Oppo offers up sleek S11 portable media player

Go 'head Oppo -- get down with your bad self. This S11 portable media player may not be the most easily recognized on the streets, but it sure has a lot going for it. Aside from the sleek (dare we say sexy?) enclosure, the unit packs a 3-inch 400 x 240 resolution touch panel, video out port, integrated photo viewer / calender / stopwatch / calculator, a couple of games, file search capabilities and support for MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, AAC and APE audio files. On the video front, it'll play nice with AVI, DivX, XviD, RM, RMVB and FLV formats. If the 4GB of internal memory just isn't enough, there's also a microSD slot for loading in additional media. Check out a video preview of the thing just after the break before dropping $163.99, though.

[Shinigami @ May 24th 2008 4:50AM]

Where do I get a 32-gb microSD card? So that player+card is still less expensive than iPod Classic 80 gb :)

[Wiigee @ May 24th 2008 5:10AM]

where can i get an ipod with all those formats built in (i know ipod linux)?

Thank you CJ for making the only of the 3 first comments that wasnt "FIRST!" or a wisearse fanboy remark. I totaly agree, i wish my Zune played Ogg and DivX Avi.... it would be so amazing.

[gad get @ May 24th 2008 5:12AM]

Where's the "fanboy" remark???

[Wiigee @ May 24th 2008 5:15AM]

look up

[gad get @ May 24th 2008 5:45AM]

I'm still looking.

[Shinigami @ May 24th 2008 4:50AM]

So?

[CJ @ May 24th 2008 4:56AM]

Seems like a pretty sweet PMP, and the expandable memory makes this something to keep an eye on.

It's disappointing that the more mainstream players can't handle as many formats, I wish the big players would spend more time creating true Multimeda Players, rather than adding gimmicky extras, like web browsers or games.

[CJ @ May 24th 2008 4:58AM]

So what you're saying is that you're the original douchebag?

[gad get @ May 24th 2008 5:03AM]

@ CJ

Look who's talking.

[Josh @ May 24th 2008 5:06AM]

Too bad you have to use a sort of stylus to control the touching...

[Jeebus @ May 24th 2008 5:06PM]

you can use your finger.

[sparticus @ May 24th 2008 7:35PM]

That's what she said ;)

[gad get @ May 24th 2008 5:06AM]

I might even be interested, if I had ever heard of this company before in my life.

[gad get @ May 24th 2008 5:09AM]

Nope, never mind.
(I just watched the video.)

[Jon @ May 24th 2008 10:05AM]

Oppo make by far the best DVD players bang for the buck , Im surprised someone reading engadget wouldn't know Oppo ?

[BobTurbo @ May 24th 2008 5:17AM]

I would prefer that less formats were supported. I don't want to encourage those other formats that make life difficult. MP3 and wav or nothing.

[gad get @ May 24th 2008 5:46AM]

Wha-?

[BobTurbo @ May 24th 2008 6:00AM]

IF GADGETS SUPPORT MORE FORMATS IT WILL MAKE THOSE FORMATS MORE VIABLE THEREFORE MEANING THAT MORE FORMATS WILL EXIST AND THAT THE CONSUMER HAS TO JUGGLE MULTIPLE FORMATS INSTEAD OF ONE STANDARD FORMAT OK?

[luzzio @ May 24th 2008 6:06AM]

Less formats also mean higher chances of monopoly power.

If I'm not mistaken, it's something like portable music player manufacturers having to pay the creators of the .mp3 format a fee or something just to make it mp3 compatible.

[gad get @ May 24th 2008 6:06AM]

Hahahahaha!

OK, then.

[gad get @ May 24th 2008 6:07AM]

That was @ BobTurbo.

[Mobile Phone Diva @ May 24th 2008 2:51PM]

I think it's better to support multiple formats so people can choose for themselves what they want to play. Look what many people dish out for players, $100 and up, and are still forced into a limited choice of formats much of the time. That's changing though, finally!

Luzzio, I agree! I did notice on the box of several players I have, they note that MP3 actually requires a license, which is surprising to me. I also remember Meizu's booth got shut down for not paying the MP3 license. It's an open format for consumers but not for manufacturers, I guess.

