Slashdot Mirror
Olympus Preps MP3 Player With Cam & Color Display
igrp writes "Japan-based electronics manufacturer Olympus just announced their plans to enter the HD-based MP3 player market currenly dominated by Apple's iPod. What makes this stand out from all the other 'iPod killers' are their players' specs. Their top-of-the-line 'MR-500i' model sports a 1,22 MP camera, a 3.7" color touch screen VGA display with a slick-looking red backlight, JPEG support and according to this German newssite weighs in with a battery life of 8 hours. No word on prices and availability in the U.S. yet."
No ogg vorbis support :( I'm disappointed...
"It would be wrong to refuse to face the fact that everything is fundamentally sick and sad."
It makes less sense than a coffee mill in your gun stock.
Oh, well, I suppose it doesn't hurt the battery life much, if they can still claim 8 hours.
See what I've been reading.
There are a lot of things Apple probably should do with the iPod. It's overpriced (as compared to the rest of the market), won't play formats it could (Ogg is the obvious one), is missing optical ports and any inputs (thought it was for audiophiles...), lacks the basic feature of an FM reciever/transmitter, no longer/doesn't come in the largest and smallest sizes, etc. They even block the transfer of music with iTunes... They've left these simple additions that most other players sport to third party addons, which add expense and bulk to the player (and cannot be used simultaneously). It seems like they're going out of their way not to change anything, even when everyone else has. Certainly it's not hurting them, but it's unfortunate for the consumer.
This poor record regarding innovation/adoption predicts that they will not be adding cameras anytime soon.