Full tech specs have yet to be released about the upcoming iRiver phone, but one thing is for sure, it has the mark of beauty. The iRiver phone has been announced that it will be available starting March 9th 2009. I doubt that it will come to American soil any time soon, but it will definitely be out on Korean carrier KT.

What we do know about the phone is the inclusion of a large touchscreen, Wi-Fi, joystick navigation and handwriting recognition.

No pricing details have been released but you’ll probably be able to check it out at CES 2009.

Fans of the iriver can rejoice this holiday season, as the company is cutting prices on three of their PMPs for the holiday shopping season. The E100 and the Lplayer will go down to $69.99 for the 4GB models and $99.99 for the 8GB models. The priciest of the three, the SPINN, will see a price cut to $189.99 for the 4GB and $229.99 for the 8GB unit. The price drops are in effect starting on November 1st. Hey wait, that’s today.

Just released in Korea, the iRiver NV PMP is a beautiful example of consumer design. It’s specifications are pretty nice as well:

• GPS via SiRFStar III chip
• T-DMB (for those who get it, of course)
• 7-inch, 800X400 screen
• Small display on the control wheel
• 1.3-megapixel camera
• Great format support (OGG, MP3, WMA, XviD, AVI, AAC, etc.)
• Two SD slots

It’s going for $536, but with the question remains whether it’ll ever make it to the US.

iriver and Real have brought out their new clix Rhapsody player. Based on the gen 2 clix PMP, the player includes album art and editorial reviews, and the user can rate songs and discover new music via personalized channels that get loaded each time you hook up to the service.

“We are excited to be launching the new clix Rhapsody,” said Mr. Sean Kim, CEO of Reigncom, Ltd. “With Rhapsody DNA technologies, we are able to introduce a number of new features to enhance the consumer’s digital music experience by providing intuitive ways to discover and enjoy new music directly on the device.”

The player costs $190 for 4GB of storage and is available now online, but the best news is a firmware upgrade available at iriver’s site that brings all these functions to your current second-gen clix for free.
Source: PRnewswire

The iRiver NV GPS may not offer the most information on a screen intended for use in a moving vehicle, but it probably comes close. Someday, someone might outlaw this thing for causing drivers to drive off cliffs while fast-forwarding their favorite tunes. It’s a fairly complete device, which is good, and let’s hope there’s a way to minimize the information. Pricing or whether this will ever make it to the US are unknowns at this point.