A while ago a friend picked up a cheap music and video player. Having seen my experience with Apple and iPod first hand, he didn’t want to open that can of works or pay the dummy tax. He ended up finding a “Visual Land Motion” for $50. In terms of hardware it’s pretty cool, since this thing can play encoded AVI videos, gameboy games, and has a camera and microphone and radio tuner.
The problem is really the company behind this device. They are trying to compete in a ruthless market right now, and they aren’t using any of the big rocks around them to hit Apple in the head with. When we first started looking at realistically getting a device not from one of the major players, it was because we wanted a device that wasn’t locked down.
Visual Land’s user guide says the device cannot be modified. However, it also says users should “unclick” things, and in general they didn’t really document anything legitimately. I think someone got a manual the day before RTM and that’s how that all fell in place… badly.
Open your platform and people will flock to it Visual Land. I was able to get a hold of them a few times, but they never actually responded to anything. Would be cool to work with an unrestricted device!