Diminutive digital players from LG

LG launched its first portable media centre and a few portable digital media players with video capability and large high-res displays this week.

We were particularly taken with the FM30 digital player (above left). Its vitals are so miniscule – 2.4 inches tall, 1.6 inches wide and 0.55 inches deep – it looks like a lopsided spider once all its bits are plugged in.

With a so-so storage capacity of 1GB, it can store up to 250 songs, 100 music videos or 1,500 photos.  The unit can also play multiple music files, including MP3, WMA, OGG and ASF, as well as MPEG4 video.

There’s no recharging faff either, as high-capacity li-polymer batteries and intelligent power management software give the players a 60 hour battery life, the MP3 endurance equivalent of a 110 year old French granny.

The only catch is that with a 1.77 inch OLED screen the FM30 is even smaller than the 2.2 inch display of iRiver U10 and so almost impossible to watch for longer than 15 minutes without drying your eyeballs out.

The PM70 portable media centre (not pictured) is rather dandy too. It plays music and movies through its 4.3in screen, packs a 30GB HD, can record from a composite source – i.e. your telly – and will sync with Outlook if you’re bored of watching Lost. It’s also very pretty.

The players are planned for release in the US in the second quarter of this year. No release dates for the UK yet but watch this space.