Sneak Peek: iRiver U10 Portable Media Player

By | June 20th, 2005 comments icon (2) Comments


iriver u10UPDATED: iRiver this week is showing off a few of their new portable entertainment devices at a launch event in Korea. One device in particular, however, caught our attention, the iRiver U10. MisticRiver reports (via I4U) that the U10 features a touch sensitive interface called D-Click, but unlike PDAs, for example, the U10′s touch controls are located in four places – seemingly invisible – on the display screen’s frame border. Moreover, the little dynamo supports a variety of media formats, but is hobbled (IMHO) by its 2.2 inch TFT display (the same display size found on the back of many popular digital cameras). No word on pricing or availability, so stay tuned.

Feature Highlights:
Internal storage options: 512MB or 1GB
Built-in Lithium Polymer Battery
Supports MPEG-4, Macromedia Flash Lite 1.1, TXT, JPEG
Supports MP3, WMA, ASF, OGG (Up to Q10)
2.2″ 265K Color QVGA TFT-LCD
New iRiver D-Click System for navigation
FM Radio, Voice Recording, Photo album, Text viewer, Direct encoding (only with cradle) Remote control, and gaming capabilities

From the The Korea Herald: (New)

Reigncom plans to release U10 in the market during August, a traditional high-demand period. The 512 megabyte versions will be priced at 286,000 won ($283) and the 1 gigabyte models will be sold for 339,000 won.

“U10 epitomizes where we want to go in the future,” said Yang, saying that the company will continue to develop convergence products with more multimedia functions.

Reigncom plans to strengthen its partnership with digital content developers and publishing companies to provide a larger content pool to its customers [who use] multimedia devices. The company will also launch an Internet portal that allows users to create and share content.





Filed in: Portable Media Players

  • http://www.alexandergrundner.com Alexander Grundner

    Engadget reports on the U10′s availabilty:

    A few more deets on that iRiver U10, which is already hitting stores in Japan this week. It’ll be coming to Europe in mid-August for £179/$312 for the 1GB version and £159/$277 for the 512MB. Dimensions on the unit are 69 x 47 x 16 mm, weighing in at 70 grams, will sport 12 hours of battery life, and has got a built-in mic for voice recording. iRiver is also putting out a separate docking station/remote control for the unit for £49/$85 that’s supposed to turn it into a clock-radio type of thing as indicated by the inclusion of speakers and a snooze button. Dunno if it’s worth shelling out $85 to turn this into a clock radio when you can saunter down to ye olde Wal-Mart and pick one up for less than $10, but hey, dock ‘em if you got ‘em. Oh, and rumour also has it that iRiver plans to put out an 8GB version of this sometime next year, with slightly larger 20 and 30GB versions also to follow.

  • http://www.alexandergrundner.com Alexander Grundner

    DAPreview reports that the U10 can easily swap its interface between landscape and portrait mode. Nice! This is one portable audio player I might actually buy when it arrives in the U.S.

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