The mPack P800 is an attractive piece of technology. The pleasingly chunky player actually looks like some sort of portable gaming system, like a distant cousin of the Sony PSP, due to the twin joysticks framing the 3.5" 320 x 240 resolution LCD screen. Adding to this impression, The sleek silver case invites gripping on both sides, like a Gameboy Advance or PSP.

The mPack P800 weighs 350g and measures about 146 x 82mm across, and 25mm thick. It's quite a bit bigger than your average Palm or Pocket PC, and it's not really a 'pocket' player per se; more like a 'small bag' player. Overall build quality is good and the mPack P800 has a reassuring solidity about it.

The front face of the unit features PQI's interesting twin-joystick control scheme. The left stick functions as a play/pause, stop and +/- controller, with the central click function bringing up an interface menu. The right stick is used as a directional control and its center click function brings up a context-sensitive menu and functions as an Enter button within menus. The interplay between the two joysticks can be quite confusing at first, but quickly becomes fairly intuitive. The control scheme shifts dynamically depending on which application you are using, which can also be a little disconcerting, but once you get used to it you will appreciate the thought that obviously went into designing the control scheme.

The twin joysticks do not have the best feel though, as the range of action is limited and it can be difficult to differentiate a center click from a right click. The right joystick of our test model suffered from this problem.

The only conventional buttons that the mPack P800 possesses are the power and record buttons to the right hand side of the front face. The power button needs to be held for a couple of seconds to startup or turn off the unit.

The 3.5" screen takes center stage, and it's extremely attractive for both movie and photo viewing. Compared to the MSI Megaview 561 PMP's screen, the PQI unit comes out far ahead. Power and charge LED indicators are built into the face of the unit just to the right of the screen, while the microphone and irDA port for the remote take up the left.