We've mentioned it every now and then... but we didn't really know all that much about the PQI mPack 500. And, as been touched by an angel, we *do* know more about the mP500 so we're happy to share.


That's what it looks like (you already knew the front view, right?). You can make out the 3.2MP built-in camera right away - it has 2x digital zoom and a flasher.

There's a 5GB hard drive in there (controversial in these nanotic times). A 2.2-inch, 320 x240 full color screen perks up the front. TV-out to NTSC and PAL-based televisions is included in the deal. The mPack 500 also has this (presumably useless) built-in mono speaker - but more importanly so, it comes with a user-removable battery (1350 mAh li-ion, efficiency to be determined) and USB on-the-go 2.0 functionality.

PQI's latest device will measure 117 x 56.3 x 22mm (kind of huge for a micro-hdd based unit... like an Archos G402 on steroids) and supports ASF, AVI, MP4, MPEG4 Simple Profile, XviD, WMV9 and MPEG 1 & 2 for video. As for audio junkies, the mP500 seems like kind of a please-them-all-machine... (MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, Ogg Vorbis, Atrac3)... but there's no room for FLAC in there yet . It does support line-in encoding to MP3, if you should be wondering.

Finally, JPEGs, GIFs, BMPs, PNGs and TIFFs can be viewed, there's a voice recorder in there and one can control the device by using an InfraRed remote.

The PQI mPack 500 should see its release in 6-8 weeks time, but that's variable as ever. MSRP was suggested to be around 300-400 Euros/Dollars... not exactly cheap for a bulky 5GB thing without FM radio or video recording capabilities. But keep trying, PQI. Keep trying.