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Overall Interface (3.50)
The E100 doesn't have the best interface. In fact, it's a bit unintuitive. The main feature we had a problem with was the right arrow suddenly becoming the menu button on certain screens. Not only is there no indication this is the case, but you have to hold the button for a few seconds to activate the menu. Since there are no other commands that require you to press and hold a key, it's unlikely you'll discover this function by process of elimination (unless you're better process-of-eliminationers than we are). The right button/menu issue is even worse in the picture viewer. First of all, when you select a picture, you're simply starting a slideshow with that picture as the frame: you then need to pause the slideshow in order to look at the picture, which seems silly. This auto-slideshow feature, combined with the landscape-orientation means you're even less likely to know there's a menu in here. This was the second time we had to look at the manual. We tried pressing right for a few seconds, then we tried pushing the down arrow for about as long, figuring the landscape orientation made it the new right arrow. Nothing worked. What you have to do to get to the menu is to first pause the slideshow that began without your permission, then press and hold the down arrow. The worst part is that the picture viewer menu does not have an option to turn off the automatic slideshow.
Other than myriad gripes we have with the right button and finding menus, the menu layout didn't feel particularly intuitive. For example, if you select Music from the main menu, you're greeted with your music sorting options. There is a single option that doesn't fit on the screen, My Ratings. We're not sure why iriver didn't simply condense this list to fit on one screen, or why the ratings sort got the short straw, but that's just the way things are. Also, as hinted at in the navigation section, opening up a new menu will take about a second.
Overall, this isn't the worst layout we've seen, but it's a bit slow, has a wonky layout, and is sometimes downright confusing. We're not sure why so many manufacturers are having such a problem keeping up with the Jobses: the iPod is old news at this point.
Personal Information Management
Address Book (0.0)
No address book.
Calendar (0.0)
No calendar.
Todo Lists (0.0)
No todo lists.
Memos & Other Documents (0.0)
The E100 does have a text-viewing application, but doesn't let you actually edit your text.
iRiver lauds this feature as an eBook reader,
but it's just a text file viewer.
Games (0.0)
Get ready to be bored, because the E100 doesn't have any games on it whatsoever.
Extensibility (0.0)
Like most media players, the E100 is in no way extensible.
Other Features (0.0)
There are no other significant features for us to write about in this section.
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