PMP Today

Continuing our Newman coverage, the MINI ALL VX1000 is the Chinese manufacturer’s bid for the multi-functional convergence device market. As it’s name suggest, the MINI ALL, can do it all. Well, almost. For starter’s it’s a has PDA-like functions with SKYPE support. That means, though it cannot connect to cellular networks, you can still call wirelessly on this device. It uses Windows CE.NET 5.0 OS. The integrated SKYPE is said to be capable of operating using a dialup connection - that’s besides the WiFI 802.11b+ connectivity. The MINI ALL also supports MSN and QQ instant messaging, which makes it a browser away from being the complete portable Internet gadegt. As a PDA, it impresses with full reading and editing support for MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and PDF files are also viewable on the 4-inch LCD screen.

As a PMP, it supports a vast host of audio (MP3, WMA, ACC, OGG, ASF, wav) and video (avi, wmv, asf,3gp, divx, h.264) files It has a strange shape but on the purely tactile experience, this PDA-PMP can rest comfortable in a user’s hands. A very capable portable gamer as well with 3D, Flash and simulator NES games support. No price has been announced yet for the MINI ALL VX1000.

[via zol]

Newman is the most popular portable media player manufacturer in China, but, alas, we’ve only written twice about their products, and one of them is a video by Charbax, which features the M6000 and an apparently camera-less M8000. As Charbax’s video report indicated, the maximum storage capacity of the M8000 (which comes in black and white versions) is 200GB (not bad at all).

Newman makes very usable and yet elegantly designed PMPs, and the M8000 is no exception. Video support is up to par with current consumer needs: MP3, WMA and MPEG-1 (DAT, MPG, MPEG). MPEG-2 (DVD) and MPEG-4 (AVI) formats. The 4-inch widescreen (with 16:9 aspect ratio) has 16million colors. The on board 1.3 megapixel camera records video in720 x 480-pixel resolution. The M8000 also functions as a PVR and has a game emulator, TV out, SD extension and 4.5 hours of video playing. The price for the 80GB M8000 is 1,999 yuan ($261).

[via zol]

The footage was allegedly taken by an Apple Store employee in California. He takes an iPhone and begins recording his way into an iMac, which has iSight turned on. On the Macintosh screen is footage straight out of M. Night Shyamalan’s “Signs.” The video was first posted on iPhone Matters and Gregory Ng says the video was compressed. So, is the iPhone video actually better than this?

The P168 is another touch screen phone from China that happens to have a similar size and shape as the iPhone. There is a 1.3 megapixel camera onboard and dedicated calling and multimedia keys at the bottom (this one plays music and video on its 3.5-inch QVGA screen). The P168 also mimics iPhone’s startup. The P168 is no poor man’s iPhone copycat as it has an innovation that the iPhone doesn’t have, namely dual SIM support. With a USB port for PC sunc and surround sound care of the 6 buil-in speakers, it’s quite the P168 will not be taking the iPhone-clone criticism too kindly.

[via stuff.tv]

The V2000 from Ainol comes into the market of PMP players lacking in Real Media support. It’s got a 3-inch LTPS (low temperature polysilicon) TFT screen with 16million colors. Besides RM/RMVB videos, it also supports AVI format and, additionally, DAT, VOB, MPEG, MPG after a firmware upgrade. The V2000 is also compatible with MP3 and WMA audio files as well as Lossless Audio APE and FLAC formats to serve the vast majority of music listeners. Other specs include game emulation for NES and SNES systems, Sega Genesis, and NeoGeo; video recording is also possible as well as listening to FM music; finally, for memory it has SD storage of up to 4GB.

[via imp3]

It’s almost official. According to CNBC’s “On the Money” an AT&T store told them the iPhone will be available on June 20th. No pre-orders will be taken. Verizon, the show which aired yesterday May 24, is close to coming up with an iPhone competitor, which will probably be a version of the LG Prada. Commentators invited on the show agree that the Verizon LG Prada (just a regular phone, not like iPhone, albeit with touchscreen) has no chance.

Go here for the video link (works on Internet Explorer but not on my Firefox).

Note: we’d love to believe CNBC’s “On the Money,” but talking to an AT&T store manager does not exactly constitute official iPhone announcement.You might want to check out other blogsbefore you believe it.

[via macrumors]

CNET’s Crave has finally settled the age-old question: Which one’s better, Zune or iPod. Sure the iPod looks sleeker, but the Zune has Wi-Fi. The Zune gives you more color choices, while iPod comes in iPod Nano, Shuffle and Video plus a host of older versions. But more important that add-ons and aesthetic, and perhaps more to the point on whether the iPod is better than Zune or vice versa is the sound quality. Hey, aren’t these two players for playing music, basically speaking? Isn’t that the main reason why a hundred million people have bought an iPod? Well, Crave collected 6 people and gave them the scientific blind test similar to what was done with Coke and Pepsi oh so many years ago. And what do you know, Zune beat iPod by 4 to 2. Watch the video:

One more thing: Shouldn’t someone actually do a bigger test than Crave’s? It has to be nationwide, something approaching the scale of the original Pepsi challenge.

[via addict3D]

We haven’t any news from iriver for a while. It’s been one DAP after another, and, frankly, we are worried that iriver will lose some of its competitive edge in the portable media player market. The COWON Q5, for example, has been as much in the news as the iPhone itself. Archos is thinking of telephony, again some of that iPhone wave. iriver, however, is consolidating its place on the digital audio player market. That much is obvious from this press release. It says that iriver Japan has just acquired SIREN, Japan’s 4th largest digital audio player manufacturer. With this acquisition, iriver aims at 7% market share of the Japanese DAP market.

[via engadget]

Yesterday, we told you about Sony’s breakthrough flexible OLED screen. But writing down the known facts - 16.7 million colors, 1000:1 contrast ratio, .03mm width - is not nearly dramatic as actual moving footage, and here it is, via our French friends at GenerationMP3.

Not much is known yet of the ONDA Honey VX858 except that it boasts a 2.8-inch touchscreen and plays MP3 files. The VX958 might as well be a video player with its bright widescreen and iPhone looks (although it resembles the LG Prada more). Anyway, if it just plays audio files, then perhaps we don’t have to explain this “iPhone killer’s” known specs like its “twin core.”

[via imp3]