Newman's M8000 PMP: 250GB never looked so ugly

Newman has never had much luck cranking out portable media players that were easy on the eyes, and unfortunately, things aren't getting any better with the M8000. The bulky PMP features a 4-inch 320 x 240 resolution display, support for NES emulation and text viewing, a 1.3-megapixel camera, integrated speaker / microphone, video output, USB 2.0 connectivity and compatibility with a smattering of file formats. Unlike many craptacular rivals, this one comes in black or white and can be equipped with up to 250GB of internal hard drive space. Of course, it's not like anyone with a shred of dignity is going to fork out $388 for the quarter-terabyte edition, but if you've got the coin to roll, you can certainly test the limits of buyer's remorse.

[Via PMPToday]

[fanman @ May 10th 2008 7:34AM]

250 GIGA BITES?

[El Taco @ May 10th 2008 3:29PM]

(replies to first comment just so it would be at the top)

I don't think this thing looks so ugly. You wouldn't think it was ugly if it had an apple logo on it.

[KLanD @ May 11th 2008 12:42PM]

I think the writer of this article is a Macfan. I also think he's jealous that this little machine can do more than his "pretty" Ipod.

[Engadgetluvsappl @ May 10th 2008 7:48AM]

4" at QVGA? That is truly disgusting.

[Chris @ May 10th 2008 8:19AM]

Sheesh. It's not *that* ugly.

[SteveS @ May 10th 2008 8:19AM]

With this post and the last one as prime examples, I am really seeing a trend by the Engadget editors to value form over function. I guess that's what separates the geeks from the hackers...

[Dennis @ May 10th 2008 8:24AM]

Looks like the results of a clash between two low tech designers.
And what's with all the writing on the front???

[low tech @ May 10th 2008 9:39AM]

Hey don't blame it on me. I tried to tell that other guy, "Style and function are not mutually exclusive!" But he would listen. He just wouldn't :(.

[Dennis @ May 10th 2008 12:58PM]

So there are two of you!

[Maestro @ May 10th 2008 8:38AM]

Take off the writing and it's not that bad.

[Dave @ May 10th 2008 8:40AM]

That is what i call storage! Great! Now put a phone, WiFi, GPS and i am sold :)

[Steffen Jobbs @ May 10th 2008 8:45AM]

Ugly piece of zune. They sure threw in enough features such as camera and recorder for what reason I can't imagine. I suppose if it plays back all the standard codecs and the display is halfway decent, it should sell overseas. Cowons look a lot better than this but have less storage capacity. I'd buy a Cowon instead.

[BrianB @ May 10th 2008 8:58AM]

For the 250GB it's $299 + $89.

[Patriks7 @ May 10th 2008 9:24AM]

so to get this straight
anything that looks similar to an iPhone/iPod Touch is an iPhone/iPod Touch
but when a company tries its own design, its ugly?
interesting thinking there

[Tim @ May 10th 2008 9:54AM]

I don't think it looks bad at all.

[Jacko @ May 10th 2008 9:37AM]

I would not consider it ugly. It isn't beautiful, but certainly not ugly.

[601210 @ May 10th 2008 10:10AM]

Doesn't look ugly to me.

[King Kang @ May 10th 2008 1:08PM]

€310 for a 250GB mobile storage unit which gives you the possibility to acces your media on the road isn't that bad at all. It *would* be cool if you could stuff it with ripped DVD's and play those on a television in a hotelroom, or something.

Maybe if they left out the camera, made it a little slimmer, made the speaker better and the battery last longer, it'd be totally worth the money.
Then it'd be a 250GB iPod video with a built-in speaker! Awesome, especially in summertimes and on vacation. Sitting in the park with friends, listening to the Durutti Column...

[catachip @ May 10th 2008 10:22AM]

hellllllo Newman.

[biggerx @ May 10th 2008 10:30AM]

1. It's really not ugly.
2. When was the last time you heard of a pmp with that kind of storage? You can actually have a mini media library on the thing.

[Chrisvanren @ May 10th 2008 10:34AM]

omg! I just read the link. It DOES have video out! and emulation support. I'm sold. I want one.