[Wiigee @ May 24th 2008 2:57PM]

why would you need to juggle formats? if players are more compatible, you will never notice, do you notice or have to do anything when you switch from a AAC song to a MP3 on your iPod?

@ Luzzio thats why its Ogg FTW.

[Jeebus @ May 24th 2008 5:07PM]

FLAC FTW

[Alex M @ May 25th 2008 2:44PM]

@Jeebus:I gave up my Cowon D2 and I'd kill for FLAC on my Sony A-728.

[morcheeba @ May 25th 2008 2:04AM]

I'm sticking with my wax cylinder walkman - no need to encourage magnetic wire recording, because consumers will have to juggle multiple formats instead of the standard wax cylinder.

[Matt @ May 24th 2008 5:23AM]

It's a very popular player brand in China. I saw it all over the place while I was there. It's kinda like the iRiver in Korea. Uh from earlier models I played with they seemed to like to use brushed aluminum and the players all felt high quality. The problem though (like with most Chinese players) is that while they support a ton of formats the interfaces are almost always lackluster. The menus that comes out of Japan/West are so much more user friendly/simple/intuitive.

There is also some sort of craze in China with using a stylus... There are dozens of Chinese brand mobile "smartphones" that use a stylus. They seem to think it makes them look more technical or like their phones is much more expensive (you have to remember that China is extremely status conscious and isn't a meritocracy like the US).

Oppo has some older models with flush backlit control buttons on the boarders of the screen (like a LG Chocolate phone). I thought those looked great and almost bought one before I played around with the interface. The interface on any Chinese MP4 player isn't comparable to anything coming out of Japan/US/Europe and will/should be a dealbreaker for most buyers. I'm not being snobbish or trying to put down the Chinese designers but that's just the way it is, they overcomplicate them to enhance athstetics.

[roole @ May 24th 2008 9:11AM]

The hardware is indeed nice-looking. Gosh, why can't someone from a sorry-ass HP or Dell or MSFT or Sony just take something like this, write some decent software for it, and use their global presence to sell the hell out of it, providing some competition to the iPod?

What a sad bunch: All this money, all this talent, all this global presence from all these companies that profess to have tech greatness, but it seems to amount to a hill of beans against the iPod/iPhone juggernaut.

[Smileypanda @ May 24th 2008 11:23AM]

Yeah because here in the US no one ever does anything for status lol...

[Mobile Phone Diva @ May 24th 2008 3:00PM]

The West doesn't always have better interfaces IMO. Have you seen some of San Disk's interfaces? They are in serious need of an upgrade. I returned my Fuze because the interface was horrible for a 2008 player, and there is some bug that won't play embedded album artwork. I grew to dislike the Fuze in 2 days, just due to the bad interface.

[Matt @ May 24th 2008 8:01PM]

I'm not saying that people in the United States don't do things for status but you're not really understanding how an entire social structure can be built around it. There isn't public school or free healthcare or social security in China. It is a very caste like system and people are very careful to maintain their footing if they are in a higher status due to wealth/CCP party relationships. Just living in the City is important and most won't allow themselves to associate with anything involving the rural/farming past of China.

Stories about some kid from the countryside who made straight A's and went go college don't exist.... Because preschool costs money and poor people rarely educate their children past highschool, if that. Something like 4% of young people in China go to college.

I think alot of people are overly judgemental of the US in general. We can always get better but don't be snotty about it, you have no idea how ideal our situation is compared to almost all alternatives in the world.

[daedric @ May 25th 2008 6:32PM]

You mean the one US company that makes a popular mp3 player? You say US, Europe, and Japan, but I'm pretty sure you can't really point out any specifics. The post you made plainly suggests that you are very naive in nature to think that the situation in the US is ideal, do you stay current with global news, or are you stuck in your own world making up your own stories? Your naive worldview aside, lets go back to the topic at hand. Most of the MP3 players are made in Korea, decent ones anyways, and then you have Sony from Japan, which isn't doing so great in the MP3 player market last time I checked. Can you name me any good MP3 players from Japan? Europe? Hmm...that's what I thought. From your post, you probably think that iRiver is from Japan too.

