iRiver H10 5 GB

...rather sexy number called the iRiver H10. OK, so it's not the smallest, but it's one of the lightest (at 96g) and smartest looking gadgets on the market. It not only plays music in the form of MP3s and radio, but also boasts a generous screen which you can read e-books on (something I have not tried yet), and browse photos in their full colour glory! It is also really easy to use, with a simple 'drag and drop' system to transfer your files to your ...
...yet.

The iRiver H10 itself is available it 4 colours; silver, red, blue and gun-metal (a sort of grey colour), all in matt coating. Mine is silver. I won't go into the full spec, as you can find it anywhere, but there is a generous colour screen that takes up the top half, with one 'back' button by the bottom left and one 'select' button at the bottom right. In the centre of the bottom half is a touch scroll pad. Very handy indeed. ... more

When I first looked at purchasing an MP3 player, I knew that it had to be something a bit special. I didn't want to 'follow the crowd' and go for the Apple iPod... EVERYONE has one, it's over-priced and over-rated (in my opinion at least). It also ONLY works with iTunes, which is a bit annoying. The only thing really going for it is the circular wheel. Even the head phone jack is annoyingly placed at the bottom... What is THAT all about?!

By the way... I'm not trying to slate the iPod, just making a comparison with it as it's the most well known MP3 player.

So what was I looking for? I wanted a slim, smart machine that would hold at least 20 albums for my long train journeys. I also wanted to be able to use it as a portable hard drive, in case I needed to take work home, etc. Incidentally, urban legend has it that when you save files other than iTunes MP3s on your iPod, it no longer plays music! I also wanted a colour screen, not for any real reason, other than I fancied it. I suppose I'm a little technology vain. I also wanted it to have a separate battery and have batteries readily available for purchase (the iPod has to be sent back to the manufacturer for the battery to be changed).

The one and only MP3 player that instantly jumped out at me was this rather sexy number called the iRiver H10. OK, so it's not the smallest, but it's one of the lightest (at 96g) and smartest looking gadgets on the market. It not only plays music in the form of MP3s and radio, but also boasts a generous screen which you can read e-books on (something I have not tried yet), and browse photos in their full colour glory! It is also really easy to use, with a simple 'drag and drop' system to transfer your files to your pocket hard drive. Actually, come to think of it, I think this gadget is more like a pocket hard drive with the advantage that it plays music and has an inbuilt radio!

Okay, so lets start with the packaging. It comes in this really sophisticated black outer box with the H10 displayed in the window on the right. Really posh looking. You open the flaps to reveal the inner carton which is pure white. The inner carton houses the H10 which is in a rigid plastic package for extra protection, your battery, your head phones, your data cable, your power cable, your manual and installation CD and also a silicon case with belt clip and 2 spare cable socket covers. Everything you need! Also, a couple of adverts for places you can download music for free, as you have an iRiver. Handy, but i haven't used these yet.

The iRiver H10 itself is available it 4 colours; silver, red, blue and gun-metal (a sort of grey colour), all in matt coating. Mine is silver. I won't go into the full spec, as you can find it anywhere, but there is a generous colour screen that takes up the top half, with one 'back' button by the bottom left and one 'select' button at the bottom right. In the centre of the bottom half is a touch scroll pad. Very handy indeed. There is a 'hold' switch at the top (to stop your machine switching itself on / off) and the head phone jack. To the left side is the on / off button, and on the right side are the 'fast forward', 'play / pause' and 'rewind' buttons. If pressed once, the track will skip forward, pause and skip back respectively. If you hold the ffwd or rew buttons, they will go forward and back through the track you are playing at about 10sec intervals.

The silicone 'skin' is really handy for keeping your H10 protected. It's quite thin and 'bouncy' and has a belt clip to the rear. There is a big hole in the top to slide the thing in, a big hole in the front for the screen and a long hole for the touch scroll. There is also a little hole at the bottom for the data cable. You should never need to take the device out of it's skin, unless you need to take the battery out. I am going to get a screen protector film for mine, as it doesn't come with one... Having said that, i've had mine now for a couple of months, and it's been in my bag, my pocket, clipped to my belt, and the screen is still pristine. Just needs the odd rub with a soft cloth to get rid of static dust.

Anyway, the manual is rather big, and a little scary, but most of it isn't in English. I don't have it with me at present, but I don't need to go into too much detail. It's really helpful, but some of the instructions seem a little 'dumbed-down', such as "Never drop your H10 in water"... I suppose it's for the Americans who will sue for everything; even "iRiver won't replace my H10 because it didn't tell me not to throw it in the river!". All that aside, the manual is very user friendly, with good diagrams and clear instructions. Personally, I think the machine is easy enough to use without the manual.

First you have to charge the thing. It advises to charge it fully before using it in the manual. First you have to attach the charger adapter to the data cable, and then plug the data cable to the H10. A good idea, as this means that there is only one socket you need to worry about. There's a little red light that comes on on the cable as it charges, and it will go out again when it's done charging. A little annoying that the data cable socket cover is totally detachable (hence the 2 spares). I would advise to keep these safe, and replace after detaching the data cable to prevent any dirt / dust getting inside.

Installation was really easy. Just bung the CD into your CD-ROM, follow the cues and voila! Your H10 is installed and you are ready to go. I think it's best to switch your H10 on before plugging the data cable into the USB port. Your computer will then automatically sense the device and it should appear with a cute litte H10 icon on your 'My computer' folder. Now, here's the easy bit. all you have to do, is select what you want to put on your portable device, click, drag and drop... SIMPLE! You'll hear a faint churning as the hard drive saves everything, but that's it! You can do this with anything, music, photos, documents, etc. Easy peasy!

The menu is so easy to use, and so pretty. Each part of the menu has a different colour screen with pretty pictures sillouhetted (spelling?) in the back ground. All you have to do to go forward through the menu is use the touch scroll to go up and down, and press the 'select' button. If you need to go back, press the 'back' button. Simple. When viewing photos or text, just use the scroll; down for next page, and up for previous page. When listening to music, you can change the stlye of playing (eg rock, jazz, etc) by pressing 'select' while the track plays. Changing the volume is easy; just scroll up for louder and down for quieter. The one and only annoying thing about the H10, is that it arranges tracks in alphabetical order, so it switches the track sequence round. I haven't found a way of getting round it yet (partially because I'm not that bothered).

As far as the battery goes, you can get a new one from various electronic goods stores online for about £15, which is not bad. You can also get a cradle which is a data cable and charger in one from your USB. You can also purchase spare power adaptors. It is also compatible with many portable speakers (I will write another review when I get some), so you can use it as a stereo. The head phones it comes with are pretty good, and music can clearly be heard in stereo (as opposed to mono, which is the same in both ears)... But if you should wish to get better ones, the head phone jack is a pretty standard one, and I would imagine it fits most other head phones.

I can't praise this little device enough. Okay, so there are a couple of things that might be improved, but I think it's such good value for money (and sexy looking) that it's faults are ones that you can live with! 

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