Incoming: the PQI mPack P600

If squinting at episodes of Scorsese's new Dylan documentary while travelling on the London Underground is your idea of a good way to spend the daily commute, then do PQI have a treat for you. This is the new mPack P600 portable video player. We've previously put the P800 through its paces, but this is a new beast entirely. The case design is reminiscent of consoles from the 80s, but stops sadly short of faux-walnut inlays. Still, this clam is hot.

It's not only retro-chic styling that makes the player worth a second glance, there's SPDIF out (that's optical audio for anyone who's participated in an outdoor sport in the last six years) and a 4-inch widescreen display capable of a 480x272-pixel resolution. It's promiscuous with video formats, and is happy to accept MPEG1/2/4, XviD and MOD (with WMV and ASF supported by converting software).

Cinematic or televisual goodies can be slurpeed onto the P600 via its USB2 connection and it will play a range of audio formats including MP3 CBR/VBR, AC3, AAC, WAV and OGG. Battery life is 3 hours video or 5 hours for audio.

Despite all this spec-sheet bravado, the P600 is reportedly aimed at women. We hazard to suggest that it does have a vague make-up mirror look to it. If you haven't seen it before, you could easily assume the clamshell enclosed powder and a mirror, rather than several hundred pounds of cutting-edge consumer electronic pick-'n'-mix. Expect a full review soon. -CS