LG and iriver unveil the LB4400: the Korean Zunephone without the Zune (video)

Little iriver has long been one of our favorite companies when it comes to innovative product design. Unfortunately, the Korean outfit responsible for about half of all digital audio players sold in its home country has all but disappeared from the international stage. Today it returns with the jointly developed LG-LB4400 musicphone. As the name indicates, LG is the muscle behind the cellphone internals (and apparently the industrial design) whereas iriver contributed the media player and UI elements. Specwise, we're looking at a 2.8-inch WQVGA LCD display, 3 megapixel camera, DMB TV, Dolby Surround Mobile, and support for a wide range of audio codecs including FLAC and APE. No word on price or availability but we've got a slow-loading video for you after the break.

[Coke Posted May 26th 2010 6:11AM]

in before "first!"

[mothernorth Posted May 26th 2010 6:17AM]

@Coke
Great acheivement

[k jules Posted May 26th 2010 6:18AM]

@Coke
Your comment is just as bad...

[Shokz Posted May 26th 2010 6:26AM]

@Coke There's not usually anyone immature enough to shout "first" here...

In other news, I love my iRiver Clix2, I'd use it in preference to my iPod Touch most of the time if it had more storage (I got the 4GB version and it's just not enough)...

[joelaf Posted May 26th 2010 7:59AM]

@Shokz

L player here. Love it.

[Kid Red Posted May 26th 2010 9:33AM]

@mothernorth Not having the Zune is a good thing.

[Zylam Posted May 26th 2010 6:26AM]

The idea's pretty sweet, but doesn't really seem like a full hearted attempt "2.8-inch WQVGA LCD display, 3 megapixel camera," for a music phone you could find a plethora of phones with better specs and probably price and availability

[Trevsweb Posted May 26th 2010 6:45AM]

iriver used to be my fave mp3 player producer! :) i have 3 of their players... all of which nearly bankrupted me lol

[Herr Synnberg Posted May 26th 2010 6:56AM]

Good that iriver is helping out with the UI design. LG can't do a decent one to save their lives.

[mattpez Posted May 26th 2010 7:34AM]

@Herr Synnberg

I'll second that, their S-class UI drives me mad daily!

Bloody second rate software...*grumble grumble*

[albinomexi Posted May 26th 2010 9:12AM]

I used to own a bunch of LG phones. I honestly thought their UIs were broad. I've liked Sony Ericsson for their software, but too bad it will have hardware issues.
I guess many companies have their pros n cons

[n8equalsd Posted May 26th 2010 7:45AM]

Wqvga? Ugh.

[ollapop Posted May 26th 2010 9:35AM]

Except from the fact that Iriver is not an innovative company, because they don’t update software or understand the importance of the relation between software and hardware. Or in other words test the actual functionality of the gadget before you buy it, because the normal waiting time for updates is 6-12 month, even if they know the model has a failure.

[kadajawi Posted May 27th 2010 9:25AM]

@ollapop To be fair, they started as a company that did update their players. Most of their first few players got Ogg Vorbis support as an update, a couple of years after they stopped production of these devices. Something I think no other company would have done.

[ollapop Posted Jun 4th 2010 3:18AM]

@kadajawi Sorry but, I am not paying dollars for fair, I am paying for quality, this is the 10 problems I have with the Iriver story, with the company’s answer in () at jan-2010, I still have no update, except from the one they mention (2) which has not improved anything significant.

Problems to consider:

1. The Zoom with the four steps, should be possible to customize in settings, so I would be able to have it on medium/sec.medium/high as my own customized standard.

(We are working on this issue.)


2. Zoom in both versions does not work in landscape mode. Why?
We are working on this issue to upgrade the firmware in order for this function to work.

(Right now we are working on:

-reaction speed of the buttons

-freeze problem

-Djvu viewer function to be added

-more functions to be added in the future

*Since we are currently working on a Touch Screen Wifi version of the iRiver Story, it may take some time to develop different areas of the Story. )

3. The corner Zoom has to be easier in functionality, (sorry but to 80es software engineer loves his idea)
(We are currently working on this issue for easier functionality. )


4. When I have a book on my SD card and read in it, the Story does not save my Reflow and Zoom settings, this means that i every time I read a book from my SD card have to inter the settings once more. (sorry but that's really crappy)

(If you insert the SD card, book folder is created. If you want to keep the settings of the books you are saving, you must save it under this “book” folder. Further explanations about this issue are to come. )

5. Why does the Story not recognize any book in the book section when i only have my books on a SD card, should recognize them. (have my books on different SD cards, categorized)
This means that each time re-inter another SD card it shall remember where i was in the book and what Reflow/zoom i had, otherwise it wont be real to call it an expansion possibility.
(This is a similar situation as question #4.)


6. The Reflow display some pdf, very weird, exampled under:

Fred is fat and lives in a shel
ter while eating fish with his toes, and usually he sleeps with fresh herring under his pillow.
Unfortunate for the other resi
dents in the shelter, he is resisting any fish related arguments.

So it breaks the lines in some words, this is really not acceptable, please fix it.
(This is due to reflow information not being put into the actual book file correctly. But we are still working on it. )

7. Must agree with critics that it is cheap not to deliver a cover with the story.
(Planning to take care of this situation.)

8. There should be a possibility to set the story, to re-inter directly into the book you just read last time, so you don’t have to g0 through the menu every time.

(If you turn on the device while in sleep mode, it will continue from where you left off. The problem is that currently, it is not possible to go back to where you left off if you turn off the device completely. It is not impossible to obtain this function. Instead, customers can use the “recent book” function for now. )


9. I can not bookmark pages in pdf's.
(That is because the book file is not under the “book” folder.)


10. Recent book, should be resent books, if you are reading several at the time.
(We are looking into that function as well. )

[jazen Posted May 26th 2010 11:16AM]

More chin than a G1? iRiver SPINN owner here.

[chilipalm Posted May 26th 2010 1:38PM]

Yay to FLAC and APE support. The reasons why I don't own an ipod.

[iucidium Posted May 26th 2010 2:30PM]

I was given an iriver mp3 player for an xmas gift from IKEA (workers get breakfast and xmas present!!) And youknow what, not bad at all

[sinco Posted May 26th 2010 11:10PM]

I dont get the zune part, I tough it would have some tegra, or something resemble to a zune.

[kadajawi Posted May 27th 2010 9:27AM]

Uh, wasn't iriver developing a phone themselves? That one was hot, too bad that nothing happened with it. :(