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A
Closer Look:::...
Bright,
slightly cheesy and vaguely psychedelic, yet I rather like
the box design. Maybe a picture of the device that nestles
inside would be a good idea, but that list of acronyms should
impress those who enjoy such things.
In
actual fact that snazzy design isn't on the box, it's on
the box sleeve. What lies beneath is slightly classier and
looks equally good in an entirely different way, Gloss lettering
on a flat box and a magnetic flap to keep the lid closed
hind that this isn't your super-cheap no-name player from
an obscure Asian website somewhere.
Inside the box is the iBall itself which we'll
get to in a second, a rather expensive looking seat of earphones,
a USB data cable and not shown here (because I was using
it :), a power cable that can be used to charge the integral
battery from a mains power supply. I'm not sure what will
be supplied in the UK but although the mains charger accepted
both 110V and 240V inputs, it was of the flat 2-pin variety
meaning I needed a travel adaptor to charge from a UK 3-pin
socket. The plug may well change if/when the product makes
it to UK shores.
Just
to set the scale of this device before we take a closer
look, here it is sat on top of a regular CD. Yup, it's tine,
and so is that screen which immediately leads me to question
its validity as an image or video playing device.
I
make it around 54mm in diameter if it's easier for you that
way, which gives you some idea how tiny that screen really
is. Fortunately it's no ordinary screen. The iBall comes
with a new generation OLED colour display that differs from
traditional LCD in that rather than requiring its own backlight,
the individual pixel glow and generate their own light.
Perhaps the easiest way to think of an OLED display is as
a grid of minuscule LED lights.
OLED
and the similar PLED technology are both relatively new,
though they've managed to find their way onto some mobile
phones and and a handful of other similar small-screen devices.
Both technologies theoretically offer better contrast, lower
power consumption and no restrictions in viewing angles,
not to mention the possibilities for higher resolutions.
I
had the black version of the iBall to look at, although
it's also available in silver. It also comes in three different
capacities at present, 256MB, 512MB and 1GB.
Hopefully
that's whetted your appetite a little, now let's switch
to Macro and grab a look up-close!
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