I Heart Oppo?

There are enough crappy Chinese MP3 players to fill a toxic Shenzhen waste dump many times over, but the Oppo Muse G11, with its traditional d-pad and promise of 8-bit glories emulated: I want.

While some of the photos here clearly show a real device, you can see that modesty has inclined lil' Oppo to only be shown from the rear, save for in chaste rendering form. So hopefully the d-pad and traditional SNES/PlayStation four-button config makes it to the final stages of production. News today is pricing: 1099 yuan, or $160. That only appears to buy you a paltry 4GB, but throwing together a true emulation platform along with some pedestrian MP3 playing capabilities into decent-looking swivel-screen hardware doesn't sound like a bad idea to me.

I want my devices to multitask. Everyone does. When I travel, I bring my DSLR, my notebook, my DS, my PSP, my cell phone, and chargers for all devices. I don't shave, that's just one gadget too many. At press events, you'll see all the journos and sponsors looking shaggier and increasingly coffee-stained over the days, because clothes take a back seat to hardware.I have chargers for all this crap and I resent them for it.

Not because they consume power and have different power sources each, I'm fine with that and they all switch 110-240V, so I can (and have) MacGuyvered power to them all no matter what bizarre outlet I've faced.

I resent them because they all only do one thing well. I can't (legitimately) play all my games without also dragging around their bulky media, and because of that, I find myself not gaming. If I feel like getting in some DS, you better believe the TV's on at the same time.

I want my cell phone to play my tunes, I want my cell phone to be my point-and-shoot. If my cell phone played ROMs, then I'd be hard-pressed to re-purchase Chrono Trigger, because I have my copies of the game and at least ROMs can port save games. I'll never buy a point-and-shoot for myself, it's too narrowly-purposed. But there's a fine line. When a gadget's scope is too great, it becomes central and all things suffer. I would enjoy checking my email with my phone, but the ability to withstand my music library is more important. Suffice it to say, I still have my dedicated PMP.

And I still have my crappy phone.