PMP Today

So we got it wrong, along with the rest of the tech blogging world and a bunch of very respected print publication. Zune went over a million only through a mis-transcription by The San Francisco Chronicle. Robbie Bach didn’t say that Mcrosoft has sold over a million Zunes already since November. What he said was, “When we finish our fiscal year in June we’ll have sold a little over a million Zunes, so we feel very good about that.”

It’s still a pretty good pace, however, for the hard-drive based Zune, better in fact than the iPod which only sold 600k hard-drive players in its first 14 months.

What’s even more interesting than whether or not Microsoft will sell their millionth Zune by the end of June (which, to be honest, is the definition of a foregone conclusion), but rather whether this million Zunes were actually bought by people or just gathering dust inside the stores? Tommo_UK, posting at The Mac Observer, seemed certain that this is just a million Zunes transported to stores and not Zune-in-consumer-hands.

[via busines 2.0]

The M500 from SMS Technology in Australia is supposedly the world’s smallest mobile phone. It boasts a 1.5-inch TFT touch screen at 120 X 160-pixel resolution. It’s a world phone, operating on GSM 850/900/1800/1900Mhz (GPRS) cellular networks with a SIM. SMS and MMS are also supported, which makes this phonewatch as good as any entry-level handset. It plays MP3/AAC as well as MP4 videos, making it a PMP-watch as well.

As small as it is, it has 128MB of onboard internal memory, good enough for 199 contacts and 40 real tones. It’s by far the best PMP-watch that we have featured here at PMP Today, in my opinion. Additionally, it is the world’s first true cellular phone wristwatch. How about this as an early Christmas present idea? It’s pricey too at $820. Other features include Dial-Up Networking, flight mode, game support, a USB port and Bluetooth, and it only weighs 60g.

[via lebloggadget, product page]

Taiwanese computer manufacturer, Quanta, has just confirmed winning the contract from Apple to make 5 million second-generation iPhones beginning September this year. That means iPhone 2G is off the drawing board and into production as soon as three months from now. Shares of Quanta jumpe NT$1.2 after the report but ended up just NT$.02 after trading day.

The second-gen Apple phone will probably have a different outer design to serve other markets. As we reported earlier, a smaller Nano-style iPhone is probably in the works. It will not have a touch screen and will sport click wheel controls at the back. The report that Quanta will be making iPhone 2G has been reported by the Korean media but Apple has not given a statement about the matter. Hon Hai is Apple’s current manufacturer for the iPhone and will be shipping the iPhone 1G sometime in June.

[via o’grady]

If you like your hands free while enjoying your new iRiver Clix 2nd-gen, why not think about getting an iRiver Cradle? Manufactured by Reingcom, it will only cost you 247 yuan or about $32 USD. It provides 7 hours of playing time on top of the battery capacity and with the provided USB cable, it even syncs to a PC for music transfers.

We do not know how much this base weights, but for long journeys by train, it may well be worth bringing along, just so you can sit back with peace of mind and your hands behind your head. It is also available in Korea.

[via aving]

We have an update on the specs of the Meizu M6 Second Edition (or “Special Edition“). It’s not merely that it is thinner, from an already anorexic 10mm to a Nicole Richie-like 7mm 6.9mm, it also boasts a brushed aluminum casing (similar to the MusicCard above). It is rather Nano-like, in the same sense that the MiniOne, or M8, is like an iPhone. Though another comparison could be made to Haier’s own metallic iPod-killer. The M6 SE will also be able to play MPEG-4, H263/264, RM/RMVB video files at 720 x 480 pixels and 30fps. Besides that, it’s equipped with a TV out.It will be available in China for around €100 or about $135 US.

[via generationmp3]

There are no official figures yet, but Robbie Bach, Microsoft’s president of the Entertainment and Devices Division, is pretty sure they have sold over a million Zunes and it’s not even the end of June, their original target for selling a million players. The news comes well ahead of the iPhone debut. Robbie Bach talked to SFGate about Microsoft’s Xbox (leading position), Windows and MS Office (great business) and hardware (challenging). With iPhone coming out, will not change Microsoft’s fundamental business approach. The iPhone is “pretty high priced” and “just on the Cingular (AT&T) network.”

How will the iPhone affect the market? “In the phone space, we’re very comfortable with the model we’ve chosen. We think phones are deeply personal. Some people want a flip phone, some people want a candy bar (shaped phone), some people want a QWERTY keyboard, some people want a touch screen, some people want music phones — people have different needs.”

