Handheld Entertainment Zvue

Eliot Van Buskirk

Evolver.fm Editor Eliot Van Buskirk has covered and occasionally anticipated music and technology intersections for 15 years for CNET, Wired.com, McGraw-Hill, and The Echo Nest. He is not currently an employee of CNET.

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Eliot Van Buskirk

Oct. 16, 2003 10:09 p.m. PT

Handheld Entertainment's Zvue lets you view video on the go on a 2.5-inch color screen. It also displays JPEG photos either individually or in a slide show and plays MP3 music. Considering all the functionality of this personal video player, its $99 retail price is shockingly low.

Upside: The Zvue's main selling point is clearly its price. The competition costs about five times as much.

Downside: The only video format the Zvue accepts is Handheld's proprietary, secure HHe, so you can't play downloaded or homemade material. You have to buy all your movies from the company, and the content will be bound to an SD card. Also, the Zvue ships with hardly any memory. To add any significant number of MP3 or JPEG files, you'll need your own SD/MMC media.

Outlook: The Zvue's closed nature makes us extremely doubtful about its future. Even at $99, the device will be a complete waste of money unless Handheld offers a wide selection of compelling content. And now that inexpensive handhelds such as the $200 Palm Tungsten E include software that allows you to enjoy your own videos, photos, and music at no extra cost and with no usage restrictions, the Zvue's audience could be restricted to kids who don't mind watching the same movies over and over.