iRiver P8 rolls out in Mother Russia

Portable media players used to be all the rage, until smartphones caught up with the game and changed everything. Take a look at even your mid-range smartphone today – surely with its full touchscreen display, you are able to launch your favorite music videos or MP3s with but a few deft touches? This begs the question – is the dedicated portable media player an extinct device in this day and age? Perhaps in developed markets, but developing markets such as Russia might still find it palatable to tote around the iRiver P8.

This recently launched 5″ device will have its focus on video playback, handling High Definition video without missing a beat over its 800 x 480 display, or via HDMI for native resolution goodness. The interface is said to be heavily inspired by that of the Mac OS X, sporting a “dock” of common tasks in addition to widgets for top-level access. 

Touting 9 hours of continuous video playback and 40 hours of music, you will find a wide range of formats supported here including MKV, XviD, AVI, and WMV. With 8GB and 16GB capacities to choose from, you can always expand that further via a microSDHC memory card slot. No idea on whether this model will arrive anywhere else apart from Russia though.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Audio, Gadgets, Photo-Video
Tags: iriver, pmp, portable media player