X-bit labs

X-bit labs CeBIT 2005 Coverage: Day 7 (page 7)

Category: Editorial

by Anton Shilov

[ 03/24/2005 | 04:56 PM ]

GEIL Goes Consumer Electronics

GEIL has been renowned for its high-performance memory modules in innovative packaging methodology. The company's primary business is still memory modules, but recently the company began to manufacture its consumer-electronics oriented products, particularly portable music and video players.

At the moment GEIL’s consumer products lineup consists of two devices: iBall MP3 player and David 300 video player. Both devices seem to be rather stylish, which is not something you would expect from a company who is novice on the market of consumer electronics.

GEIL’s iBall player

The iBall player is small, about the size of powder-box or something like that, round and is fully made of metal – it even comes with special headphones that match design of the device itself. The iBall has a small screen to control the playback and even watch some digital movies in MPV format, even though it is too small for proper video playback. The player can integrate up to 1GB of flash memory and is compatible with USB 1.1. The iBall is already available on the market.

GEIL’s David-300 player

GEIL's David 300 is portable video player that will be launched commercially in future. The player integrates a mobile HDD, can playback movies, music and also view pictures and even play a game. The menu and controls of the device are done really properly: everything is very logical and intuitive.

GEIL’s David-300 player

Design of the David 300 is similar to Apple’s iPod player, which is not bad, but not really exciting. Furthermore, it would really be a lot better if they use a bit larger screen with the player – size definitely matters when it comes to movies.