September 2009 Archives

The Coby PMP-3522 20 GB portable media player with touchscreen interface is on offer for $173.99 over at Amazon.com. 'This is no ordinary pocket organizer and entertainment system. It has been designed to meet and satisfy awhole variety of needs as you travel through the art and science of living. It plays Audio and Video files on a large, bright, color 3.5" Touchscreen LCD. It also acts as a voice recorder. Then it also has a built-in scientific calculator. Do you seek meaning? COBY includes a 230,000 word audible English dictionary. Feeling creative? There's a built-in Paint drawing tool. Feeling challenged? There are buil-in games. Need space to store music, video and thoughts? There's a 20GB hard drive.'

Press Release

i1166 Features DivX video playback and a Digital Panel with Enhanced Resolution for Media Viewing for iPod & DVD, SD / MMC / USB Slot, Digital Photo Frame Capability

PORT WASHINGTON, NY - (September 28, 2009) - iLuv, the leader in innovative audio solutions, is proud to announce the availability of their best 2009 invention from a new line of enhanced and creative products, the i1166, 9" Portable Multimedia Player for iPod and DVDs. The "CES Best of Innovation 2009" award winner in the Portable Multimedia Accessories product category, the i1166 features an iPod-friendly user interface (UI) and brings hours of widescreen personal multimedia entertainment to travelers starting mid October 2009 at www.i-luv.com for the MSRP of $269.99.

Laptop Magazine have published their review of the new iPod nano (5th Generation) portable media player. 'One of the most attractive aspects of the nano is its wafer-like profile. Measuring just 3.6 x 1.5 x 0.2 inches and weighing a barely-there 1.3 ounces, the updated nano is far thinner than it even appears in photos--and now it includes a camera housed in its back. The andolized aluminum body provides sturdiness without heaping on weight, and there are nine eye-catching colors available (black, blue, green, orange, pink, purple, red, silver, yellow) to suit your mood. Despite being a marvel in modern gadget design, we were a little annoyed that the 3.5mm headphone jack is located on the bottom of the device to the left of the USB connection port.'

Pocketables have published their review of the Microsoft Zune HD touchscreen player. 'The display on the Zune HD is what sets it apart from most traditional PMPs on the market. While the 3.3-inch OLED screen may be a bit smaller due to a fairly large dark frame, it makes up for lack of size with its awesome color and clarity. The resolution of 480 x 272 is merely sufficient, however, and maybe a bit low these days. Overall, though, the screen is beautiful. The capacitive touchscreen is responsive and provides eye-popping colors, which tend to be better indoors due to the less-reflective nature of OLED screens.'

Amazon.com has the Cowon S9 32 GB Video MP3 Player with Touchscreen (Titanium Black) on offer for $262.57. 'With its stylish, curved-back ergonomic design, the 32 GB Cowon S9 video MP3 player is quite the eye-catcher, and the perfect way to enjoy your favorite movies, TV shows, photos, and music on the go. With the S9 resting comfortably in your hand, you'll enjoy a vibrant 3.3-inch widescreen touchscreen display, Bluetooth support for wireless devices, a voice recorder with built-in microphone, FM radio/recorder, and plenty more, proving that the S9's beauty is way more than skin deep.'

MobileTechReview have published their review of the new iPod Nano 5th Gen player. 'The fifth-generation is the first nano with a full-fledged built-in speaker. If you're used to the basic clicks and chirps that previous nanos could play out loud, you might guess that any speaker that fits in a tiny iPod nano couldn't possibly be good enough to use, but thankfully, the built-in speaker is actually pretty impressive. It's not quite as loud as an iPod touch, and bass tones aren't especially strong, but the speaker provides high-fidelity output with good enough volume for it to be a viable option for playing movies, TV shows, and music without headphones. There's no Bluetooth, although it is compatible with the iPod Bluetooth adaptors available from several vendors.'

A review of the Archos 5 Internet Tablet has been posted over at Ubergizmo. 'The Archos 5 Internet Tablet is powered by an ARM Cortex A8 at 800Mhz. This is comparable to what's found in the iPhone 3GS (600Mhz), although the frequency is much higher. That gives you an idea of what the processing power is. On the graphics size, the Archos 5 has a more than twice the number of pixels (800x480 = 384000) to handle than the iPhone (480x320 = 153600).'

PC Advisor have published a review of the Archos 5 Internet Tablet/Portable Media Player. 'The Archos 5 Internet Tablet internet tablet supports a wide range of media files, including HD video. Right now, it is the only Android device that supports video formats in HD, which opens up some interesting possibilities for Android app developers who want to explore high-def territory. In our tests, video looked smooth, with bright and accurate colours, when played on the device and on an HDTV. The browser on the Archos 5 Internet Tablet supports Adobe Flash 9, and will be compatible with Flash 10 when that becomes available. Multimedia-rich pages such as those at NewYorkTimes.com loaded quickly and looked great on the large screen.'

