The company Iriver has taken on the big challenge of competing with Apple’s famous iPod. With all the iPod imitators out there, Iriver has made something that is actually different enough to stand out. Iriver’s new innovation, P7 PVP has an interface that is very unique. The main menu, which rather than using text or icons, lays out your options magazine-style, with a snapshot of the last item played leading into the various media submenus. The P7 is controlled almost exclusively via its full-color, 4.3-inch touch screen (480 x 272 resolution). Iriver does offer a few tactile controls around the edges: a power button, a hold switch, and dedicated volume keys. It also has music, video, and photo (including slide show) playback; a text viewer; voice recording; and an integrated FM tuner. There’s a built-in microSD card slot for adding more memory, which may come in handy considering the P7 maxes out at 16GB (4GB and 8GB versions will also be available). Although Iriver hasn’t confirmed format support for the P7, we expect it to be comparable to what you find in the Spinn, which is MP3, WMA, OGG, ASF, FLAC, and APE for audio; MPEG 4 SP, WMV SP, and XVID SP for video; and JPEG, BMP, PNG, and GIF for photo. The battery life of 50 hours for music is very impressive, especially given the large, brilliant display. The P7 is expected to be available in the U.S. by the end of second quarter and pricing has yet to be determined.
Source: CNET
