There’s a new ereader in town, gals and pals. The iriver Story HD will soon be available at Target for $139.99. While by all accounts, it’s a fine piece of hardware — 7.3 ounces, first six-inch XGA e-ink screen, SD card slot, WiFi, six week battery life — it’s the Google Books integration that will likely spur sales. This might be the best anti-Kindle/Nook ereader on the market.
Ereaders need access to a massive book marketplace to be successful. The Kindle has Amazon and the Nook B&N. The iriver Story HD is no different. However, instead of having a marketplace named after a famous bookseller, the new ereader uses Google eBookstore. This newish Google service uses the cloud for easy and convenient book storage, which allows multiple devices to share content much like the Kindle’s Whispersync. → Read More
Remember iRiver? Well, they’re still making PMPs. Their latest is the P8 with 5-inch touchscreen and a hotsexy interface with 800 x 480 resolution. It supports most major audio and video codecs and includes up to 16GB of memory, expandable to 32GB via microSD. Amazing? Probably not, but sexy enough. → Read More
Now, I’m not saying that this particular gadget is the best thing in the world, but I do have to say that I like the look, and of course microSDHC support and a big battery are a plus. The interface looks very Zune-like, right down to the circled triangle for “play” and the sans-serif, left-aligned white-on-dark typography. Maybe they did it first and Microsoft copied them? → Read More
I’m a fan of iRiver; have been ever since their SlimX MP3-CD player. I’ve admired their other gear from afar, and I suspect that will be how I admire their latest, the Cover Story e-reader. It’s among the cleanest readers I’ve seen, perhaps outdone only by the Plastic Logic Que (R.I.P.). iRiver knows how to make a slick device, that’s for sure. → Read More
After launching the S100 Panorama in South Korea back in June, iriver today announced [JP] it will bring their media player to Japan (the company is yet to list the device on its global website). Technically, the player isn’t anything special, but it looks quite cute and comes in a total of three colors (white, black and pink). → Read More
The iriver story isn’t exactly a mainstream hit here in the states. Well, actually, that can be said about most of iriver’s wares, but it’s a popular brand abroad so it should come as a surprise to see the next generation of the iriver’s ebook reader. The story Touch Edition builds upon the first model, but does away with the QWERTY keyboard and instead opts for a full 6-inch touchscreen. The rest is standard ereader fare including multi-document support along with various audio codecs. No word on pricing or availability, but it’s not like you should worry about it anyway. It’s unlikely this model will leave Asia. → Read More
Guys! E-Book readers are everywhere at CES 2010. You should see it here. Anyone with a Chinese manufactuering contract seems to have one. (More to come, get excited) But there are only a few that are worth your time and ours. The iRiver Story is one of these and the good news is that you’ll be able to buy one real soon. → Read More
The Hello Kitty Music Player Crystal, made in cooperation with luxury brand Swarovski, I blogged about in October drew the attention of quite a few (mostly female) CrunchGear readers. One of the problems was the price: $150 for a fairly basic music player isn’t cheap. But now Japan-based Mouse Computer, in cooperation with iriver Japan, is offering a similar device. And their so-called Hello Kitty Music Player Premium [JP] is less expensive. → Read More
Hello Kitty is 35 years old now, and she still continues to be the dream cartoon cat of millions of teenage girls. If you’re one of these people and have a penchant for gadgets on top of that, this new and strictly limited music player might be the right thing for you. The so-called Hello Kitty Music Player Crystal [JP] is the result of a cooperation between iriver Japan, Hello Kitty company Sanrio and luxury brand Swarovski Crystal. → Read More
Do you remember the iriver Story, the company’s first stab at an e-book reader? Of course you don’t, especially since it’s still only slated for release in Asia. Be that as it may, it’s now available for pre-order for a hot $281, or thereabouts, fiat currencies being what they are. → Read More
We knew iRiver was prepping an e-book reader for the Japan market, but this is the first I’ve heard about an international one. The rather blank user interface of the Japanese Libre has been replaced with a QWERTY keyboard on this, the Story. It looks like a nice little piece of kit, but it doesn’t really set itself apart too much, though it does have a microphone — a nice feature for frequent annotators. → Read More
Sometime this year iRiver, which will soon change its name to MouseComputer, will release its very own e-book reader in Japan. It’ll be called the Libre, and it’ll probably be priced around ¥29,800 ($312). → Read More
You might want to know that iRiver is making Bluetooth headsets now. Granted, the don’t look anything special; does any headset? Also, the first model, the A100, is currently only set for release in China. → Read More
iRiver’s always had a different aesthetic from the other media player makers. The Spinn is a good example of their different industrial design, and now this B30 (though unlikely to be released here in the US), is showing that their UI is as clean and unique as their hardware. The Korean company’s devices are also extremely versatile, wearing many hats and supporting many formats — a trend I wish would catch on here in the states. Check out this little video (apparently taken on the sly) and see how tasteful “traditional” controls can look. → Read More
iriver’s Mplayer, a super-cute portable MP3 player, is on sale for about 2 years now and has proven to be a big hit particularly in East Asia. Now, the player that’s shaped like Mickey Mouse’s head gets a quite important upgrade and is renamed Mplayer+ [JP]. → Read More
You’re looking at the P7, iRiver’s latest portable media player that runs circles around the iPod. The big thing this go-around is that it automatically converts your videos to make sure they playback flawlessly. How well that actually works, in the Real World, isn’t quite known yet; it’s new, you see. → Read More
iriver yesterday announced Japan will get their P20 [JP], a new PMP, on February 27. The problem: Only 200 Japanese buyers will be able to lay their hands on the player and iriver didn’t say anything about a possible release outside Nippon.
The Korean company first showcased the device last summer during the IFA 2008 exhibition in Berlin. It features 80GB of storage, a 4.1-AMOLED touchscreen with 480×272 resolution, an FM tuner with recording function, a rechargeable battery, a voice recording function and a USB 2.0 port. → Read More
The iriver Wave-Home is one snazzy piece of gadget goodness and it can now be had from KT Telecom in Korea. We spied the Wave-Home at CES 2009 (hands-on video after the break) and after playing around with the sexy kit for a bit, we came away awful impressed. If only we lived in Korea. → Read More
iRiver has managed to take the Chumby, add a sweet remote/phone, and throw it into a slick matte white package. This desktop touchscreen is arguably one of the hottest products at CES primarily ’cause info didn’t leak about it before hand and its a pleasant surprise in the mix of gadgets we already know about. The company expects to add a VoIP service like Skype and if they do, this would be a killer desktop companion. Pricing isn’t set in stone yet but expect it to drop around $400 when it hits Korean shelves next month and US stores in six months. Extensive picture gallery after the jump. → Read More
