| Product: |
Iriver U10 1 GB |
| Date: |
14.03.06 (339 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: looks nice, abundance of features, attractive display, sound quality
Disadvantages: expensive
the mp3 player is still largely dominated by ipod. only recently has creative started to really bite into apple's market with their new zen series. with samsung trying to poke its head through as well, it seems the race between other manufacturers is for the second best selling mp3 player because the ipod has raced ahead.
objectively, the ipod is inferior to the other mp3 players coming out now. creative, samsung and iriver have all produced better performing and often cheaper alternatives that have more features than any the ipod series. the only thing that the ipod is better at is looks..and this is starting to change.
iriver has always been the geek's choice. it outdoes the ipod in every aspect other than ease of use and appearance. iriver never cared for looks and made the bulkiest mp3 players out there but made up for it by features and quality. but they soon realised that the geek population wasnt that big. apparently the boss of iriver wanted the developers to turn around their thinking and design something that would appeal to the masses. so, i read, that this u-turn in the thinking process became the u10? u-turn u10? interesting but whether it's true or not, u10 does stand out from the other iriver products.
appearance
the u10 is slightly thicker but shorter than the ipod nano at 6.9 x 4.7 x 1.6cm. and its a lot heavier at 70g compared to 42g of the nano. but i personally like this because it doesnt feel so fragile. sometimes with the nano, i am afraid of snapping it in half. no problems with the u10 here. because it is slightly thicker, it is easier to handle.
when you first look at the u10 (see picture above) it just looks like a screen. in fact it is just a screen. to navigate around the screen you press the four edges of the screen (iriver patented this as the d-click buttons). in the picture above, the arrows on the screen point to the d-click buttons. most functions are controlled by the d-click but there are additional four buttons located on the side of the player. the volume is controlled by four dedicated buttons along the top; the power button is on the left side; just below that is a button to flip the screen 90deg to use the u10 in portrait or landscape modes. the back of the player is ice-white and overall the u10 looks very flashy. i've been impressing people whenever i take this device out, be it on the train, the bus or in the streets.
the user interface
iriver user's main qualms about the products were regarding the complicated user interface. usually there were too many buttons on the player that did several different things each time etc. the u10 improves this by using a remarkably user-friendly and logical interface that doesnt even require a manual. the u10 has a 2.2 inch screen and exploits this advantage by using a flash-based interface. this means that there are colourful animations for each menu. you can also customise the menu screens to display any photos or videos you'd prefer. also d-click makes scrolling very easy and rather fun.
features and performance
along with the essential music playing abilities, the u10 can also display photos, videos and flash-base games. other features include text viewing (surprisingly useful), fm radio, voice recording, user EQ, ability to view any swf files. the nano on the other hand can only play music and display photos (you can play videos if you hack them though)
the sound quality is excellent and with the user EQ (or preset EQs) and various other sound enhacnement options, the u10 manages to overtake the nano's audio quality. the included ear buds are white like the ipod ear phones but of a better quality. however if you want perfect sound quality, you should invest in shure headphones! photos look very good on the vibrant 2.2inch display and you can also view them on slideshow while listing to your music. videos are displayed at 15 frames per second (fps)which means that action videos can be a little streaky (for normal viewing it should be 24fps). but it is more than suffient for a small player as this. i didnt really expect to use the text viewing abilities but i am starting to use if for various things. the fm radio is also very good, offering 20 user presets and an exhaustive auto scan. the reception is also outstanding.
when transferring files to u10 you can use drag and drop. you can also transfer playlists from your computer or creat them in the u10. the only gripe i have regarding performance is the relatively slow transfer speeds. although it uses usb2.0 it is not achieving a fast transfer rate as my samsung t7z. at the moment though it's only a problem when i want to transfer new files a few mintues before my bus is due...but hopefully this will improve with firmware updates.
the battery life is spectacular: iriver states 28 hours which means that it is slightly higher since manufactures always take the low estimate.
included in the box are headphones, user manual, usb cable and software for transferring files. you can also get the optional cradle and remote which makes your u10 look like a minature tv. using this, you can view videos from a distance (...on a 2.2 inch screen?) and use it as an alarm clock (there is a massive snooze button on top of the cradle.
to summarise, the u10 is refreshing and innovative. the 2.2inch screen (capable of displaying 260000 colours), extensive sound enhancements and abudnace of features make the u10 a winner. the design is also very clean and sleek. dimension wise, the ipod is smaller but that's because they didnt have all these features to cram in!
having said all that...........
it is expensive... for a 1gb u10 you should expect to pay almost the same price as the 2gb nano(slightly cheaper but you are getting only half the nano) and for the 2gb u10 you will be paying slightly less than the price for the 4gb nano. therefore, it is quite a big sacrifice but if you have cash to burn or if you have a sugar-daddy/mommy or rich parents...or whatever, get this!
(before you start speculating on how i got this...i've got cash to burn.. :D)
Summary: five stars in everything but the price brings it down to 4 overall
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