MWC 2008: Various brands overview

Hands-on with iriver GSM phone

Multimedia player manufacturers iriver are downright committed to a corner on the GSM mobile phone market.

After a controversial (and shortlived!) appearance at CES 2008 with an almost-clone of Apple's iPhone, the iriver GSM phone is back at the MWC 2008, this time with an entirely different user interface. What hasn't changed though is the large 3" touchscreen display that looks like a nice portal to all your multimedia.

The iriver GSM phone

The iriver GSM phone was presented at the MWC 2008 along with another device - the Wi-Fi-enabled VoIP-centric iriver W7. The black W7 looks exactly the same as the iriver GSM phone but has a more elaborate user interface and can even dial numbers (something the GSM phone can't pull off at the moment).

The iriver W7 (black) is a twin of the GSM phone (white)

For the time being, the iriver GSM phone (the white one) is not complete and the user interface still needs to be updated. However, it is believed to have the same interface as the iriver W7.

iriver GSM phone and iriver W7 held in hand

An interesting detail is that the iriver W7, being a Wi-Fi/VoIP solution, comes in two versions - one with and another one without a GPS receiver. For the non-GPS enabled devices, including the GSM phone, iriver are offering a desk or car dashboard cradle with integrated GPS.

The iriver W7 and the GPS cradle

The iriver W7 will be available at the end of Q3 2008, while the iriver GSM phone should hit the markets in the beginning of Q4 2008 - both in white and black.