Whether it is our chocolate fetish or something else altogether, the iFP-1090 makes for an intriguing conversation piece with its odd form factor that certainly has seen no peer duplicating it. And like its pseudo-Swiss connection to the chocolate maker in terms of design, the iFP-1090's range of features--from a built-in camera to voice recording--also seems to suggest a link to the Swiss army knife, too.
Design
Measuring 91 x 34 x 34mm and weighing 63g, the iFP-1090 could be termed as pocket-able. But due to the fact that iRiver had to figure out a way to accommodate the camera lens in the body of the player, the resulting thicker girth and triangular ends would make for unsightly protrusions in almost any pockets. Though with that being said, the iFP-1090 would still appeal to those who are looking for a player design that detracts from the average candy bar designs.
Playback controls are performed mainly through a clickable, quad-directional joystick on the right of the screen which when depressed, would lead to player configurations like playback mode and display settings. There are additional buttons on the side of the player, of which each is tied to two separate controls depending on how long the button is depressed. For example, a short tap on the camera button in FM radio mode begins recording, while a longer press activates the mode switch. Sounding like a layout minefield, especially when we take into consideration that the user would have to remember what each button would do in different modes; the case is further reaffirmed when we discovered that it would be difficult to control the iFP-1090 beyond basic playback with just one hand. Lefties would also be dismayed to know that the situation of the joystick on the far right of the player along with the orientation of the LCD display means that it is biased towards right-handers.
The camera on the iFP-1090 is hidden in a slot on the top of the player. For a better capture angle, the camera can be pulled out like a periscope, and swivelled around for self-portraits. However, for those spur-of-the-moment shots, users should not rely on the iFP-1090 as there is no dedicated button to switch on the camera mode.
For a mini LCD screen, it was certainly brilliant--to say the least. The user interface is colorful with a neat layout that would not have the user squinting their eyes. We were impressed that iRiver managed to squeeze quite a fair bit of information onto the 1.2-inch display such as battery status, time elapsed, detailed track info and even equalizer visualization, not to mention that it worked very well as a viewfinder for the onboard camera.
Features
On connectivity, the iFP-1090 comes only with USB 1.1 and 256MB worth of memory. We would think that it is a little slow, but for a small amount of flash memory, we doubt that is going to make much difference, but for users who are used to transferring songs every day, then they may want to look someplace else.
Besides FM radio, FM/voice/line-in recording, the iFP-1090 supports a list of audio codecs like MP3, WMA and ASF as well as JPEGs for the camera. Though there is no expandability, the lithium-ion battery is detachable, so buying a replacement or a backup battery from iRiver is not going to be a problem.
Cameras are becoming so ubiquitous that it was only inevitable that one would be introduced in an MP3 player. Yet, for anyone hoping to print something larger than a "Neoprint", they will have better luck trying out a camera with a bigger than 0.3-megapixel CMOS sensor. The camera option does, however, have 3x digital zoom and a few photo-enhancing effects like Sepia which will satisfy the infrequent shutterbug.
And like standard iRiver offerings, the iFP-1090 has five equalizer presets plus an additional user-adjustable 5-band equalizer. Other frills include an alarm function as well as a programmable radio recording function for those days when you want to record a favored late-night radio talkshow but just can't afford to stay up for it.
Performance
We hit a transfer speed of 0.64MB per second using 240MB worth of assorted MP3 files. On battery life, the iFP-1090 managed a very credible 24 hours and 15 minutes in our battery test though it still fell short of iRiver's claim for 35 hours.
In our sonic feedback, we tested the iFP-1090 using the Etymotic ER-4P MicroPro Earphones. The player did a fine rendition of Louis Armstrong's La Vie en Rose with good details in articulating the singer's coarse voice and giving support to the trumpets in the background. With Coralie Clement's Samba de Mon Coeur Que Bat, we were satisfied that we could hardly detect any sibilance in the singer's vocals.
