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5.5 oz. MPEG-4/Audio Portable From Archos
An anonymous reader writes "Several manufacturers produce hard drive-based MPEG-4 portables now, but to date they are all big and heavy devices weighing in at around 3/4 of a pound. Archos just announced the Gmini 400, a 20GB video/audio player that comes in at the iPod's dimensions and light 5.6 ounces. Presently shipping, I guess they are ready now for the iPod Video in case that player ever becomes more that a /. myth."
Lots of people say "why would I ever need to watch movies". Fair enough, but the new player takes away the biggest reason *not* to have a video player. Not everyone will go for it, but there will now be a lot more people who'll say "why not have video as well, if the form factor is the same".
People might not think they would use video, but they'd be surprised if they actually had the opportunity, as I do on my Treo. When you can't be bothered reading on a crowded train, or you've got to wait somewhere a few minutes, nothing beats pulling a Simpsons episode out of your pocket. And you're not going to bring a player especially for that, but if it's already there anyway (because you carry your music everywhere), you'll use it.
my cellphone (se p900) has a bigger screen than this thing and thats right now
do these other industrial designers even take note of Apples attention to athestics ? are they blind or just stupid ? and yet the wonder why their devices fail (in terms of consumer acceptance) people dont read specs/features first, it has to be good looking enough for them to pick it off the shelf in the first place before even reading what it does, its like Palm , constantly making clunky devices and wonder why the
oh and does it do Xvid ?
is Rockbox, the open-source firmware for most of their devices, with features out the wazoo, assuming you're one the the lucky wazoo-bearers of the species.