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Although the B20 doesn't appear to be a direct successor to the impressive Iriver Clix2, it has a similar design with a four-way click operation and a decent set of features, including video playback.
In most ways, the B20 is almost identical to the Clix2 aside from the addition of a DAB radio, so the device is now twice as thick and houses a retractable aerial.
You can expect to pick up around 40 digital radio stations through the tuner, although this will vary depending on your location, and impressively it's set up to handle Electronic Programming Guide schedules and colour image slideshows within broadcasts.
Other differences include a built-in mono speaker, mini-SD card slot, and a handful of new games and themes. Since you could argue that the B20 has all the advantages of the Clix2 and more, there doesn't seem to be any reason to be any less enthusiastic. Unfortunately, this isnít quite the case.
One glance at the price tag should give a very good idea as to why. Iriver has set the RRP of the 1GB player at £149, with the highest capacity 4GB version coming in at £209. This makes it pricier than almost every other comparable player on the market and, although this can be excused to some extent by the DAB support, there seems to be no reason for jacking up the price by £60 for an extra 3GB of memory.
You can buy up to a 4GB mini-SD card for around £30, which is obviously a far more cost-effective way of upping the storage, but what this pricing strategy means is that the B20 is aimed almost solely at users who want to listen to DAB radio, and are prepared to pay the necessary premium.
See also:
The squat, third-generation Nano plays video and comes with a brand new interface 20 Sep 2007
The fifth generation of the popular media player has arrived 17 Sep 2007
A touchscreen multimedia mobile that targets Apple’s iPhone 29 Aug 2007All Multimedia PlayersTags: Portable Media Player
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