Toshiba Gigabeat V30 reviewed

If you've been on the lookout for a sizable screen to enjoy Microsoft's Portable Media Center and all the interface joys that lie therein, the new Gigabeat V -- which has finally made it to the US in a 30GB, tuner-free version known as the MEV30K -- is a bit of a mixed bag. Sure, PMC is all there, enjoyable as ever, and CNET found the screen to be plenty bright and colorful, but they found it grainy as well, perhaps due to Toshiba stretching out the QVGA resolution over a whole 3.5-inches. They also found the thumb stick to be a bit "spongy," and the other controls were a bit awkward as well. Other little inconveniences like a lack of FM, no video input and a weird requirement to unplug USB when charging make this player hard for the reviewer to recommend. Luckily, the 25 hour and 8 hour battery life estimates seem to be no lie, audio quality is excellent and Toshiba has slashed the price down to $300 mere days after launching it for $400, which ain't bad at all for a 30GB PVP with a 3.5-inch screen, no matter how it reviews.

[Thanks, Nana]

[Eddie @ Oct 5th 2006 8:18PM]

Still doesn't beat any of the archos 4G models. Nice first attempt, however.

[Taylor @ Oct 5th 2006 10:01PM]

Yeah.. people need to understand that it's not like we're new to the whole PMP thing... they either need to make it right or not make it...
-Taylor

[Aaron @ Oct 5th 2006 10:33PM]

Taylor, a 3.5 inch screen and 8 hrs video battery life is insane... that is VERY VERY "right" as you like to say.

I wish they had made it a bit smaller but gone with widescreen and it would be pretty close to perfect.