Stephen Fry reviews the Eco Media Player, the video and audio player that is powered by a hand crank. Other reviews have not been so broadly positive in the past, but I suspect Fry is considering the Eco player as a device unto itself rather than a competitor to the iPod et al. I can’t imagine using it for video, with only a 1.8-inch screen, but you could add a crank to a treadmill and I’d probably squeal about your ingenuity.
There is also a switch that allows the crank to discharge its power not internally to the device’s own Lithium Ion battery but out through the mini-USB into a mobile phone, charging it with up to two minutes of talk time. A selection of popular phone connections is included. Very handy in an emergency, though I found it couldn’t deliver enough kick to start up a phone whose battery was drained. Still, it’s yet another pleasing extra. And did I mention that there’s a speaker so you can listen, in mono admittedly, without earphones? Eat Trevor’s dust, Apple. Only the iPhone can match that. No iPod can.
Eco Media Player Cranks up the volume [StephenFry.com]
