Sumvision Ice 1000 tries to be an iPod touch, fails miserably

Oh yeah, we've seen our fair share of iPod touch imposters, and while this one isn't out to totally knock off Apple's darling per se, it's fairly devoid of originality. The Sumvision Ice 1000 offers up a 2.8-inch 320 x 240 resolution touchscreen, up to 4GB of internal storage space, a microSD expansion slot, built-in FM tuner and rechargeable battery, voice recorder, USB 2.0 connectivity and support for XviD, AVI, MP4, MP3 and WMA file formats. The good news? It's available now for £54.99 ($108) -- see how far that gets you in an Apple store.

[Via MobileMag]

[pismodude2 @ Feb 19th 2008 9:45AM]

DEATH TO THE RIPOFF. R.I.P. (off)

[Gadget-Master @ May 6th 2008 8:09AM]

This player is actually really good cos i got the sumvision ice 800 and then upgraded to this and my friend has got the ipod touch. the ipod crashes and it has poor sound and picture quality.

this players specs mean that the video quality is nearly high definition (HD) and the ipod touch comes no where near that.


THE IPOD IS THE RIP OFF AND THE IPOD FAILS MISERABLY !


Go Sumvision! :)

[MikeLong @ Feb 19th 2008 9:48AM]

Fugly

[Chebwa @ Feb 19th 2008 9:51AM]

"fails miserably"

How?

Looks kind of decent. And $100? Hm.

[joe23521 @ Feb 19th 2008 9:58AM]

I kinda agree.

To be fair though, I think the title means that it "fails miserably" at being an iPod touch, which can be said about most things, including my socks.

[AoMoe @ Feb 19th 2008 10:00AM]

One too many people thinks the world revolves around Apple. Having see many electronic devices over the years, this product resembles many of the products that came before it including, PDA and various DAPs.

[Saad Rabia @ Feb 19th 2008 10:10AM]

Did I also mention that it looks beautiful for a 2.8 inch screen! The iPod touch can't even do half of what Sumvision Ice 1000 can do!

Most of the specs are amazing:

-Screen: 2.8 inch ( 320*240 pixels ) TFT panel.
-Capacity: Built-in flash memory, up to 4GB.
-Memory Card Slot: Support MICRO SD card, up to 2GB.
-Operation buttons: Touch-panel.
-FM Stereo Radio: Searching radio station with 20 channel presets manually and automatically.
-Power supply: Built-in Li-polymer rechargeable battery.

Play time
-MP3: More than 10 hours. (Screen off, with earphones)
-MP4 or Games: More than 4 hours.

-Speaker: Built-in a hi-quality speaker.
-Housing: Stainless steel + Plastic.
-Weight: 62g.
-Dimensions: 90mm (L) x 55.5mm (W) x 12mm (H).
-Display function: (Frequency: 18 Frames/Second)
-Friendly operation interface.
-List files.
-Multi - languages.
-Synchronous lyrics. ( LRC format ).
-Picture browse ( JPEG format ).
-E-book ( TXT format ).
-Recording function:
-Voice recording.
-FM stereo radio recording (internal).

Play function:
-Audio files: Support MP3, WMA, etc. format files.
-Video files: Support AVI(XVID) format files. ALL files must be convert to the MP4 (XVID) format (software included)
-Recorded files.
-A-B repeat.
-7 equalizer modes ( Normal, surround 3D, rock, pop, classic, bass, jazz )
-7 play modes (Once, repeat one, folder once, folder repeat, all once, all repeat, introduction)
-Multitask Operation, reading the E-book while listening to music.
-Saving power: Power off automatically according to your presets.

-Transfer speed: USB2.0 .
-Game: With authorized games.
-Others: Three-class subdirectory, firmware upgrade.

[martin @ Feb 19th 2008 9:58AM]

it might be a knock off, but tbh it has a decent screen size, plenty of space and you can add more, a radio and to top it off its pretty damn cheap

[Dyranios @ Feb 19th 2008 10:04AM]

What an absolutely crap post, how is this trying to be an ipod touch?

With XviD, AVI It can stand on its own two feet it already has better codec support than the iPod touch. and is a fraction of the price.

[Jeff @ Feb 19th 2008 10:11AM]

Thumbs up to Dyranios, Saad, and Chebwa
Thumbs down to the Engadget poster

Why must you guys keep referencing Apple product comparisons on every single gadget. Like Dyranios pointed out, the codec does a lot more then just Apple codec video which is wonderful for added variety. Not that I am an Apple-hater by any regard (I own a MBP and a nano), however making a blanket statement regarding a device is trying to be exactly like a popular gadget and failing is ridiculous.

It is more attractively priced and offers a different set of features.


It is more attractivly priced and offers a different set of features.

[JC @ Feb 19th 2008 11:47AM]

Wow, a Mac owner with a good head on his shoulders and the capability to see the benefits of other non-Mac products. My world is turned up side down, I'm dizzy.