Social networking is a natural avenue for Microsoft, according to Bach (he points out Xbox Live as a product that takes advantage of social connections between players).

What about a Zune Phone. Too early, Zune has been in the market for nine months, and they’ve already released a pink Zune and a water-melon Zune. Read more here.

Toshiba’s V401 40GB and V801 80GB are more than just their hard-disk drives as their respective names might suggest. Both have 4-inch 480 x 272-pixel, 24-bit LCD screen (when are they going to make a 32-bit one?) with brightness sensor that adjusts the screen to present lighting conditions. The Gigabeat PMPs support WMA, MP3, WAV and even WMA 9 Lossless. These Gigabeats have a 1Seg tuner with EPG (elctronic program guide) for digital TV viewing. The batteries are very capable giving users 28 hours of audio, 10 hours of video and 8 hours of TV viewing. If my translation is correct, it also supports SEGA MUSIC GIG on a trial basis. USB2 is standard for both players. The two new Gigabeats differ slightly in dimensions. The larger V801 measures 75.5×124.5×24mm while the V401 measures 75.5×124.5×18mm.

If you’re looking at the picture and thinking that it looks too much like an old TV, it’s not a totally far out observation.

[via generationmp3]

We have talked about the nicely designed Oppo Luna (V5H) a couple months ago. The highly anticipated player comes with touch-button controls (made popular by the highly successful LG Chocolate phone) and a very attractive price point.

At the time of announcement Oppo Luna was supposed to cost around $130 dollars, which was already impressive for a player with a solid design and a great feature list. And now that the payer is hitting the market the price has been reduced to 799 Yuan (about $105) which is a fairly competitive range for a player of this quality.

While our main quarrel with Oppo Lunna V5H is still the fairly limiting 2GB flash storage, many lossless audio fans will be glad to know that FLAC and APE support will be made possible by simply upgrading firmware (if not already enabled out of the box).

Speaking of “out of the box”, check out tons of pics we grabbed from various sites…

Read the rest »

Here’s one PMP-GPS device that you might want to consider as an alternative to the Korean brands. The Dream’eo Solo boasts a 3.5-inch 320×240 bright LCD for clear 2D or 3D Satellite navigation or as a player for AVI, WMV and DivX videos. It plays videos at the require 30fps true cinematic playback. The Dream’eo makes use of its HiFi system for amplified enjoyment of your MP3 files with additional support for WMA as well as JPEG images.

The Dream’eo Solo looks good to go with an intuitive Windows user interface and easy-to-use traditional tactile keys on the right side of the screen. It’s not the sleekest-looking PMP you’ll ever see, but it’s got everything from USB2, connector for TV and projector and digital audio recorder function. The GPS has a rather old version SiRF Star IIe/LP chipset with ARM7TDMI CPU. Split screen 2D and 3D map viewing is supported with maps of the US and Canada. It even has a car lighter adapter. You can take it home now for $229.

[via product-reviews, dreameo-usa]

Yesterday, we reported a TV cable broadcast on a possible iPhone release date. CNBC’s “On the Money” were pretty sure iPhone will be available on June 20th and even had bold letters flashing below the screen confirming the release date. Bloggers, of course, knew better and responded unenthusiastically, so unenthusiasticaly that if MacRumors didn’t have the report and a link of the broadcast on their forums, it was very likely that the entire tech blogging world would have passed over the report entirely. AAPL stocks responded again, adding $1.83 on Friday. Obviously, this is a more conservative movement compared to the big hulla balloo courtesy of Engadget two weeks ago. So the stock market is learning about iPhone rumors. This time, even with a big-time broadcast media channel backing the rumor, traders were more cautious.

Mar Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T didn’t confirm the June 20th iPhone release date when he was interviewed by AP a day later. What he could confirm was that the iPhone was on track. Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris gave more details: “We have said consistently that we’re looking forward to shipping the iPhone in late June and that has not changed.”

Now, I’m wondering. Isn’t the official information that the iPhone is going to be released any time next month enough news for investors to decide on what to do with their Apple stocks or whether they are going to be in a buying mood next Monday? Does it make any significant difference whether it is June 20, 15, 11 or even 30? There’s a big difference betweenquickly  reacting at relevant news and willing something to happen by buying or selling Apple stocks.