Polaroid's Swinger family of WiFi media players
Polaroid may just be a holding company these days but they may have scored an OEM'd winner here. Meet the Polaroid Swinger family of media players: The MPA-20011 (pictured), MPA-28216, and MPA-43315. The 1GB MPA-20011 player offers a 2.2-inch color screen and microSD expansion. Unlike many slim players however, the MPA-20011 also plays back MPEG-4 and WMV videos in addition to MP3 and WMA audio. It also features an FM radio and up to 25 hours of audio playback off lithium ion battery. However, instead of just ripping-off the iPod's touchwheel, Polaroid found their navigation inspiration from the Blackberry with a spine-mounted scroll wheel and back button. Next up is the MPA-28216 which joins the SanDisk Sansa Connect by offering WiFi in this 30GB hard drive player. It sports a 2.8-inch screen and adds support for AVI video and WAV audio. The WiFi allows it to connect to an unnamed music store or Polaroid's own DEC1000 to access your PC's media files. Last up is the WiFi-enabled MPA-44315 which offers all the same media support on a 40GB disk with 4.3-inch touchscreen and 16:9 aspect ratio. The MPA-20011 should be available in March for $100; the MPA-28216 will hit for $280 with, or $260 without WiFi; and the MPA-43315 should be set to roll in Fall 2007, priced at $329.99 without Wi-Fi, or $349.99 with. Pictures of the other two players after the break.
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Theo @ Jan 9th 2007 5:31PM
Swinger? Nice work Polaroid in re-using a 40 year old brand name from a low-end camera that was a piece of plastic junk.
Should we consider this foreshadowing?
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interrelate @ Jan 9th 2007 5:44PM
Times New Roman???
What the... @ Jan 9th 2007 5:59PM
I dunno, I think it looks nice. Either way, the more options there are, the better off the consumer is. I dunno about you guys, but I totally dig price cuts.
Jake @ Jan 9th 2007 6:49PM
To me, any product with the Polaroid brand plastered across it is a piece of junk. I think companies just release stuff under the Polaroid name when they have junk or quality control problems. I've never met anyone happy with a Polaroid purchase, and I knew several who got junk.
Jimmy C. @ Jan 9th 2007 7:09PM
Let's not focus on the fact that this is a Polaroid device. The fact that the iPhone, the Swinger(?) -- and tons of other devices are coming equipped with WiFi -- signals an important shift in my opinion. I'm a big fan of AnchorFree's products which are bringing us one step closer to total convergence and a completely unwired world. Check out http://www.anchorfree.com
Tommyjamg @ Jan 10th 2007 10:05AM
Not swinger. The writer was being cute when he mentioned the "Swinger" name.
jeremiah @ May 21st 2008 12:35PM
i have the mpa20011, its nice, but not great. theirs some kind of problem with the videos. i use the polaroid video converter, then check them on my cpu, when i watch them on the player - every other video is jerky and frames freeze for a sec here and there to often. but its nice for the price. i also got additional micro 2gb cards hoping to carry around a library with me, but the jerkyness kinda kills the enjoyment.