The Archos 7 160 GB Internet Media Tablet has been reduced from $449.99 to $302.57 over at Amazon.com.
Product Details:
• 160 GB capacity for up to 200 movies, 1.6 million photos, or 95,000 songs
• Up to 39 hours music and 10 hours video playback time on a single charge
• 7-inch TFT LCD touchscreen; 800 x 480 pixel resolution; 16 million colors
• Video support: MPEG-4, WMV, and M-JPEG; Audio support: MP3, WMA, Protected WMA, WMA pro 5.1, WAV; plug-ins available for further video and audio format support

The Register Hardware have published their review of the new Apple iPod Touch 3G portable media player. 'There are now two different types of iPod Touch on sale, though Apple refers to both of them as the "iPod Touch (late 2009)", rather than 'iPod Touch 3G' as you might expect. That's probably because the 8GB model is actually unchanged - it's still the old iPod Touch 2G - and simply gets a price cut from £169 to £149, with Apple hoping that the sub-£150 price tag ($199 in the US) will trigger a major boost in sales, as it did with the popular iPod Mini a few years ago.'

PC World have published their review of the new Microsoft Zune HD (32GB Platinum) media player. 'Physically, the Zune HD represents a complete makeover--one that's flashy and sexy. Measuring 4.0 by 2.0 by 0.3 inches, it falls somewhere between last year's hard-drive and flash-based models in size. It weighs a featherlight 2.6 ounces, or 1.5 ounces less than the iPod Touch. A gorgeous, 3.3-inch, multitouch OLED display dominates the device's face, and a single, slim physical home button resides below that. The power button sits on the top edge of the device, while the volume rocker occupies the left spine. Unfortunately, the rocker is almost completely flush with the metal casing, so it is difficult to press.'

A review of the new Microsoft Zune HD portable media player has been posted over at PC Magazine. 'A very good-looking gadget, the 16GB Zune HD is Onyx Black and the 32GB version is Platinum Silver. The larger-capacity player is available in exclusive colors including red, blue, and a yellowish-green at ZuneOriginals.net. When you compare it side-by-side with the iPod touch, what's most striking about the 2.6-ounce, 4.0-by-2.1-by-0.4-inch (HWD) Zune HD is its smaller, lighter frame. (The 4.1-ounce touch measures 4.3 by 2.4 by 0.3 inches.) The Zune's 3.3-inch multi-touch-capable OLED screen is noticeably smaller than the touch's 3.5-inch LCD, and the 480-by-272 resolution is slightly lower than the iPod's 480 by 320. Still, the screen is bright and sharp--due in part to Microsoft's decision to use OLED and keep it smaller.'

Dev Hardware have published their review of the new Sansa Clip+ MP3 Player. 'The creaky plastic present in the device's predecessor has been replaced by a more solid-feeling black plastic main backing and clip. The face of the new Sansa Clip+ is very similar to the original Clip, as both feature clear plastic with a colored backing. The new player is also less blocky and features a slightly curved plastic back plate that wraps ever-so-slightly around the edges of the front. The new Sansa Clip comes in black, red, and blue. Essentially, the Clip+ feels like it has a high-quality take on its predecessor, which many consumers will surely embrace with open arms -- especially at these prices.'

Pocket-lint have published a review of the Apple iPod touch (3rd Gen) player. 'The iPod touch still measures an iPhone but slimmer 110 × 61.8 × 8.5 mm. It still weighs the same 115g. It still has a beautifully crisp and pixel dense 3.5-inch 380 x 320 colour screen in a 3:2 aspect and it still skates on the edge of not supporting enough file types with just AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, Audible, MP3, WAV, Protected AAC in its audio arsenal; BMP, JPEG, TIFF, GIF for images and just MPEG on the video front. In fact, the only difference you'll notice on the outside is that now, you can get one with the legend "64GB" etched into it. After every other disappointment it nearly makes your day.'

Amazon.com has the new Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player (Platinum) available on pre-order for $289.97 with free standard shipping. 'The new Zune HD gives you access to many local HD Radio stations with crystal-clear digital sound at no extra cost. Receive additional channels from your local stations and get more of the content you love--including sports, news, and music--in various genres and formats. Like something you hear on HD Radio? Song tagging technology allows you to buy the song if you are connected to a Wi-Fi network or to tag it for later purchase.'

CNET have published their review of the new Apple iPod Nano (fifth generation, 8GB, green). 'So what's new? Well, for starters, the iPod Nano now has a video camera. On the back of the Nano there's an eensy-teensy fixed-lens camera that runs flush with the body, capable of capturing 640x480 standard definition video at 30 frames per second. Files are recorded as iTunes-friendly .MP4 videos with h.264 formatted video with AAC audio. Video quality looks, well...decent. We'll have a better sense after more testing, but I think it's safe to say that it won't be crushing the Flip Mino HD anytime soon.'

