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iriver releases B30, fails?
comment: 7 | Friday, May 22 (2009) 09:15AM | Posted by Design Fabulous

As it was predicted before, iriver has just released the all new B30. As you can tell by the name already, it is the successor to the B20, meaning that this device is all about DMB. The B30 has an accelerometer for a cover flow feature, and apparently comes packed with a pair of SRS CS headphones. The device supports UCI and comes with a unique UI which I personally think is rather ugly (which is rare for iriver). There aren't too many features, but keep in mind that the B series is mainly for DMB performance.


There are some details that are quite bizarre about this device. First of all, iriver will only be selling 500 units, which clearly shows that they didn't intend on investing too much time/money into this device. It may show why the UI and design aren't up to par with other iriver devices. iriver actually didn't even make a product page for the B30. Nevertheless, the B30 goes for $155 (4GB) and $183 (8GB). BTW, the spec sheet shows a 16GB model, which isn't showing up in iriver's store for some reason.

EDIT: It wasn't worded by iriver very well but it may be that the "500" refers to the number of units that they'll be selling in this first wave of preorders.

TECH SPEC
Capacity: 4/8/16GB (w/ microSD)
Color: white/black/silver
Size: 109.5 x 56.9 x 11.15mm (84.7g)
Battery life: 40hr (music) / 6hr (video) / 5.5hr (dmb)
Display: 2.8" QVGA
Music: MP3/WMA/OGG/ASF/FLAC/APE
Video: AVI/WMV/MP4


iriver store
Comments

Michael
Location: New York City
Comments: 2802
May 22 (2009) 09:50AM  

I like the look of it, but I do agree that the UI looks a bit generic. I would love to see this as the Clix 3 or something, perhaps with a touchscreen and a better looking interface.

It's pretty stange that they're only selling 500 of them too. It seems like a lot of trouble for such a little amount.




Pondlife

Comments: 544
May 22 (2009) 10:57AM  

Is that 500 per capacity or in total?

Wonder how many B20s they sold




Step666

Comments: 202
May 22 (2009) 03:08PM  

By UCI, I'm guessing you don't me the world governing body for bike-racing?

It looks pretty nice and the battery life and price seem ok, if nothing extraordinary.
The screen resolution is a little disappointing but I'm guessing that's related to the DMB thing, right?

As for the UI, it's not great but it could be worse.


The worst thing though is the complete lack of imagination iRiver have put into this.
It all just feels a little re-hashed IMO, like it's been done before and it doesn't bring anything new to the table.




Michael
Location: New York City
Comments: 2802
May 22 (2009) 03:25PM  

UCI - User Created Interface

Though Cowon's site says it's for User Creative Interface, but I assume that it just got lost in translation or something. I've also heard User Customized Interface.
[ edited May 22 (2009) 03:25PM ]




Step666

Comments: 202
May 22 (2009) 06:55PM  

Thanks.
I knew that was roughly what it meant but I couldn't for the life of me work out what the letters stood for.




chengdude

Comments: 121
May 22 (2009) 07:32PM  

A run of 500 makes sense if you're a luxury car builder or a Geneva-based watchmaker, but in consumer electronics? Unimaginable iriver invested in building a $100+ device only to sell 500..unless the first run proved it was the proverbial epic fail and they're just cutting their losses.




Design Fabulous

Comments: 1038
May 22 (2009) 07:43PM  

It wasn't worded by iriver very well but it may be that the "500" refers to the number of units that they'll be selling in this first wave of preorders.




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