Digital Cube storms back with touchscreen-based i-Station E9 PMP

Digital Cube may not be a household name in portable media players (at least on this side of the Atlantic), but there's no doubt that its latest attempt at greatness is a real looker. The touchscreen-based i-Station E9 arrives with an expansive 3-inch panel, hardly any buttons to speak of, an FM tuner, accelerometer, video output, support for more formats than you can shake a stick at and a user interface that looks particularly fascinating. Battery life is pegged at just 12 hours for audio and 4 hours for video, but with prices set for $115 (4GB) / $132 (8GB), we won't kvetch too loudly.

[Via Cloned In China]

[tgluak Posted Sep 29th 2009 9:16AM]

Those are some nice iPod earphones...

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2009 9:18AM]

ripoff goes without saying.

As the iPod T 8GB is already below $200 on sale and the older touch models can be purchased for less, this thing makes no sense. I wonder what causes these KIRF makers to spend the money to produce subpar ripoffs that will never be popular?

[macjonny Posted Sep 29th 2009 9:20AM]

I can't believe the amazing designs coming out of these PMPs now. First the Zune HD and Walkman X series, various exciting WinMo devices such as those really cool htc touch phones, and now this? It is too much....

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2009 9:47AM]

You say that like this is a new design. Or maybe, based on your username, you were being more tongue in cheek than I realized?

[xCrunk Posted Sep 29th 2009 9:29AM]

They forgot the home button.

If you're going to make a knockoff, do it right!

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2009 9:32AM]

i dont like it

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2009 9:38AM]

zune rip-off

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2009 10:12AM]

Zune Ripoff?


I LOL'd


You're right. Looks nothing like the ipod touch... not at all.

[iDavey Posted Sep 29th 2009 9:40AM]

Now THIS is a total KIRF. I thought I was looking at an iPod when I saw this pic.

And I normally don't go along with the "OMG they stole the iPod look"

But come on...

[One Love Posted Sep 29th 2009 9:53AM]

ZUNE HD KILLA!

[Branhower Posted Sep 29th 2009 9:56AM]

Looks like some former Zune branding representative came up with the background.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2009 10:08AM]

Actually, if you follow the links to the manufacturers page you can see some more shots of the interface. And apart from suffering from the shiny-black-button-syndrome which covers almost all touchscreen devices (Zune excepted), the graphic design is pretty good.
Mind you, calling "tempered glass" one of your main features is a bit worrisome...
http://www.i-station.co.kr/products/e9.html

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2009 10:22AM]

I would at least use different earphones in my press ad...

[Muhammad Oli Posted Sep 29th 2009 10:23AM]

Just like the Philips PMP from earlier today/yesterday, this looks like a poorly made photoshop. Oh and hey, they're both from the same source. Three things scream photoshop here; an extremely poorly rendered and blurred bezel, the iPod headphones, and the big one -- they spelled "Genre" wrong. Perhaps Engadget could do a little more research into these PMPs, or indeed their sources.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2009 11:52AM]

Found the english version here http://www.thepinhead.com/Blog/?p=505

[Dan Fruzzetti Posted Sep 29th 2009 12:19PM]

I particularly like how 'genre' is spelled with a J.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2009 12:55PM]

Emm,why thats not in the KIRF section? it reminds me of some ipod/iphone copies...

[AdamSpruijt Posted Sep 29th 2009 1:25PM]

My favorite part is that they used some very 'specific' looking headphones in the shot, way to go.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2009 3:49PM]

LOL looks like everything is cloned in China.

[OG Phenix Posted Sep 29th 2009 4:29PM]

Actually, while the device does suffer from an indentity crisis, being a wolf in iPod clothing, the advertising color scheme DOES look remarkably similar to the Zune and ZuneHD color scheme, with bright neon colors pearched on a black background. Seriously, just look at the background there for a second, and tell me- if I placed a ZuneHD in the picture instead, it would seem like another Microsoft publicity shot, wouldn't it?