Behind closed doors at the Haier booth, we got a chance to check out two Ibiza Rhapsody PMP prototypes, codenamed Rumble and Rumble mini. Here's what we know so far: the Rumble's got a 2.8-inch WQVGA capacitive touchscreen, 8GB NAND flash, and a Freescale i.MX37 ARM 11 processor. It also has a Webkit-based browser, but it -- along with most of the operating system and virtual keyboard -- wasn't functional at the moment. There's support for AAC, MP3, and WMA, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H263, H.264, VC-1, and DivX. The Rumble mini trades out touchscreen in favor of an input pad and a smaller 2.2-inch screen. Beyond Rhapsody service, both models will feature integration with Flickr, Audible, and the ever-vague "popular social networking" sites. Battery life for the Rumble is expected to be about 15 hours for audio and 6 for video, while for the mini it's 14 and 4, respectively. It's surprisingly lightweight at the moment, but other than that we really don't have much to say until we can see the interface in action. Both players are on track for a June release for a penny under $150 for the touchscreen and $100 for the mini.
posted January 11th 2009 2:31PM
o-o;
how good is the wenkit borwser? the sidekick's browser is sebkit based and it suxxxxxxxxxxx!any ways add xvid and im in:)
I was going to say something negative, but decided not to get anyone excited, and simply low ranked you so your comment fades.
I encourage all of you to low rank his comment and all evidence of it (this reply) so that its as if he never said anything. that is all.
Looks good and all, but why the "2.8-inch WQVGA" instead of oled?
Uhhh.... OLED would replace LCD, not WQVGA. WQVGA is the resolution. OLED and LCD are the underlying display types, as in the material they are made out of.
dang for a mere $150 something with that codec support AND a nice webkit based browser might make a nice ipod touch replacement!(only because i don't use the dang app store anyways)
this has got some good potential, but the margin to fail miserably is big, lets hope they get it right.
they have a good product (previous versions). I have 2 big complaints about the classic style and hope they get it right with the new ones. The wifi radio is far too weak and there needs to be a keyboard, not that old video game style one letter at a time nonsense.
The ibeza rhapsody is amazing. If I hear about a new album or song I get it in seconds without any of the apple/itunes BS and without a computer. It even recommends music
Sounds pretty good at first, but then again, they all do.
Like an iPod touch with subscription support and a decent selection of codecs. I hope it turns out well.
Is is GSM or CDMA. WIll it be exclusive to any carrier?
It's a PMP, dude
It's not a phone, it's a audio player.
No, it is not.
Actually, if you look in one of the screenshots you can see a cell signal strength in the bottom left corner.
This could just be the WiFi strength, but it seems like an odd symbol to use.
I'm just saying, stop TYPING IN ALL CAPS LIKE YOU'RE SO COOL.
yeah, I probably should.
Sorry for the caps, I've been having anger problems for a few days.
Come to think of it, it could be something similar to the Kindle i guess....
wow phoenix, you wanna fuckin relax? this is the internets...
Rhapsody support sounds great, but Rhapsody has a terrible track record of supporting their client devices. Check out Tivo or Squeezebox forums to see what I mean. I have a Tivo and Rhapsody hasn't worked right since November.
With that price, I'd have to guess it would be very low onboard storage and rely on SDHC for any real storage.
Probably. I don't mind bringing my own storage though if it keeps the price down. I can generally hit up Newegg for a great price of SDHC. I don't carry a lot with me at once anyway. Normally only ten or so albums and one few videos. Usually under 4GB at any one time. Definitely on my PMP b/c that's all it could hold. With my PDA (sadly, only an E2, I carry 5 GB in cards and usually have my movies in 3gp format so I can carry more. Quality is obviously less of an issue if I'm using an E2.
I'd rather save the money I would spend on this PMP and actually fly to Ibiza and dance my ass off for a week in the summer season!
Why not fly to Ibiza for 6 days instead of 7, then you can do both
even easier
http://www.ibizadc.com/
Hmmh,I wonder what's better quality apple or Ibiza .?when it comes to glass screen ,warranty ,hardware reputation . I want a pmp that has remote control docks n car integration/ steering wheel control,.what should I get touch or Ibiza????touch has been out for 1.5 years.,,some people have told me not to get touch that it's old technology. I also don't want to get feelings hurt n be called apple fanboi, main reason I been putting it off. But I would hide apple touch.,this guy at work calls everyone with iPod/ iPhone fanbois. He knows a lot about technology though n has a zune. Dang not sure what should I get,,?
I have a zune, and it's great. However, if you want a (good) touch screen internet enabled portable media device, the ipod touch is a great start. also consider the archos 5, cowon O2, Samsung P2, and iriver spinn. touch screen players with many features is one of the few places where apple is price competitive, so ignore the jerk with a zune; he doesn't know what he's talking about. (if it bothers you so much, tell him you use winamp instead of itunes, and ask him how his zune's battery life is.) also consider replacing both your mp3 player and phone with a palm pre, which as you've probably read/seen on video, is freaking sweet and expandable, and has a hard keyboard.
this player looks interesting, but not particualarly special. its been done before. a lot.
@Rotaryfan
No other touch screen device on the market right now or even announced for this year offers direct downloads of subscription music over wifi. Direct access to Rhapsody over wifi is the appealing feature of the original ibiza and this adds a larger screen and capacitive touch. The battery life leaves something to be desired, but the features aren't matched by any of the devices you listed.
Great, just in time for my cancellation of rhapsody.
Curse you MTP mode!