Packard Bell intros Fresh, Eclipse media players

We're not exactly sure what's up with the chewing gum-inspired names here, but apparently, Packard Bell thinks they're pretty "original." All laughs aside, the 1GB / 2GB Fresh DAP (shown after the jump) could easily be a distant cousin to the FunKey Town, and it weighs in at just 23.5-grams, plays back MP3s, sports a blue backlit screen and should last around half a day on a single AAA cell. As for the Eclipse (available in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB), it's reportedly the very first media player from the firm that handles video, and more specifically, it's designed to understand MP4, WMV, XviD, MP3, WMA and WAV file formats; additionally, it sports a 2.2-inch color display, a rechargeable Li-ion, USB 2.0 connectivity and six equalizer presets. If you're wondering how much loot it'd take to snag one of these European-bound units, word on the street has the Fresh landing for €30 ($43) / €40 ($59), or you could opt for the much more versatile Eclipse if you're cool with unknown pricetags. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via Electronista, image courtesy of Notebook Italia]

[TKWarrior @ Nov 10th 2007 11:17AM]

Packard Bell? Really??? Have they made anything since the mid-90s that wasn't complete garbage?

[apstewart @ Nov 10th 2007 12:32PM]

I didn't even know they were still around at all. The 486SX/25 my Dad bought from Packard Bell was proof that they SHOULDN'T be around.

[TKWarrior @ Nov 10th 2007 4:28PM]

@apstewart - I think my Dad bought the same PC way back when in walmart! I remember it being advertised as being a multimedia powerhouse since it had a CD-ROM drive!

It died 6 months later. Ended up building a new PC from scratch because everything was built into the mainboard, even the 2.4pbs modem and the RAM, lol.

[Greg Poole @ Nov 10th 2007 6:58PM]

I'm still using a Packard Bell from 2000 as my web server. Does a good job too!

[zabador @ Nov 10th 2007 11:25AM]

does it play heroes?

[holycow @ Nov 10th 2007 11:26AM]

Looks like a HEROES sign to me.. lawsuit ??

[Russell @ Nov 10th 2007 12:18PM]

That logo looks remarkably similar to the Eclipse IDE's logo: http://www.eclipse.org/

[Lattyware @ Nov 10th 2007 12:23PM]

Yeah. It's called a solar eclipse. God should sue.

[Adam @ Nov 10th 2007 6:34PM]

Glad I'm not the only one that noticed that :)

[applefreak @ Nov 10th 2007 1:59PM]

cool give me one

[bradwjensen @ Nov 11th 2007 1:45AM]

No Ogg..

[crow610 @ Nov 11th 2007 3:55AM]

When I was working at BB I would just cry when I had to work on any computer made by PB. Just die already!

[strider_mt2k @ Nov 11th 2007 10:13AM]

This looks a lot like a PMP that Radio Shack has under it's Accurian brand.

[Stephen @ Nov 12th 2007 12:46AM]

Apparently Packard Bell is still alive and kicking in the EU. I had no idea, the last PB product I used was a pre-windows machine with half a meg of RAM. As for logo stealing, their homepage (http://packardbell.com) sports an apple with a bite taken out of it to promote a green compact laptop.