[Matt @ May 26th 2008 4:35AM]

I never claimed that the situation in America is ideal, but I don't think that anyone is going to argue that it isn't better than China.... I'm not being xenophobic. It is what it is, you could pass the same judgement on some people in L.A. Right now China is like the US was in the 1980's it's a material world over there(for people in the cities). I of course am not talking about the 600million people who live on less than $1 a day. (CCP estimates, not mine)

Let's see... I clearly mentioned that iRiver was the a big manufacturer in Korea so obviously you can't read. As to me not being aware of global events... I have a degree in history with a minor in political science and spent two years studying mandarin in China.

Interfaces that are good (in my opinion)? Apple, Creative Labs, Archos, Sandisk, Phillips, Sony. I do believe those are some US/European/Japanese companies. I might also mention that I founded and opperated a successful charity in China so I might actually have my finger better on the pulse of problems and what's going on than you do.

Don't reply because I could care less about your opinion.

[yao @ May 29th 2008 12:21PM]

matt, you are full of it. believe it or not:
- there is no free health care in the US
- there are tons of poor rural students who end up in universities in china
- meizu has a very easy to use interface (ripped off of the ipod, but even easier to use)

your statement that people rarely get a college education is completely false. i can't count the number of people i know who obtained a university education in china, many of whom, started out very poor.

many of your statements are seriously misinformed.

[Matt @ May 29th 2008 2:26PM]

Here is data from the last census taken in China taken in 2003. 5.1% of the population had a University degree. A percentage of those would also be 2 year degrees so you have to assume the number with a 4 year degree is lower. http://english.gov.cn/2005-08/08/content_27315.htm there are the CCP's numbers not mine.

Healthcare isn't free in America? Ask California and Arizona why their states are bankrupt. You are not denied medical attention in the emergency room. That's why illegals go there for all their medical needs. We have something called the Hippocratic Oath in our medical field. In China if the bill isn't paid you die on the stretcher. How do I know this? Because I can speak mandarin and saw a man with head trauma die on a stretcher while his family argued over the bill. Maybe that was an isolated incident. I dunno, but from my experience I wouldn't be surprised if it was the status quo.

I don't make this stuff up. When I make statements I use facts and figures from reputable sources. I don't see how you can say that tons of poor students go to university when only 5.1, lets adjust for 2008 and say 5.5-6% of the population has a degree. I'm not trying to be a dick but your personal feelings or anecdotal information doesn't outweigh the facts and the numbers make it imposible that hardly any poor children are getting a university education. The Chinese middle class numbers at around 200million, that's 15% of the population. With the percentage of the population with a degree so small you'd have to argue that very few of them are even getting degrees, how much of the percentage is left over for the kids of farmers? And what good would it do them to get a degree. Their families wouldn't have the guanxi to get them a good job anyways.

I'm not trying to personally insult anyone who is Chinese. The situation is what it is over there, it's a dictatorship, you shouldn't expect them to be on par with a democracy. You don't elect and give power to the leaders in China so why should they do anything more for the people than what is required to prevent revolt and revolution. Having spent so long in country I love the Chinese people and I'm very critical of the government there because I know the potential of the people and how their deserved destiny and prosperity is stolen from them by the CCP.

So please don't take offense, and if you're willing to be fair you'll also agree that the Chinese people's futures are often stolen from them or not allowed to flourish in the way they could if the people were free. Please wrap your patriotism and nationalism around the accomplishments and heritage your people and not the power of the little emperors that run the CCP, you don't choose them anyways and all they do is hold the people back and keep them enslaved.

[torqueo @ May 24th 2008 5:39AM]

Those crazy chinese. OPPO is actually an American company - they make pretty much the best quality DVD players around. See: http://www.oppodigital.com

This cheap looking PMP obviously isn't made by the real OPPO. They even stole the logo.

[torqueo @ May 24th 2008 5:44AM]

Nevermind. I answered my own "question".

