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Crave's Jasmine France Gives her Impressions of the Haier Ibiza
comment: 15 | Monday, November 19 (2007) 10:54AM | Posted by Dominic
Recently we reported that a little known company called Haier had released their "Ibiza" Linux based DAP. This news would have meant sweet funk all to some, but intriguing to those who read our first bit of news about it at CES 2007 some 11 months ago, well now to build on that news is a wee review written by one of our favourite bloggers, Jasmine France, which can be found at "Crave"

Here's a little snippet from the shake down:

the array and implementation of features is truly arresting. There's support for MP3, WMA (DRM 10 included), WAV, AAC audio and MPEG4, WMV, M4V, AVI, H.264, MPG video. You get an FM radio with RDS and integrated podcast support--with a separate menu selection and the ability to update podcasts on the go from any WiFi hotspot


I don't quite call this a review but more of a guide, all the same it is a good read for anyone interested in the Haier Ibiza and with any luck a full review will follow. To me it seems to be a fairly decent first effort by AOL and Haier but it has not been out all that long, perhaps one of our members will purchase one and give us more feedback, I myself nearly would buy one, but given that I do not live in America it may be a bit more difficult to talk advantage of the Ibiza's features.

In any case the Ibiza can be purchased through amazon for $330:
LINK
Comments

Lacene
Location: Standing Here, Confused By Your
Comments: 827
Nov 19 (2007) 12:41PM  

The one thing I will say is the feature of having the album art show full-screen as wallpaper is super, and is a feature I was hoping that Creative would've added to the ZVM since they came out.......




Saijin_Naib
Location: Warren, NJ
Comments: 893
Nov 19 (2007) 12:48PM  

This thing looks almost ideal for me, except for the price issue. Otherwise, Its got me sold.




TOMREM!X

Comments: 56
Nov 19 (2007) 02:51PM  

I think the only two problems with this are the looks and the price. Everything else about it seems awesome. If I was still using Rhapsody and didn't switch over to the Zune Pass I think this would have been a big contender.




FatalAce

Comments: 33
Nov 20 (2007) 03:39PM  

i think it's quite ugly.
what does the thing in the middle do?




Dominic
Location: Ireland.
Comments: 2396
Nov 20 (2007) 05:23PM  

It's a touchpad




HipHopScribe

Comments: 126
Nov 20 (2007) 05:28PM  

This thing needs to be down to around $200, then it would be an interesting Zune alternative at least
[ edited Nov 20 (2007) 05:29PM ]




epithetless
Location: Boston, Mass
Comments: 149
Nov 20 (2007) 05:32PM  

I agree, HipHopScribe. The current asking price is way too high.




sdsdv10

Comments: 243
Nov 20 (2007) 08:35PM  

From Amazon;

4GB - $229
8GB - $250
30GB - $330

Man, those are some high prices. The reviews for the 30GB (all two of them) suggest it's a great product, but at these cost levels most will never find out. You can get a 4GB DAP from Meizu for $80 after rebate (from Newegg). Who's going to look at the same thing for $229. Do these companies do any market research at all?




vidas7de7jesus7

Comments: 52
Nov 20 (2007) 09:35PM  

What they should do is round off the edges of the touchpad and make the buttons as sides of the touchpad. Like in the first two generations of iPod. The buttons form the border of the touchpad. The touchpad should be grey. The square isn't necessarily, bad, but the contrast of black on gray is. And most importantly, the round chrome buttons are horrid. They must go. And nock the price down about $70.




Sternfan91
Location: Northern New Jersey
Comments: 89
Nov 22 (2007) 12:27AM  

I heard the battery is like 13 audio 3 video. A bit behind the times I'd say.




ashxcore
Location: Michigan, USA
Comments: 56
Nov 22 (2007) 07:49AM  

Is it 2005 again?




Saijin_Naib
Location: Warren, NJ
Comments: 893
Nov 22 (2007) 01:58PM  

I only wish it was. I miss the Karma/Carbon/HD300 days. Oh well, I guess its time to move on and have a convergence device like everyone else




Odeen

Comments: 5
Nov 23 (2007) 11:18PM  

Wait.. so it runs Linux, but it doesn't have OGG and FLAC support?

I'd pay $330 for a 30gb color DAP if it equals my Karma in playback prowess. But if it doesn't do much of anything beyond a $100 30gb Zune, then it is too expensive




Saijin_Naib
Location: Warren, NJ
Comments: 893
Nov 24 (2007) 01:42AM  

^ Its also MTP! Lol, the irony.

Aol/Haier said in the beginning that they would like to have user created applications and extensions, so dont write it off yet!




YpoCaramel

Comments: 169
Nov 25 (2007) 06:06PM  

The one great thing the iPod Classic did was up our storage expectations for hard drive players, kind of what the nano did to flash players. Before the Classic, 60GB was considered high-end, but now 80GB is entry level.

Of course, features count, but in the old days Apple's competitors would beat it on both features and storage, and these days, less so.




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