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The curtain is lifted on the iRiver S10
Just in time to catch some portable audio buzz runoff from yesterday's Apple madness, we present the iRiver S10, the South Korean company's latest D-Click input-based portable media device. The scant 17.5g / 42 x 30 x 10.8mm device features 2GB of storage, MP3, OGG, and WMA playback (presume PlaysForSure, of course), as well as an 8 hour battery life. We hope you'll forgive us as details are thin at this hour and only CNET Asia's got the skinny on it, but we'll update you guys as we can.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
iRiver N20: first pix of the tiny DAP
Looks like the cats over at iRiverFans scooped themselves some shots of iRiver's forthcoming N20. You know, the latest DAP to battle for the title of the world's smallest audio player with a screen. Here it is nuzzled up to its big bro, the 2.7 x 1.8 x 0.6-inch iRiver Clix for comparison. So yeah, it's small, that much we know but we'll have to sit tight for the rest of the details. But in a battle for eye-strain and impossibly small buttons, do we really care who wins? Damn straight we do.[Via dapreview]
iOPS reveals BlueQ 4GB DAP
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then it seems like Korean manufacturer iOPS has mad love for almost all of the major DAP makers on the market. Having already taken design cues from Samsung's YP-U1 and Apple's iPod mini -- they actually got sued for that one -- it looks like the company now has its sights set on the iRiver Clix with its latest offering, the BlueQ. Formerly known as the Q18, this model sports a 1.8-inch, 262,000-color screen, up to 4GB of flash storage capacity, and most impressively, Bluetooth support for wireless enjoyment of your tunes or 30fps vids. Expect to see the BlueQ in stores sometime in mid-August for an unknown price, but probably not in the US. Watch out Sandisk and Creative -- we hear that iOPS' engineers just got their hands on a Sansa and Zen V.[Via DAPreview, photo courtesy of popco]
The Engadget Interview: iriver America President Jonathan Sasse
We recently had the chance to sit down with iriver America President Jonathan Sasse, who gave us an refreshingly candid take on the company's recently relaunched clix portable media player, its close relationship with MTV's new URGE music download service, and the uphill struggle to increase share in a market dominated by the iPod:Thanks for sitting down with me this afternoon. There's a lot to talk about, but the big news is that iriver just re-launched the U10 as the clix and announced a relationship with URGE, MTV's new music download service. Could you give us an overview of both the launch and the relationship with URGE, and how it came about? The launch is going well and the response has been great. Obviously there's been a lot of great reviews. The interesting thing with the clix is that it's a lot more than a new name for the U10. I've noticed some improvements in the UI. Yeah, the UI's been changed a lot. The hardware's actually different, too. We upgraded the processor, and obviously the memory and the price are different, too. It all goes back to late last year. Microsoft came to us and let us know that they we're going to do a new version of Windows Media Player that's gonna be dramatically different than Windows Media Player 10 in a much more visual way and from an experience standpoint. They also said that they would have a new service partner, though they didn't say who at the time. They said, "We've got somebody that's pretty big and can make a big impact in this space and we'd like to bring you guys on board to help be a great device on that system." They knew the service had to be really good, but at the end of the day they couldn't just have a smattering of devices that they just grabbed any type of device and plugged it in and said, "There you go."
Keepin' it real fake, part XXX: iRiver Clix gets "Lucky"
Chinese ripoff artist DAP manufacturer Yue Qi knows that not everyone has $200 laying around to throw down on an iRiver Clix/U10, which is why the company thoughtfully stole licensed the popular design for its similar-looking LUCKYee LY-PM06. Even more amazing than the $50 and $62 pricetags for the 512MB and 1GB versions, respectively, is the fact that Yue Qi's managed to enhance the video playback from 15fps to 25fps, which had been one of the few knocks against the real Clix. Overall, we see a bright future for this fiery young firm- with its crack team of engineers, dirt cheap prices, and no need for a design team, it's not clear how Apple, SanDisk, and friends will be able to compete.[Via DAPreview]
iRiver Clix Dissected
We know the iRiver Clix DAP has its fair share of fans, so they may want to look away for this one, as the fearless folks at Anything But iPod rip into their precious device to see what makes it tick. And if you want to see for yourself, they've provided some clear step-by-step directions so you can disassemble your own with nothing more than a Swiss Army knife and a couple of screw drivers. Although judging by the number of times they use the word "pry" or "prying", anyone wanting to keep their Clix looking like new (or keep their warranty) will probably want to steer clear. They also took apart the seemingly identical iRiver U10, finding that the Clix does in fact use a faster processor than the U10, which accounts for the increased responsiveness of the UI.
iRiver Clix review roundup
If you like to buy products described by seasoned reviewers as "very good," "great," and "excellent," then you'll certainly want to check out iRiver's 2GB Clix DAP if you're in the market for a player that screams "iDon't." Everyone who's gotten his/her hands on iRiver's rebrand of followup to the U10 seems to be in love with the little thing, citing audio that's both accurate and loud, easy-to-use, intuitive controls and interface, its crisp, clear screen, a plethora of options for photo viewing, and even good video playback despite a maximum of 15fps. Other nice touches include relatively high bit-rate options for in-line, voice, or FM recording, a good selection of digital equalizer presets, and better-than-average earbud headphones included in the box. Out of all the reviews that we've seen, the only major knocks on this $200 player are for its use of MTP (as opposed to UMS) file transfers and its supposedly short battery life (at least compared to the U10), although PCMag managed to squeeze a respectable 27 hours out of their Clix in testing.Read- PCMagRead- Anything But iPodRead- Cnet
iRiver Clix (U10) hits the US
Farewell iRiver U10, hello iRiver Clix. It's the same device (well, this one's 2GB), but it looks like iRiver finally caught on to the fact that named products brand better and seem to sell faster than arcane alpha-numeric character combinations. Other than that this thing doesn't appear to be too different than its predecessors; CNET's got a review of it up (as well as one of Urge and Windows Media Player 11, here and here, respectively if you're interested).[Thanks, Jenn]