iriver's 'pragmatic' E150 PMP is practically an E100 in new garbs

It's been a little under a year since we first -- and last -- heard rumors about and iriver E100 update, the E150. Now it appears to have reared its head and is out in Korea for the equivalent of $78 for the 4GB and $100 for the 8GB models. Officially dubbed the "all in one pragmatic player," its speaker grill is more aesthetically pleasing and the buttons are no longer separated from the body, but otherwise it's pretty much both seasons of the E100 in syndication, with 2.4-inch QVGA screen, XviD support, etc. It's actually 2mm thicker than its predecessor, if that sort of thing is a make or break deal for you. Still, the price is nothing to scoff and there's three colors to chose from: black, silver, and pink. No word on US release, but it's only a matter of time.

[Via DAP Review]

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 25th 2009 4:18AM]

I don't understand the point of these.. My blackberry plays music, has a speaker, has a line out.. 100 dollars for 8GB? How about 10-20 dollars for a 8GB MicroSDHC instead?

[vivg91 Posted Mar 25th 2009 4:49AM]

Honestly, I'm with you there. With the increasing popularity and quality of music playback on phones (especially iPhone, SE Walkman, and Nokia N series phones) I am really starting to doubt the point of stand alone MP3 devices that don't have hard drives, huge screens, and a lot of codec support (read: Archos 5 and Cowon O2)

[Adamgs Posted Mar 25th 2009 4:55AM]

I have a touch screen phone that will happily play music and videos (Touch Cruise) with expandable memory. I have 4gb atm.

I also have an ipod.

I dont use my phone because a) the controls are terrible b) The interface is terrible c) it uses up my phones battery d) I cant connect it to my car because it doesnt have a 3.5mm plug and

Dedicated players are not going to go away for quite a while.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 25th 2009 6:42AM]

@ Adderz
So your problem is just to find a better phone with
a) good controls
b) decent UI
c) better battery
d) a 3.5 mm. plug (or just an adaptor you can keep on your car stereo, or even better an FM sender)

The choice is huge my two phones both fit the bill I have an HTC touch HD and a Samsung Omnia (the Omnia does'nt have the 3.5 plug but comes with an adapter cable if you're too tied to buy an FM sender) .
My old Nokia N95 and N95/8gb were just as good and I'm just waiting for the N97 which will also have an inbuilt FM sender so you won't need to plug it in any (car) stereo at all.


The touch cruise is a good phone but it has never been intended to be a PMP phone (HTC makes the touch HD for that purpose) The Touch Cruise is a navigation phone.
Soon will come out Archos Smatphone (made with Texas Instruments) which is geared to be a real PMP with a phone(and modem and GPS) , or Toshiba TG01 which also will have all the options you require.
Personally I'm just waiting for the Nokia N97 to come out to substitute either My Omnia or my HTC TouchHD (I still did'nt decide which one is the best) and since I got my first N95 (about 3 years ago i think) I discovered that any dedicated PMP was superfluos.
You just need to find a device that fits all your needs and belive me there are plenty.

[LAY Posted Mar 25th 2009 8:18AM]

I use my phone to make calls. Not to drain it playing podcasts for 8 hours a day.

That is why we have stand-alone players.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 25th 2009 11:20AM]

These things will stay in S. Korea and that's it. Nobody in the U.S. needs 'em. I'm surprised that even people in S. Korea want them when their cellphones can do most of the stuff this device can.

Although I'm not entirely certain about the 'one device to do all' theory. It seems as though people could still carry around a dedicated music player, but the poor economy might lower those chances of people spending money for two devices.

[pika2000 Posted Mar 25th 2009 4:53AM]

*yawn. iRiver, why don't you put more effort into releasing your higher end products outside Korea instead of wasting your time on yet another small capacity flash player that hardly anything special compared to the gajillions others out there.

[imapotato Posted Mar 25th 2009 9:10AM]

Is there three colors to choose from? Is there Ross?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 25th 2009 12:33PM]

check out the cool Zune Font :)

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2009 12:57AM]

Dedicated players will never go away. Especially in the HI-FI community.