iRiver Lplayer review

With its full-face screen and tiny 60 x 40mm case, the Lplayer is outwardly reminiscent of Cowon’s D2+. Wisely, though, iRiver has eschewed the touchscreen: instead, you control the Lplayer by clicking the screen at the top, bottom or sides.

It’s an ingenious idea, and it sort of works. The directional controls, along with external power and volume buttons, are fine for navigating the simple interface. The problem is that the response is slow, making it a chore to browse a long list of tracks. What’s more, if you’re carrying the Lplayer in your pocket you’ll want to engage the “lock” slider at the back, or you may accidentally skip tracks as you’re walking along.

Once you start playing media, although, you’ll forgive the Lplayer a few foibles: the sound is solid and clear, and though the 320 x 240 TFT screen isn’t as colourful as the OLEDs found elsewhere, it’s bright enough to enjoy TV shows and the odd movie. And let’s face it, it’s a treat to have video at all on a device of this size – not to mention the FM radio and voice recorder.

There’s no denying that the interface is a disappointment, and 8GB of storage could be limiting. But the Lplayer is impressive for a device the size of a matchbox – and good value, too.

Author: Darien Graham-Smith