PMP Today

Announced as the industry’s first, a single-chip FM radio transceiver family has been introduced by Silicon Laboratories. The proven, patented digital architecture of the Si472x transceiver combines the functionality of the Si470x FM radio receiver with the Si471x FM radio transmitter in a single 3mm x 3mm x 0.55mm package. Competing solutions require at least two chips, more than 50 external components and up to five times more board space, says the company.
The Si472x FM transceiver is optimized for portable applications, offering the ability to both receive FM broadcasts over the air and create a wireless audio link from the device to any FM receiver. The Si472x is targeted to mobile phones, digital media players, portable gaming devices and satellite receivers, and GPS/navigation devices.
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DETROIT, Jan. 7 — Ford Motor Company today announced the launch of a new factory-installed, in-car communications and entertainment system that is designed to change the way consumers use digital media portable music players and mobile phones in their vehicles.

The Ford-exclusive technology based on Microsoft Auto software, called Sync, provides consumers the convenience and flexibility to bring into their vehicle nearly any mobile phone or digital media player and operate it using voice commands or the vehicle’s steering wheel or radio controls.

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Once again, Apple is accountable for geek hysteria with the announcement of its multi-faceted iPhone; rumoured for a UK launch Christmas 2007.

However, cast your gaze beyond the horizon of white headphones and you’ll see some new challengers to the throne; including Samsung’s ultra smart YP-T9b.

With prices starting at £89 for a 1Gb model and rising through £119 for 2Gb and £149 for 4Gb, this slim-line showstopper may be £20 dearer than a equivalent iPod but, boy, is it money well spent.

Sandisk have been doing a good job of releasing portable music players that provide a good deal of flexibility. The Sansa is a budget 2GB model that may not play back video, and needs to be used with the custom USB cable, but otherwise does a good job of providing an alternative to the iPod flooded world of music players.
Unlike many other players, the Sansa is designed to be used when held tilted on its side –in landscape, if you will — instead of the upright, portrait style of many other MP3 players we’re familiar with. As such the button placement can feel a little strange at first; with the navigation controls under your right thumb and the volume controls under your left index finger. There’s a hold switch and a record button underneath your left thumb, which unlike the other buttons, you have to reach for.

Time was when Asian digital media players scored highly for the range of features they offered but rated dismally when it came to their looks. Cheap-looking silver-painted plastic, too many buttons, crude on-screen graphics - it’s no wonder the iPod’s clean lines and simple UI took off…

Times have changed, and the players coming out of the Far East these days are far more likely to turn heads than tummies. Take Cowon’s latest baby, the D2. Here is a device that shows its manufacturer has taken the hint: it’s a stunner. The player’s built around a 2.5in, 320 x 240, 16m-colour display, bordered in matte black plastic. Sandwiched between the black back panel is a silver section with all the controls: power/hold key, menu button and volume keys on top - between them there’s a microphone.

On the left-hand side sits the 3.5mm earphone socket and, beneath a cover, a mini USB port and the proprietary AC connector. The right-hand side extends beyond the black area to provide a slot for the plectrum-like triangular stylus. The D2’s screen is touch-sensitive, but the UI’s too elegant for thick Western fingers, hence the styus.

But it’s more than that - plug the stylus into the slot and you’ve got a ready-made stand, angling the screen upwards for optimal on-desk viewing. Angle not quite right? Flip the stylus over and you have a different one: 50° or 70°, the choice is yours. The stylus fits into the slot even when its elastic lanyard is fitted - something that could easily have been overlooked.

Off the desk, the D2 fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. It’s weighty enough to feel solid and well-built yet sufficiently light to be as portable as a compact music player should be.

The D2 is a Flash-fitted player - the test unit had 2GB on board - though the only real limit on its capacity is the number of SD cards you can afford. The base of the unit has just such a memory card slot, and while it’s not compatible with high-capacity SDHC cards, at least you can swap in and out 2GB cards to your heart’s content.

Touch screen windows CE based
PMP with WiFi, GPS and DMB

Hot on the heels of Archos releasing the source code for its Generation 4 lineup of portable media players comes a bevy of snapshots of the company’s elusive 704 “mobile DVR,” complete with claims that it’s already available for purchase in some parts of the world. While we’d seen a few grainy photos of the unit before, and just recently got a bit more information regarding the innards, we finally have something substantial to go by. According to an ArchosFans user, his shiny new 704 supports the DVR Station used by the 604, offers up just 40GB of internal storage, and comes with a pair of USB 2.0 ports, headphones, cabling, two styli, an 800 x 480 resolution display, wireless remote, charger, and the obligatory WiFi functionality. It was noted that the 40GB of built-in space was a small letdown, but the ease of hooking up an external HDD somewhat “mitigated that limitation.” Still, you better know quite well that this will make all your dreams come true, because ringing up at $1,099SGD ($717), this thing doesn’t come cheap — but even if you’re not down with coughing up that much dough for this bad boy just yet, feel free to click through for a few more glamor shots of a retail 704.

Things are finally heating up on the Sony DAP front, with those NW-A800 players we’ve been hearing about finally getting their first spy shots thrust into the public eye by the shameless Sony fanboys at ATRACLife.

Not a lot of info can be divulged just yet, other than those 2-8GB capacity and 10 hour video battery specs we were hearing earlier, but Sony.de has a countdown to March 1st going on, so we’re guessing we’ll be learning more then, if not before.

iRiver has a new PMP that will be available in Japan in a few weeks called the iRiver X20, which is another nice product from iRiver, but with no features that really that stand out as exceptional from the rest.

The X20 has all the features you would expect in an audio and video playing portable device, including playback of music, MPEG4 and WMV video, and still pictures. The device also has an FM tuner which is almost becoming standard in these types of players, and it has direct recording.

The recording function is always a welcome function for me. It has the ability to record radio through the FM tuner and encode it straight to MP3 files, and it can also record voice with a built in microphone or from a line into the device. Data can be transferred via a USB port, and iRiver states that the device is compatible with Windows OS’s from 98 all the way up to Vista.

The X20 from iRiver will come in capacities of 2GB, 4GB and 8GB, and also has a microSD slot to expand memory and transfer files. The actual device is has a very sharp looking black and silver case with dimensions of 8.5mm (W) × 49.0mm (H) ×14.8mm (D) weighing only 71g. The 2.2 inch QVGA display supports 260k colors and a 180 degree viewing angle. Pricing has not yet be set for the X20.

The company known for an overgrown mouse is set to release the Mix Max portable digital media player onto the world, and while it has no trouble playing full-length movies and TV shows, it only costs $99. Not too shabby for an excellent Christmas gift (yes, it’s that time of year again? already).
You can take the conventional route, downloading content onto your computer and then sending it to the player, or alternatively, you can purchase Disney Mix Max Clips. These are SD/MMC cards that come preloaded with content, including movies, music videos, music, and more.
Key specs include a 2.2-inch color display, 512MB of internal memory, SD/MMC expansion, and a 220 x 176 resolution at 30fps. The expected launch is next month.