Back in April, Archos broke the PMP mould by announcing a GPS add-on to its popular range of Generation 6 video players. At the time we were all like 'omg lol wtf?', but now iRiver -- the Korean clan responsible for the Spinn and Clix -- is making a GPS-enabled MP3 player, the iRiver M3. And believe it or, it's just for us Europeans -- it's not even coming out in iRiver's home country.
We got to play with the new device at IFA last week. It's styled like a very traditional car-based GPS system, with a Spinn-like GUI powered by a responsive 89mm (3.5-inch) touch-sensitive screen.
In addition to a navigational mapping system from an unknown provider, the M3 features support for MP3, WMA, AAC and OGG music files, Xvid and WMV video, and an array of image formats. It's got 1GB of internal memory, expandable with SD cards, and the unit can be detached from its in-car GPS dock to be used as a more conventional media player.
You probably wouldn't want to carry this thing around, though -- it's pretty massive by MP3 player standards. But for in-car entertainment when not using GPS, it's pretty sweet.
But we're not daft: there's no doubt that the multimedia features of the M3 are simply a bonus, and the navigation functionality will be the feature under the most scrutiny. It'll also be the deal-killer if the maps suck. They looked good to us on the show floor, but this is no indication that they won't lead you to drive your new Prius into a pond, decapitating someone's pet goose in the process.
No release date or price has been announced. One iRiver spokesperson told us October of this year, while another said it could be Q1 or Q2 of 2009. Clearly it's a work in progress. We'll keep you posted, but don't ditch the idea of a new TomTom just yet. Photos and screen grabs are just over the page. -Nate Lanxon
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