iriver's wave touchphone hits Korea on March 9th

After teasing us with a touchscreen phone way back at CES this January, iriver has been decidedly mum on the subject ever since, calling what we saw more of a "proof of concept" than a ready-for-market product. Well, that veil has been lifted and we're finally staring at the iriver wave, a touchphone that iriver plans to start shipping in Korea on March 9th of next year with KT, and with other major carriers to follow. Other than a touchscreen, the phone packs WiFi and the traditional kitchen sink approach of Korean PMPs, with multimedia playback, FM radio, e-books and an electronic dictionary. There's miniSD expansion, access to the Bugs Music Service for online music and we're sure a few other perks hidden under layers of Korean spec sheets. Overall the physical design hasn't really changed much from what we saw at the start of the year (looks like that 3-inch, 480 x 272 touchscreen is quite intact), but the software has certainly been refined, and is devoid of many of its original, erm, iPhone-inspired touches.

[Via Hallyu Tech]

[OCEAN 'CLAK' 20th @ Nov 10th 2008 1:21PM]

'i' dont like it

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Nov 10th 2008 1:26PM]

I don't like you

[Hashbrown Hunter @ Nov 10th 2008 1:43PM]

Ahh, constructive criticism at its finest.

[Eric Law @ Nov 10th 2008 3:19PM]

He misquoted the guy in the cantina...
"... and I dont like you either! "
swoosh! arm falls off
movie gains PG rating.

which movie?

[Macdelaney @ Nov 27th 2008 9:13AM]

@eric
Star Wars?

[Hugh @ Nov 10th 2008 1:31PM]

With dumb phones, touchscreen is more of a novelty than something to improve productivity. I Hope this phone doesn't sell well for that very reason.

[Flashpoint @ Nov 10th 2008 1:44PM]

This is round 4 of the gadget wars.

Now we have mp3 manufacturers adding GSM and Wifi to turn once digital audio players into cellularphones.

I never thought Iriver would have one of these...I suspect Creative Labs will be next.

[chickenator @ Nov 10th 2008 1:53PM]

...next will be Coby's turn.

[cwj @ Nov 10th 2008 2:25PM]

Hm.

Flexibility of input methods...ability to vary display between input and presentation depending on the media...

I'd say you'd get a healthy argument that touchscreen is better suited towards a dumb - (ahem) - I mean "operationally challenged" phone than a business phone.

Or maybe there are ways to optimize it as either...

[jorvay @ Nov 10th 2008 2:11PM]

Even if this doesn't surpass the iphone in terms of features, at least there'd be an mp3-playing, smarter-than-average-but-not-quite-smart phone on the market where it's pretty safe to assume that actually has respectable sound quality out of the headphone jack.

[martin @ Nov 10th 2008 1:39PM]

user interface looks very lg in that picture

[chickenator @ Nov 10th 2008 1:40PM]

this is what i call revolutionary.
keep up the good work iriver.

[cj @ Nov 10th 2008 1:40PM]

I dun understand how someone can already hate a phone that is not even released yet...

Afterall Engadget only posted one picture and only a few features on the phone... yet Clak already doesn't like it, thinking it's clever to put a single quote on the i as if his opinion matters lol.

[cwj @ Nov 10th 2008 2:24PM]

OCEAN appears to have dedicated itself to making comments that are inane/indecipherable. From what I can tell, this practice is the new "first".

In spite of all future and past comparison's to the Apple Mobile Voice Communications Product and my general disdain for music phones, I call dibs on the above.

[Patrick @ Nov 10th 2008 1:41PM]

well, y'know what?
'i' think 'i' like it and 'i' think your a douche

[Patrick @ Nov 10th 2008 1:42PM]

comment fail that was meant for OCEAN 'CLACK' 20th

[chickenator @ Nov 10th 2008 1:46PM]

haha...double fail

[Ricardo @ Nov 10th 2008 1:52PM]

Wow, 480 x 272, it managed to be even worse than the iPhone. Pretty impressive indeed.

[Matthew Hilario @ Nov 10th 2008 1:53PM]

This thread needs hot korean babes holding the phone.

[Reader @ Nov 10th 2008 5:28PM]

Matthew Hilario for prez 2012. I'll make the buttons.

[7on @ Nov 10th 2008 1:53PM]

You know, I think it'll be nice once these manufactures start using Android instead of WinMo for these types of phones.

[Ryan @ Nov 10th 2008 1:56PM]

I like it.....though it looks a little thick.

[orky56 @ Nov 10th 2008 2:22PM]

that's what she said (referring to those korean girls who are NOT showing off the phone)

[BOGRASH @ Nov 10th 2008 1:57PM]

Released 12 years to the day of the Notorious B.I.G's untimely passing. Coincidence? I think not.

[Lowest Ranked @ Nov 10th 2008 2:14PM]

There is no correlation, whatsoever.

[Mr. Ford @ Nov 10th 2008 11:27PM]

No coincidence huh? What do you think the I in B.I.G. stands for then?
That's right, iriver!
Coincidence indeed.

[Van @ Nov 10th 2008 2:00PM]

I welcome this phone. Looks pretty cool, a little thick. More competition means lower prices and more improvements in the future.

[trickards @ Nov 10th 2008 2:10PM]

Looks promising. Could do with being a bit thinner, slightly wider so the screen can get longer without looking strange. On a fully touchscreen phone, the screen should be taking up almost the whole of the front of the handset, looks like there might be some excess fat there.

I wish it the best but it has some stiff competition!

[Steve @ Nov 10th 2008 2:46PM]

Looks like a render, I'd like to see a mockup or a prototype. Looks like it has potential, though I doubt we'd see it in the US anytime soon.

[Гаджет @ Nov 10th 2008 2:52PM]

the [Via Hallyu Tech] link is broken :)
double "http://"

[Benhur @ Nov 10th 2008 2:55PM]

Fail!!

[kadajawi @ Nov 10th 2008 3:15PM]

Uh... does it actually do at least GSM? Or is it VoIP over WiFi only? That would be kind of... uh, limited?

[Saad @ Nov 10th 2008 4:57PM]

it looks like a number pad, but thats just me

[EV0LUTION @ Nov 10th 2008 7:27PM]

Hey. that my Birthday!

[alex @ Nov 11th 2008 1:19AM]

this looks EXACTLY like the iriver w7 released like 2 years ago! gosh! get a new design!

http://product.iriver.co.kr/p_w7_feat.asp

[Will @ Nov 13th 2008 2:29PM]

Excuse me, this article needs to be corrected for its shipping date: It's already shipping (since 12th of Nov), and it actually a second coming of the same model. The previous W7, was an "W10(Wave) minus WiFi/Phone function" version with car navigation kit option, and the new W10(Wave) is one with WiFi/Phone function. (Car navigation kit/recording functions are removed). It seems like Wave (and an WiFi AP) is provided for free with KT's VoIP phone contract. (Don't know how long)