iRiver's new DAB-sporting B20 pulls into shore with a high price. With only 4GB of memory makes it one of the most expensive flash-based players we've ever seen, and £80 more costly than a video-playing 8GB iPod nano. Slightly cheaper 1GB and 2GB version are available as well.
The big question is: Does the inclusion of DAB radio make this player worth such a premium over iRiver's 2nd-gen Clix?
Well, if you liked the look of iRiver's new Clix -- the Clix 2 to some people -- then there's a good chance you'll like the B20. It's basically a fatter version of the Clix. The innovative four-way Direct Click control lets you browse the player by physically clicking the screen. It's a nice feature, but a rough hand could pull the screen away from the player.The plastic-coated 56mm (2.2-inch) screen has a glossy finish and because of the Direct Click controls, fingers frequently touch the screen. Despite this, greasy fingerprints aren't as noticeable as they are on the iPod touch.
The 170mm telescopic aerial swivels 360 degrees and folds away to the rear. Scattered around the player's edges are physical volume controls, a proprietary USB port and a mini-USB socket.
The B20 supports MP3, WMA (protected/unprotected), OGG and Audible.com audiobooks, but it won't play WAV, lossless WMA, FLAC or AAC -- a big shame, especially considering the player's price. MPEG-4 video with 320x240-pixel resolution is compatible, though, and software comes with the player for handling video conversion. Images suffer few restrictions -- as long as your photos are in JPEG format, they'll load painlessly on the B20.
In DAB mode you're given an alphabetical list of available stations. Typical DAB data -- signal strength, radio station genre, show title, etc -- is displayed along the top and bottom of the screen. FM works in much the same way, though no show data is available. Both FM and DAB broadcasts can be recorded and a range of recording options are available. It's also possible to save recordings to miniSD.
iRiver has built in a great voice recorder, flash games (including Sudoku!), an alarm clock and a text file viewer.
For those who crave a bit of customization, the B20's advanced option menu lets you choose a variety of options. For example, it's possible to use connected earphones as the radio antenna instead of the telescopic aerial. Playback speed is adjustable, too -- good news for audiobook fans. There's also a tiny built-in speaker for out-loud listening. It's quiet, but potentially useful.
Navigating the attractive and intuitive menus with the Direct Click controls is really simple. Grandparents and technophobes, take note: even you'll be able to use this player.
No matter how slinky menus are, the proof is in the pudding, or in this case, in the sound quality. Overall, it's generally pretty decent. Video playback is as smooth as a George Clooney chat up line and high-quality MPEG-4 videos look great. The B20 offers good viewing angles, though the glossy screen can produce a bit of glare. JPEG photos look just as good -- we even got good results with a 2,304x1,728-pixel photo compressed into the B20's 320x240-pixel screen.
DAB performance is excellent and even worked well on the move. During a 20-minute commute on a train, signal didn't drop once, though obviously this will vary from area to area. Battery life is rated at 22 hours for audio, six for video or seven when listening to DAB.
There's no question that this is a superb player. Every feature is well implemented, using the player is exceptionally simple and sound quality is terrific. However, unless DAB radio is your crucial requirement, we really don't feel the huge price tag for the 4GB is justified.
Specifications:
The big question is: Does the inclusion of DAB radio make this player worth such a premium over iRiver's 2nd-gen Clix?
Well, if you liked the look of iRiver's new Clix -- the Clix 2 to some people -- then there's a good chance you'll like the B20. It's basically a fatter version of the Clix. The innovative four-way Direct Click control lets you browse the player by physically clicking the screen. It's a nice feature, but a rough hand could pull the screen away from the player.The plastic-coated 56mm (2.2-inch) screen has a glossy finish and because of the Direct Click controls, fingers frequently touch the screen. Despite this, greasy fingerprints aren't as noticeable as they are on the iPod touch.
The 170mm telescopic aerial swivels 360 degrees and folds away to the rear. Scattered around the player's edges are physical volume controls, a proprietary USB port and a mini-USB socket.
The B20 supports MP3, WMA (protected/unprotected), OGG and Audible.com audiobooks, but it won't play WAV, lossless WMA, FLAC or AAC -- a big shame, especially considering the player's price. MPEG-4 video with 320x240-pixel resolution is compatible, though, and software comes with the player for handling video conversion. Images suffer few restrictions -- as long as your photos are in JPEG format, they'll load painlessly on the B20.
In DAB mode you're given an alphabetical list of available stations. Typical DAB data -- signal strength, radio station genre, show title, etc -- is displayed along the top and bottom of the screen. FM works in much the same way, though no show data is available. Both FM and DAB broadcasts can be recorded and a range of recording options are available. It's also possible to save recordings to miniSD.
iRiver has built in a great voice recorder, flash games (including Sudoku!), an alarm clock and a text file viewer.
For those who crave a bit of customization, the B20's advanced option menu lets you choose a variety of options. For example, it's possible to use connected earphones as the radio antenna instead of the telescopic aerial. Playback speed is adjustable, too -- good news for audiobook fans. There's also a tiny built-in speaker for out-loud listening. It's quiet, but potentially useful.
Navigating the attractive and intuitive menus with the Direct Click controls is really simple. Grandparents and technophobes, take note: even you'll be able to use this player.
No matter how slinky menus are, the proof is in the pudding, or in this case, in the sound quality. Overall, it's generally pretty decent. Video playback is as smooth as a George Clooney chat up line and high-quality MPEG-4 videos look great. The B20 offers good viewing angles, though the glossy screen can produce a bit of glare. JPEG photos look just as good -- we even got good results with a 2,304x1,728-pixel photo compressed into the B20's 320x240-pixel screen.
DAB performance is excellent and even worked well on the move. During a 20-minute commute on a train, signal didn't drop once, though obviously this will vary from area to area. Battery life is rated at 22 hours for audio, six for video or seven when listening to DAB.
There's no question that this is a superb player. Every feature is well implemented, using the player is exceptionally simple and sound quality is terrific. However, unless DAB radio is your crucial requirement, we really don't feel the huge price tag for the 4GB is justified.
Specifications:
- Product type: Flash
- Capacity: 4 GB
- Dimensions (W x H x D): 99x49x15 mm
- Weight: 71 g
- Colour: Black
- Mfr battery life (audio): 22 hours
- Mfr battery life (video): 6 hours
- Included cables: USB
- Included accessories: Earphones; Software
- Supported digital audio standards: OGG, MP3, WMA
- Additional features: Flash games; text viewer; alarm clock; internal speaker; telescopic aerial; Audible support
- Display type: QVGA TFT LCD
- Display size: 61 mm
- Resolution (W x H): 320x240 pixels
- Display colours: Colour
- Backlight: Yes
- Image display: Yes
- Supported image formats: JPEG
- Tuner: FM, DAB
- Antenna: Telescopic
- Input type: Microphone
- Built-in microphone: Yes
- Output mode: Mono
- Headphone type: 3.5mm
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