PC Magazine have published a review of the new Apple iPod nano (5th Generation) with video recorder. 'With a new polished and colorful paint job (you can choose from seven bright hues), the new nano is one good-looking device. At 3.6 by 1.5 by 0.2 inches (HWD) and a mere 1.3 ounces, it's truly identical in size to the previous (4th-generation) nano. The screen, however, is significantly larger--2.2 inches as opposed to 2 (it may not sound like a lot, but on such a tiny player, that 0.2 inch makes a big difference), and its 376-by-240-pixel resolution is a bit higher too--the display on 4th-gen nano is 320-by-240.;

Digital Trends have published a review of the Kerchoonz K-box portable speaker. 'The K-box, which is roughly the same size as an iPhone (it measures 4.5 inches wide, 2.2-inches high, and 0.8 inches thick), is outfitted with a 1/8-inch audio input and mini USB port for recharging its internal battery. (The company claims a fully charged battery will deliver 20 hours of use.) A conventional speaker produces mid-range and high frequencies, which emerge through a grill on its top surface. SFX's Gel Audio transducer produces bass frequencies, and the full spectrum of sound is propagated across a thick gel pad (think Dr. Scholl's insoles) on the back of the K-box. Sound is then transferred to whatever surface the K-box is resting on. Put your ear to the surface and you'll ear music emanating from it just as if it were a conventional loudspeaker.'

Amazon.com has the Apple iPod nano 8 GB Black (4th Generation) [Newest Model] on offer for $133.95 with free standard shipping.
Features:
• 8 GB capacity for 2,000 songs, 7,000 photos, or 8 hours of video
• Up to 24 hours of music playback or 4 hours of video playback when fully charged
• 2-inch LCD with blue-white LED backlight and 320-by-240-pixel resolution
• Supported audio formats: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
• Supported video formats: H.264, MPEG-4; Supported image file types: JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD (Mac only), and PNG

The Gadgeteer have published a review of the Sony PRS-600 Touch Edition Reader. 'The Touch Edition is a melding of both the PRS-505 and the PRS-700 models. Gone are most of the input buttons of the 505 model. Like the 700 before it, the Touch (or 600, as some users are calling it) uses a touch-screen for input. It retains a few buttons, but they are placed discreetly at the bottom of the display screen, similar to the old 700 model in appearance. The 600 is the same length and width as the 505, but it is 0.1" thicker. The front-lighting from the 700 is gone. This allows the touch screen to lay flat against the E-ink display in the 600.'

A review of the Sony X Series Walkman player has been posted over at Pocketables.net. 'The number one reason to consider the X Series is its sound quality. According to my Ultimate Ears triple.fi 10 Pro canalphones and my ears, this is definitely one of the best-sounding media players on the market right now. I say this based on lossy codecs and the default sound setting with all EQs and audio enhancements (VPT Surround, DSEE Sound Enhance, Clear Stereo, and Dynamic Normalizer) disabled. The player has replaced my Cowon S9, which I've been using for 8+ months and have ranked above the Sansa Clip and Fuze in terms of sound quality; to my ears, then, nothing sounds better than the X Series. It's rich and full, bright and balanced, sparkling and warm.'

The Register Hardware have published a review of the new media players from Sony and Samsung. 'With the market for mid-range MP3 players never having been more competitive, seeing Sony and Samsung fight it our for advantage is like watching two wannabe WAGs scrap over a premiership footballer who is rumoured to be hung like a horse and has a Manchester City transfer cheque in his pocket. So with both Sony and Sammy releasing new media players with similar specifications at the same time and at virtually the same price Register Hardware thought it would be a good idea to review them together.'

Press Release

Milpitas, CA -- Creative Technology Ltd. today unveiled the Creative ZEN® X-Fi®2, featuring a stunning 3-inch touch screen and award-winning Xtreme Fidelity™ X-Fi audio technology, continuing Creative's quest to deliver the best-sounding music, photo and video players on the market at a great value. Making its premiere at the Showstoppers Event at the IFA Consumer Electronics Show on 2 September 2009 in Berlin, Germany, the Creative ZEN X-Fi2 media player can be pre-ordered today at Amazon.com, Creative.com and Frys.com.

CNET have published their review of the SanDisk Sansa Clip (4GB, red) MP3 player. 'The SanDisk Sansa Clip+ is very similar to its predecessor in design, which means you still get an ultracompact shape (2.1 inches tall by 1.3 wide by 0.4 inch thick), a light weight (0.9 ounce), and a superhandy built-in belt-clip on the back of the device. That said, there are some notable--though very minor--differences between the physical aspects of the Clip+ and its predecessor. First, the player's control pad is square rather than circular, though it is the same five-way configuration, with play/pause, track FF/RW, and a contextual menu button surrounding a center select key. Also, the dedicated volume rocker has moved from the right edge to the left (under the standard mini-USB port) in order to make room for a MicroSD card slot.'

Geek.com have published a review of the Sansa Clip+ MP3 Player. 'For my test I took it out of the box, plugged in the included headphones and then powered it up. The manual recommends charging it first via the included USB cable, but my test unit came fully powered. I then navigated around and immediately started listening to some of the songs already stored on the device. I then cycled through the menu and tuned in an FM station and then performed a voice recording. Throughout all of my testing the sound quality was spot on. The included headphones do a great job reproducing the sound, and even the voice recordings were acceptable.'