

It's Great,I can watch any Video anytime anywhere.

[Dave @ Feb 18th 2007 8:02AM]

Hi
You say you can use this JXD638 for watching video's. Well I have not been able to do this as the software on the CD they gave me does not work. I would be grateful if you could send me a copy of your install software. If you do, I will see to it that you get double Easter eggs this year!

Cheers

Dave

[Video Joe @ Aug 6th 2007 11:31AM]

I have the same problem any help out there?

[Istok @ Jan 15th 2008 3:08PM]

Quote from Jason:
"I'm sorry... "Light on the ripped off design"?

The thing looks exactly like the Meizu M6 miniplayer!"

The Meizu does not appear to have a camera. Does the Meizu have an A/V input?