iriver Spinn Review

The iriver Spinn is a new PMP (portable media player) by iriver. It features a very unique and innovative design and could signal a revival or iriver’s sagging fortunes. In this review, we check out the iriver Spinn and see if it turns out to be a good product or just another run of the mill PMP from iriver.

iriver Spinn Specs:

• Dimensions: 99.5 x 51 x 10.7mm
• Weight: 70 gms
• Display: 3.2 inch AMOLED display, WQVGA 480 x 272 pixels Touchscreen
• Capacity: 4 GB, 8 GB
• Supported Audio Formats: MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, ASF
• Supported Video Formats: MPEG-4 SP, WMV
• Other Supported Files: Flash Lite, TXT, JPEG
• Transfer Modes: MTP, MSC
• Sound: SRS WOW, 5 Band EQ, EQ presets.
• Other Features: Bluetooth, FM Radio, Voice Recording

Design:

The iriver Spinn sports a very innovative design which is comprised of mostly of metal and plastic. The build quality is superb and the player is very durable, suited for rough usage. It can handle a few light bumps easily. At dimensions of 99.5 x 51 x 10.7mm and weighing about 70 gms, it is very portable. It sports a gorgeous 3.2 inch AMOLED display supporting 262K colors which has a native resolution of 480 x 272 pixels - WVGA. The display is a touchscreen with haptic feedback. The AMOLED screen has a very good contrast ratio and has much more accurate color reproduction than normal displays. The colors are much more vibrant.

Interface:

The iriver Spinn sports a very intuitive touchscreen interface with haptic feedback which is a very nice addition. Another great interface addition is the spinning cylinder scroll wheelonthe side. It is can be used to scroll through the interface and to click on files. It is fun and easy to use. There are also buttons on the top and the left side - back and hold, and volume switch and power respectively.

The iriver Spinn supports both the MSC and MTP protocols so you can use it with Mac, Linux and Windows and drag and drop music directly on the device or you can use the MTP protocol to sync it with Windows Media Player or other MTP compatible software.

Multimedia:

The iriver Spinn supports the MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, ASF audio formats and the MPEG-4 SP, WMV video formats. The audio quality is superb for casual users and you wont feel much difference unless you buy audiophile grade headphones. The music interface is standard and easy to use. it comes with a 5 band customizable EQ and the SRS WOW HD settings improve the sound quality.

The video playback is nice and videos look great on the AMOLED display. It is great for movie watching. You can convert your videos to the supported formats using the iriver Plus software bundled with it.

The Spinn also supports Flash Lite and comes with a FM radio. The radio interface is good and the reception, nice. You can also view images on the Spinn, it supports the JPEG format. It also supports wireless music streaming through bluetooth.

The battery life is rated at about 24 hours for audio and 5 hours for video. It lasts about 2-3 days with moderate usage.

Pros:

• Nice Interface
• Superb AMOLED display

Cons:

• Relatively Expensive
• Only 4 GB/8 GB capacities

Final Words:

It is a decent PMP with good capabilities but is a bit pricey. There are better players available on the market in this budget range, so we wouldn’t exactly recommend this. However if you have the dough and want to try out something new, go for it.

Our Rating: 3 / 5.