Hello Kitty is 35 years old now, and she still continues to be the dream cartoon cat of millions of teenage girls. If you’re one of these people and have a penchant for gadgets on top of that, this new and strictly limited music player might be the right thing for you. The so-called Hello Kitty Music Player Crystal [JP] is the result of a cooperation between iriver Japan, Hello Kitty company Sanrio and luxury brand Swarovski Crystal.
Do you remember the iriver Story, the company’s first stab at an e-book reader? Of course you don’t, especially since it’s still only slated for release in Asia. Be that as it may, it’s now available for pre-order for a hot $281, or thereabouts, fiat currencies being what they are.
We knew iRiver was prepping an e-book reader for the Japan market, but this is the first I’ve heard about an international one. The rather blank user interface of the Japanese Libre has been replaced with a QWERTY keyboard on this, the Story. It looks like a nice little piece of kit, but it doesn’t really set itself apart too much, though it does have a microphone — a nice feature for frequent annotators.
Sometime this year iRiver, which will soon change its name to MouseComputer, will release its very own e-book reader in Japan. It’ll be called the Libre, and it’ll probably be priced around ¥29,800 ($312).
You might want to know that iRiver is making Bluetooth headsets now. Granted, the don’t look anything special; does any headset? Also, the first model, the A100, is currently only set for release in China.
iRiver’s always had a different aesthetic from the other media player makers. The Spinn is a good example of their different industrial design, and now this B30 (though unlikely to be released here in the US), is showing that their UI is as clean and unique as their hardware. The Korean company’s devices are also extremely versatile, wearing many hats and supporting many formats — a trend I wish would catch on here in the states. Check out this little video (apparently taken on the sly) and see how tasteful “traditional” controls can look.
iriver’s Mplayer, a super-cute portable MP3 player, is on sale for about 2 years now and has proven to be a big hit particularly in East Asia. Now, the player that’s shaped like Mickey Mouse’s head gets a quite important upgrade and is renamed Mplayer+ [JP].
You’re looking at the P7, iRiver’s latest portable media player that runs circles around the iPod. The big thing this go-around is that it automatically converts your videos to make sure they playback flawlessly. How well that actually works, in the Real World, isn’t quite known yet; it’s new, you see.
iriver yesterday announced Japan will get their P20 [JP], a new PMP, on February 27. The problem: Only 200 Japanese buyers will be able to lay their hands on the player and iriver didn’t say anything about a possible release outside Nippon.
The Korean company first showcased the device last summer during the IFA 2008 exhibition in Berlin. It features 80GB of storage, a 4.1-AMOLED touchscreen with 480×272 resolution, an FM tuner with recording function, a rechargeable battery, a voice recording function and a USB 2.0 port.
The iriver Wave-Home is one snazzy piece of gadget goodness and it can now be had from KT Telecom in Korea. We spied the Wave-Home at CES 2009 (hands-on video after the break) and after playing around with the sexy kit for a bit, we came away awful impressed. If only we lived in Korea.
iRiver has managed to take the Chumby, add a sweet remote/phone, and throw it into a slick matte white package. This desktop touchscreen is arguably one of the hottest products at CES primarily ’cause info didn’t leak about it before hand and its a pleasant surprise in the mix of gadgets we already know about. The company expects to add a VoIP service like Skype and if they do, this would be a killer desktop companion. Pricing isn’t set in stone yet but expect it to drop around $400 when it hits Korean shelves next month and US stores in six months. Extensive picture gallery after the jump.
iRiver Japan today unveiled a new photo frame, which comes in two designs (”Minnie Style” and “Micky Style”) and is officially licensed by Disney.
Digital picture frames aren’t exactly the hottest gadget item anymore, but maybe iriver can somewhat breath new life in the totally overproduced niche item. The 7-inch Framee-L has a bit of understated art deco look, while at the same time sport’n the standard fare of digiframe features. It has a 720 x 480 resolution display, 1GB of internal memory, a full array of memory card slots, a USB port, and can handle just about every video file. Japanese peeps can get their hands on the frame starting on December 20t at an estimated price of 17,800 yen ($198).
Well would you look at this? Seems iRiver’s getting into the cell phone game – in Korea, at least. The maker of pretty-slick MP3 players does plenty of business over here, though, so it wouldn’t be a total shock to see one or more of the phones picked up by domestic carriers.
The first handset is set to hit the Korean market in March and will be available on the KTF network. According to Electronista, the phone will have a large touchscreen with handwriting recognition along with a Wi-Fi connection, but little else is known. Here’s to hoping that the finished version will be cooler-looking than it is in the above photo. iRiver makes some nice portables so it’ll be fun to see what it can do with a phone.
There’s a small sale on iRiver doodads that might interest you, especially with the holiday shopping season coming. From November 1 to December 31, the iRiver Spinn, Lplayer and E100 are all getting their prices slashed anywhere from $30-$60. For example, you can grab the 8GB model of the E100 for $99. If you’re looking for something a little more flexible, the 8GB Spinn is now $229.
Why would you want an iRiver instead of, say, an iPod?
• You realize being seen with an iPod stopped being impressive by early 2004
• You encode your own music in formats like FLAC and Ogg
Non-sequitor: Anyone else think the name iRiver is a little on the silly side?
We’ve been waiting for the sexy iRiver SPINN for months and finally the gorgeous PMP is shipping Friday. The 8GB flavor carries a $289.99 price while the smaller, but still attractive, 4GB option is going for $249. If you wanna one of the first units, head over to iRiver’s website and place a pre-order.
[Thanks for the tip, Ron]
IFA is quickly coming up and in standard trade show fashion, some gadgets leak out early. The iriver P20 first made headlines during CES ‘08 and that was only a prototype. We’re hoping for some real hands-on action once the PMP launches in Germany. Thankfully, iriver has kept the 4.1-inch touchscreen and is still capable of doing the whole music, DMB TV, Flash games, and video thing via the sexy Spinn OS. Pricing is of course absent but is sure to pop up within the coming days.
iriverFans via Engadget
We saw this thing last week and it looked sweet, but it’s so hard to tell about an interface without seeing it in action. Looks to me like the touchscreen works well, and although the interface doesn’t look as clean as other players, iRiver gadgets have historically done more stuff out of the box. I really can’t wait to get a hands-on with one of these things — hint hint, iRiver. [via iRiverfans forum]
I’ve always liked iRiver’s stuff, and even though the iPod Touch gets all the love these days, iRiver is still mighty popular on the other side of the Pacific and I wish I had more chances to check out there gear here in the states. This Spinn has been lurking for some time (since CES) and just really dropped today; like most iRiver stuff it supports every format under the sun, though at the moment it is limited to 8GB of storage. Interface looks pretty — and weird.
Prices are in Won and Euros, but it looks like the 8GB will run you somewhere under $300 and the 4GB about $250. I’d say that thing is easily $300 worth of sexy.