[Moe Abe @ Feb 19th 2008 10:19AM]

It would have been kind of refreshing to read about this product if the author was not so bias. Really, why does every product that has an alternative manufactured by Apple has to be compared to that product.

Products are always influence by products that came before them. This product kind of reminds be of me of a Clie.

[Swordth @ Feb 19th 2008 10:24AM]

Who said it's trying to be an iPod touch? Engadget, get your head out from between apples legs.

[Homeboy @ Feb 19th 2008 10:29AM]

Considering that the Shuffle was priced at $70 a few days ago I really can't see what there is to hate about this very good priced PMP.

[Mobius_1 @ Feb 19th 2008 10:35AM]

EVERYTHING with a large touchscreen has just become a knockoff following the iPhone and iPod Touch

omg enough already, it's not like Apple is always perfectly original anyway

[Reid @ Feb 19th 2008 10:42AM]

the best part is the stylus

[Jagannath A @ Feb 19th 2008 10:46AM]

Engadget hits a new low

[Ellianth @ Feb 19th 2008 11:11AM]

New low? They've been down at this level for a while :P. I'm still waiting to hear a reply as to why this thing fails miserably.

[clak @ Feb 19th 2008 10:48AM]

You guys always complain about Engadget being partial to Apple and then you give the Apple related articles 50,000 views and 200 comments. Nice way to protest.

[trumpton @ Feb 19th 2008 11:02AM]

Perhaps they're hoping that Engadget will listen to their complaints and note which posts are highly ranked?

[trumpton @ Feb 19th 2008 11:00AM]

It looks *nothing like* an iPod touch. You may as well say that it's trying to rip off the Sony Clue TH55 that came out 4 years ago because it's a lot closer in style to that than the iPod.

Oh, but I forgot. History gets rewritten around here when Apple releases a product. Not only does every vaguely similar new product get dismissed as an Apple 'rip off', but everything that went before the Apple product is swept away and forgotten.

I wish you'd get over your Apple fanboy obsession because it's ruining this site.

[Ellianth @ Feb 19th 2008 11:12AM]

Actually they're not forgotten. They are also called apple knock-offs too. Like say.. the sony laptop keyboard.

Let's go on strike or something :P.

[Max @ Feb 27th 2008 3:15AM]

You will always lose this argument because in the end, someone will always bring up the Newton. I'm sick of hearing that this or that is an apple ripoff or that something is trying to be an ipod or iphone killer. I bought into the hype and bought an ipod and a nano and both suck donkey nuts. Getting support for them is like pulling teeth too.

[Josh L @ Feb 19th 2008 11:00AM]

The interface looks more like a Samsung P2 than an iTouch, imho.

Good price point for what it's offering, though.

[Shmapple @ Feb 19th 2008 11:55AM]

Slamming almost (literally) every product as an inferior emulation of a "superior" Apple products, considering a $30 discount on an iPod shuffle "newsworthy," and giving minute by minute updates on when the Apple store goes down . . . What are the chances that the blatant bias for Apple exceeds mere fanboyism and propelled by some type of business relationship with Engadget? At the very least, they do advertise on this website, right? Motive = follow the money trail.

If I wanted to know if Steve Jobs farted today, this is the first website I'd check.

[Saad Rabia @ Feb 19th 2008 12:01PM]

Amen to what you said!

[fmobus @ Feb 19th 2008 12:31PM]

I propose the site is renamed to "Appledget"

[+. @ Feb 19th 2008 12:30PM]

assuming you're right, then i think that only one question remains....

why the hell do you keep reading?

[MTVAH @ Feb 19th 2008 12:53PM]

I love my iPod Touch, and while I certainly wouldn't trade it for this, all of that for a little over $100 dollars is pretty great. Especially considering that it has applications that an un-jailbroken Touch doesn't have.

Just because Apple undeniably makes some great products doesn't mean that other companies shouldn't attempt to filled the gap that's left gaping open at that price-point.

[saunajunkie @ Feb 19th 2008 12:54PM]

I believe that the stylus is the part that makes it fail miserably. The Apple's well thought out UI (whether they thought of it first or not) is the probably the biggest "real" selling point of their products.

Sure the stats are fine, but ask yourself, would you rather navigate through your music by album art with a swipe of your finger, or would you rather tap a scroll button with your stylus which you must first remove.

[D @ Feb 19th 2008 2:45PM]

I would ask yourself this: Are you so busy with your world-saving life's work that you can't be compelled to spend the extra, oh, single second it takes to remove a stylus?

Apple has made a living off of making doing nothing look so cool that people fall in love with gawking at pieces of plastic. Yes, the touch and iphone are very innovative products, but I am not going to pay their absurd prices just so I can be what is essentially a glamorized early adopters club.

I don't hate Apple, really. I just think it makes zero sense to immediately gush over them because many of their products aren't really all they are cracked up to be. I want choice in my products.

[victoryismine27 @ Feb 19th 2008 1:34PM]

@ +.

