As cheap as the Gemei X-900 looks, the 1GB portable video player features more than what meets the eye. The X-900 features a built-in camera, video support, gaming support, picture viewing (JPEG, BMP, GIF), FM tuner and even supports FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec). The FLAC support lets you compress audio without losing any of the original CD’s quality, but it will take up a noticeable amount of space on your X-900. The Gemei X-900 is actually just the little screen with video on it (look up), the joypad connected to the screen is an add-on unit that comes with the X-900.
The portable video player’s joypad has one noticeable thing we don’t see on many devices that support gaming: dual analog sticks. The bad news is, the dual analog sticks don’t make much of a difference when it comes to gaming on the X-900 anyway. CNET’s review of the X-900 actually states that its controls weren’t very responsive, and the onboard speakers only work if the joypad is attached to the screen.
Despite some of the flaws listed above, the X-900 still packs quite a punch, as it supports emulators for 8-bit and 16-bit consoles. This is a great feature for someone who can’t decide whether to listen to music, watch video or play great Super Nintendo games while they are on the go. As far as the music quality goes, CNET reported music playback wasn’t as good on the X-900 as on current MP3 players. The interface is said to have no problems and the battery life is around 6 hours when watching video. No pricing on the Gemei X-900, but if it’s cheap enough (and if it ever comes to the United States), I’d love to play Chrono Trigger while I’m taking the subway around.
Gemei X-900 [CNET Asia]