[LaRainette @ May 11th 2008 9:17AM]

Archos does sell PmP with "that kind of storage" (at least 160Gb if I remember right)

Still this news is really bad imo.
1. you could have focus on something else than : "it's ugly really it's ugly" because it's not your business some people might find it nice (I don't but..) and that's not the most important aspect.
2. you could have been more precise on the specs. Like you say it can handle alot of different format but all I see is very classic ..mp3 .avi etc ...
No .ape no Flac no .ogg no .aac.. nothing impressive.
3. you didn't say a word on the most surprising features like built-in camera, NES emulation which aren't that common.

[FT @ May 10th 2008 11:42AM]

Reminds of me Newman from Seinfeld....

NEWman!!!

[beryl @ May 10th 2008 12:46PM]

I'll agree with most comments here, I do not see it as ugly or outlandishly beautiful. Apple doesn't have a world monopoly on design, right?

[Can @ May 10th 2008 1:18PM]

To the people who call this ugly:
Do you ever see something that looks beatiful (iPod doesn't look good at all for me) that can compete with the storage of this device. Well, if the audio quality (which Apple has no idea what it is all about at all), support for codecs (especially lossless ones) are well enough, and it has a good battery life that lets us can watch long videos, then all it needs is a Flash Player :)
I'd better buy this one instead of buying those overrated fruit products.

[allaun @ May 10th 2008 2:02PM]

Wait until the pandora comes out, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora_(console) it will be cheaper and in all likelyhood, better. Of course I have no basis for this assumption so go ahead, blow 400 bucks on what reminds me of my gps. In fact, It reminds me of a ODM design from jointek. (can't find the link anymore, was on my blog but blog go boom.)

[Plugh @ May 10th 2008 2:20PM]

If only it had CF and xD slots it'd be an excellent alternative to the Epson P-5000 for photographers (well ok, it'd have to understand RAW as well). But it's MUCH better value for 250GB than the 80 you get from Epson.

[XenoX101 @ May 10th 2008 2:48PM]

Why won't anyone with a shred of dignity fork 388 euro for the quarter-terabyte edition? For some reason I think the editors have gone a bit down hill lately, not sure about the use of the word "craptacular" either. As has been said already, this device isn't really ugly at all, in black it might even look nice. I'll admit, I did have a bit of a ponder about the potential this thing could have in my hands.

[El Taco @ May 10th 2008 3:31PM]

wow. this thing has a DS card slot. Why would you need an SD card slot? so that it can 1002 giabytes of memory?

[El Taco @ May 10th 2008 3:31PM]

i meant sd card slot

[XenoX101 @ May 10th 2008 6:10PM]

I'm guessing you also meant "gigabytes" and "can [have]"..

[Skazer @ May 10th 2008 10:18PM]

How the heck is this thing ugly? Is it because it's by a rather unknown company? Sometimes I wonder if certain Engadget writers actually care about gadgets for their technology rather than their looks.

[willyboy @ May 11th 2008 11:17PM]

It needs more buttons.

[Sparrow @ May 11th 2008 2:13AM]

I see Newsmy M8000+ already.

[Armoured @ May 11th 2008 5:32AM]

WTF is so ugly that??????

Stupid engadget peoples

[Armoured @ May 11th 2008 5:34AM]

correction:

WTF is so ugly about that????

Stupid engadget, no edit button

[Armoured @ May 11th 2008 5:35AM]

Stupid engadget, reply button didn't even work...let's see if it works now...

[atoztoa.blogspot.com @ May 11th 2008 6:06AM]

But looks do matter, isn't it?

Are you going to put it inside a box and keep it that way? Then it's a cute thing

[Armoured @ May 11th 2008 5:38AM]

hmmmm

[El Taco @ May 11th 2008 6:35PM]

if there was an apple logo on it, it would be a techno look, not an ugly look.

[DJZeratul @ May 13th 2008 7:22AM]

apple wouldnt put its logo on this example of design failure

as for the device, it might work well. function over form?

[Kaisu @ May 12th 2008 1:47PM]

...how is this ugly, again? It just looks expensive to me...which isn't that the only reason Apple-freaks buy Apple products anyway? To hoard their shiny-expensive paper-weights over people with ugly tech that actually does things.

So it's not based on absolute minimalism and as shiny as Charlie Sheen's hair and therefore it's ugly. Oh dear me, it has more than one actual button to press and there's no touch-screen? It's HORRIBLE. Oh so terrible and ugly and capable of playing every one of my pirated songs and movies.

[greatshun @ May 20th 2008 7:56AM]

It features a 16:9 display rather than a 4:3 one. The resolution is 480*272...