Thank you...I will never understand why people will complain and complain and complain, only to keep coming back to read (and often comment on) every single post. Everyone is welcome to their opinion so if you hate Engadget's posts that's fine - that's what comments are for. But Engadget's writers are entitled to their opinions just as much as everyone else. If they hate a product, or if they want to compare it to similar products to give us an idea of how it stacks up to the most popular gadgets on the planet (iphone, ipod, itoilet, etc.) then so be it. Once you get to the point of constantly complaning about every new post and whining about how engadget is getting worse and is bias toward apple and all the other constantly redundant comments I see on a regular basis, I think it's time to find a new tech blog.

I shall now step down from my soapbox...

[+. @ Feb 19th 2008 2:19PM]

heh. so true. ... but i suppose the issue kind of goes both ways, right? i mean, every time i click on the "Comments" link to an entry on Engadget, i think to myself: "Why am I doing this? When I know it's just going to be the same sputtering & vitriol from the same 50 or so people?" ... yet, inexplicably, i keep coming back.

maybe Slashdot has spoiled me, with its comment threads that actually make for productive discussion (or at the very least some good-natured humor). ... by contrast, the Engadget community comes up with such painfully booorrring whining, the likes of which i rarely see even on Digg or Craiglist R'n'R.

mad props to the Engadget writers for dealing with such shite in their inboxes, day after day, & never saying a thing. personally, if i were them, i'd have posted a nice, long, 'GTFO' rant by now.

[Jhongerkong @ Feb 19th 2008 5:07PM]

Enapple

[Stevo @ Feb 19th 2008 6:36PM]

I agree with alot of the comments above - this looks nothing like an Ipod Touch (more like the Samsung Touch Screen PMP, in terms of interface), and the features look sweet. Jesus Engadget, WTF?

[Tits @ Feb 19th 2008 7:40PM]

Oh shit, Engadget is a rip off Apple web site, they copied the grey border gradient! haha... engadget fails miserably!

[DarkLightConnection @ Feb 19th 2008 8:18PM]

Is it me or those blue icons on a plain black background actually look pretty slick?

Alot of Chinese companies could learn something of this simple design and stop using gay rainbow backgrounds on teh GUIs of their otherwise killer devices

[sinrtb @ Feb 19th 2008 8:52PM]

wow this looks awesome, i don't know why it's getting such a biased review but $100 for a 4 gig mp3 player is impressive and this has much much more. The only downside I can see is the built in battery, and that depends on how much it costs to replace.

[Alan in Belfast @ Feb 20th 2008 9:56AM]

So far, it doesn't seem to be anything to write home about. Pity that my PC is detecting the W32/Fujacks worm on the supplied mini-CD!

And can anyone find a way of fast forwarding once you start watching a video? Pressing or holding the >> button just seems to jump to the next track. Looks like need to be sure to chop up long shows into shall chunks.

[Hyme @ Feb 20th 2008 12:46PM]

Engadget tries to be like Gizmodo.com, fails miserably.

[z @ Feb 21st 2008 5:34PM]

Anyone know where to buy this at? Can't seem to find a US based online retailer...

[kyle @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:04PM]

Although Apple makes quite good and popular products, every gadget that is shaped or looks simular to an ipod is classed as a copy.
SO WHAT! Copies are great, Ipods look fucking great (So why not make a alternate good looking MP3/MP4 player?

Apple's Ipod may have about 160 gigs, but whats the point in that? Its just an excuse to slap a £300 price tag on it. So I for one appluade a new device with a more than reasonable amount of memory, so if you want you can buy a 4 gig model for £50 a scan.co.uk

[tito fuentes @ Feb 27th 2008 9:02AM]

I heard about this product on TV and when I read this header for this article "Sumvision Ice 1000 tries to be an iPod touch, fails miserably" I figured they would have some facts about the product to show how it fails miserably. I guess I figured wrong. Thanks engadget for making an assumption about a device that you have never used! I am swayed not to get it but now that I read your "thorough" argument about why this device fails miserably. Great journalism!

/sarcasm

[Gio @ Feb 28th 2008 12:58PM]

Hey every1 i wanna buy the 8gb version on ebuyer.com http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142391 for £59.99.
Has anyone acutally got this player and if so can you tell me if its worth buying because reviews for this MP4 player seem far and few between. lol Thnx

[kyle Cline @ Feb 28th 2008 1:39PM]

I think that this is a very nice player. I would buy this. It is a beyond average mp3 player. it plays all the formats i like. and it has a FM Radio. It does every thing but make bread. which who the hell has time for that anyways.

[brian @ Mar 18th 2008 12:00AM]

hey i actually have this player its great runs well does everything it says and the touch sensativity works great its worth buying just 1 problem ive seen ive only had it for like 2 days but the battery doesnt last very long but i will have to fully charge well hope this helps ....

[Sevish @ Mar 18th 2008 3:17PM]

This isn't a "ripoff". There is no comparison between this media player and Apple's daylight robbery. You simply can't buy the features of the Ice 1000 for that price in a shop. I got mine through the post today, it is responsive and very pretty. £45.

[Chloe @ Apr 26th 2008 8:32AM]

Does anyone know if this player supports ogg format?