"OPPO Digital was founded in 2004 as the US branch of BBK Electronics, a Chinese manufacturer of consumer, educational, and telecommunication electronics. BBK Electronics has been a private label OEM for companies such as Denon, TEAC, NEC and BOSE, employing approximately 12,000 people worldwide. Through BBK's desire to expand internationally, OPPO Digital was born."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPPO_Digital

[Matthew @ May 24th 2008 10:36AM]

Why would anyone buy a DVD player? is this 1998?

[marty.com.au @ May 24th 2008 5:50AM]

@ josh
It's better to keep quiet and be thought an idiot. then to open one's mouth and prove it

...Woops, you just did...

[marty.com.au @ May 24th 2008 5:59AM]

Not too big on the stylus idea.. that sort of thing is a pain in the ass to use one hand while driving (yeah I know I shouldnt do that either) but still...

[Roga Danar @ May 24th 2008 2:53PM]

just grow your nails out (and maybe play with some dirt) like the person in the video and you should be good

[marty.com.au @ May 25th 2008 6:46PM]

@roga Gross! and I see what you mean... Couldnt afford a hand model I guess...

[Smacksmackums @ May 24th 2008 6:00AM]

Would be pretty nice if the video played a bit smoother.

[hotwings1 @ May 24th 2008 8:49AM]

So they give this "sleek (dare we say sexy) PMP" according to Engadget, a pair of not so sleek and no way in hell sexy earbuds with side-effects including but not limited to ear bleeding, ear ache, headaches etc? I know from experience with those things.

[N30 G30 @ May 24th 2008 9:14AM]

this reminds me of the P2.

[Chris Macdonald @ May 24th 2008 9:48AM]

why would we think he's an idiot if he didn't say anything?

[cayton @ May 24th 2008 10:17AM]

At first I thought is said 'offers up sleek $11 portable media player', and I was like "SWEET MOTHER OF AWESOME". Knowing better know, it's still pretty cool.

[zargon @ May 24th 2008 11:47AM]

It is awesome to see Oppo branch out, they have made outstanding DVD players for a while now. I am waiting on their Blu-ray player before I finally take a dive into that.

I wish this PMP was out sooner so I didn't have to buy into Apple and get the iPod Touch. I am getting really annoyed that I have such a locked down device, the main reasons why I got it is because I needed it that day before a trip AND it had wifi. Can't tell if this S11 has wifi, but I can tell you it isn't locked down and doesn't force you to use that bloated and system taking over iTunes.

However, the real PMP I have my eye on is the Cowon Q5W and my wife can take the iPod Touch since she would just use it for music and not be bothered by all the limitations.

[Chris @ May 24th 2008 2:40PM]

Their DVD players are outstanding. I am so happy with my Oppo DV-980H upscaling DVD player that I have no interest in Blu-ray. It's one of the best components I've ever owned.

I wonder if that quality and attention to detail stretch across all of their products? Because if this PMP is as good as their DVD players then it would be a no-brainer, especially at $163.99.

This looks so much nicer than a Zune or Creative device.

[broodwich @ May 24th 2008 11:48AM]

The video shows only filename.mp3 can this player show you the title, artist, and album when browsing for files or just the file names? I wonder if file names were only shown in the video because the that's all the player supports or if it's because the person who created the video didn't bother to tag the MP3 files.

Also what about album artwork? I didn't see any of that in the video. The Spectrum Analyzer view is interesting but really you'll stop looking at that after about 20 seconds of use. I would prefer to look at the album artwork or some type of visualization while the music is playing. Most of the time of course the display would just be off.

The user interface didn't seem too bad but why did they use that crappy font. I have seen crappy fonts like that on a number of devices from Kenwood in-dash GPS nav systems to PMPs like this one. Who likes that font. It looks like it's left over from some DOS CGA or Commodore 64 game menu.

"You are standing in an open field West of a White house, with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here."

@BobTurbo - Just because MP3 is the most widely used format doesn't make it the best. There are other formats out there that offer better compression and better quality. What it a format comes out in a couple years that offers the same or better compression than MP3 and is completely lossless? I'm not saying it will happen, just what if. Are you still going to stick with MP3, because another format would just make life too difficult?