PMP Today

The Chinese must be very impressed by the bespoke stylings of Samsung’s W629 touchscreen phone, also known as the P520 Giorgio Armani Phone, because they have renamed this sleek multimedia phone after one of the sleekest monsters in literature. Just to recap: it has a 2.6-inch touchscreen with QVGA resolution, a 3 megapixel camera built-in, Bluetooth A2DP support and a cool wallet-sized form factor. What distinguishes the W629 from the P520 is the dual-SIM support for CDMA and GSM. Whether or not the “Count Dracula” phone sells much in China is another story.

[via unwiredreview]

The M42410 from HK Power International Trading comes with an interesting control design throwback: a moving trackwheel, akin to the ones used in the first generation of iPods (before they replaced it with the touch-sensitive version that is currently in use). Some people actually liked the older type better, believe it or not.

Anyway, the device supports AVI videos, MP3, WMA and WAV audio files (with lyrics display), and JPG, BMP and GIF images. It has a 2.4-inch TFT screen , a slot for miniSD cards, a speaker and a USB 2.0 port. E-book reader and voice recording (WAV) functionality are built-in, and gaming software is included. The firmware is upgradeable, too.

[via alibaba]

We’ve seen some pretty good media players from Chinese manufacturer RAmos but this is the best designed PMP from them yet. The RM970 boasts a beautiful 3-inch 480 x 272 screen, which you will do well to refrain from touching (it’s not touchscreen but a split-screen similar to the new iPod Nano will be supported). This is some sort of dual-core PMP using a 200MHz ARM7 as a main processor and a 200MHz Rockchips DSP chip, splitting the difference of the usual 400MHz we’ve seen in most hi-tech multi-featured devices. The RAmos RM970 has native support for MPEG4, Real and AVI video files and MP3, WAV, WMA, Ogg, FLAC, AAC, APE. Now, on to the real juicy bits. It seems that the RM970 will push convergence a little farther with a 3 megapixel camera, GPS, DAB TV, TV-Out and -In and, of course, NES emulation.

[mp4users via engadget]

There have been complaints from users about fast-draining batteries due to the new Zune firmware. Both Zune 30 and Zune 80 drain their batteries fast even when they are not being used. Apparently, the new firmware goes into hibernate mode with great difficulty. The only alternative is to shut the Zune when you’re not using it, which puts us back in the middle ages as far as media players go. Hope the word gets to Microsoft fast. they got a good firmware and a pretty good new media player in the Zune 2. The problem is that they don’t have the fans that iPod does, who do not give up easily.

[via engadget]

MPIO has made official the first PMP with two D-Pads. I know they look like female funbags but MPIO assures us they are both necessary. First announced at the IFA, it’s one of the most unique-looking PMPs you’ll find on store shelves this hristmas. The screen is 2.4 inches with QVGA resolution and it plays AVI videos and MP3, WMA, APE, and FLAC audio files. It’s also a text reader an audio recorder and an FM player. It’s available in Korea in 4GB and 8GB versions.

[via gmp3]

Yahee Technologies is back, and this time it brought the solar powered YHM-PMP 678 to the PMP market. Live underground? No worries, DC charging is also available. The device does AVI and MPEG-4 videos at a QVGA resolution (25fps), MP1, MP2, MP3, WMA, WAV, ADPCM and AMR audio files, and various image types.

The YHM-PMP 678 supports 8-bit FC/NES and 16-bit GB/GBC games, and has e-book reader (with audio playback) and voice recording functionality. A slot for SD cards up to 2GB in capacity is built-in and six EQ settings are standard. Oh, and four colors are available.

[via alibaba]

A study by In-Stat reveals that Japan’s portable media player market will see strong growth over the next couple of years due to market drivers like inexpensive flash-based drivers, growing broadband penetration, and the increased availability of affordable and legitimate video and music online. Music-enabled mobile phones, however, cuts right into the market. As of now, video-capable PMP players are safe from multimedia cell phone competition, but there’s a chance that cellular operators can capture consumers who only want audio mp3 players. An In-Stat survey of Japanese consumers reveal that over a quarter of them would choose a multimedia cellular phone as a substitute for a PMP.

The study also reveals that the Japanese PMP/PDP player markey retail volume is expected to reach almost 1.5 million units by the year 2011, up from 760,000 units in 2007. Consumer interest in videos will constrain the growth of audio-only mp3 players in Japan. As prices of PMP drop, Japanese consumers will choose to purchase a PMP.

[via tekrati]

I apologize for anyone who takes offense with the title. I cannot express it any more accurately what I am feeling right now for this blatant violation of intellectual property rights. I mean LG Prada was the original iPhone! Apple actually copied from them, and now this? This is absolutely preposterous! A travesty on the same level as this Singaporean video here. The Putian City manufacturer employs but a mere 11 people. Kudos for employing the most common symbol in the world on their logo design. I’m actually impressed that it reminds me more of Rolex watches than medical prescriptions.

There are no specifications provided by the Putian City Chengxiang District Hongxing Trade Co., Ltd. on their LG Prada MP4 player, but we wish to God it’s got at least the virtual keypad right.

The travesty continues. Click the link below.

Update: Apparently, they sell actual LG KE850 phones at the low, low price of $270 with a minimum order of 5 units with 5-day delivery to the U.S. If you’re wondering why they are selling it as KE850 instead of the LG Prada when we all now that LG only released the KE850 as the LG Prada phone (take a look), I’ve managed to get a hold of one of their 11 employees onlie and he explained it to me rather satisfactorily. Take the jump for the transcript.

[product page] Read the rest »

All right, we’ve been covering Chinese cloners for months and we are well aware of their fondness in copying popular hardware designs from around the world, with a special emphasis on Apple products. We’re very impressed both by the accuracy of the knockoffs and the quickness by which Chinese manufacturers can make them available. Heck, it took them less than three weeks to drop a Nano imitation on the unsuspecting public and just a little over a month to put a camera on it, which to me is pretty fast. They copy Nokia, LG, Sony Ericsson and just about every popular gadget manufacturer except Microsoft, which they have been slow to copy and copy in a most un-China manner.

Thus my frustration that I’d like to share with everybody. The new Zune line, I think, is the bet hardware design Microsoft has ever done and though Vee, Lauren and I have been keeping an eye for a Chinese Zune 2 clone, the best we have found so far is that shameless plastic brick above that Comwin is trying to pass for a Zune 80 lookalike. So, to Chinese manufacturers in China I say this: Please, please, please copy Microsoft’s Zune 2. It’ll be fabulous you’ll see.

Specs after the break.

[product page] Read the rest »

Despite the ordinary (albeit shiny) design, Shenzhen Thomson’s D887-2 comes with a few interesting features, most notable of which is the built-in G-sensor. Pity the company forgot to explain just what that feature is used for (most probably motion control, since the 1GB, 2GB and 4GB internal memory options are all flash-type). Yup, we’ve seen the company do this before.

The device supports AVI and FLV videos, MP3, WMA, WAV, FLAC and APE audio files, and JPEG and BMP images. It has a 2.6-inch QVGA TFT screen with a resolution of 320×240 pixels, a USB 2.0 port, a slot for miniSD cards up to 2GB in capacity, a speaker and touch-sensitive controls. FM radio (with recording), voice recording and e-book reader functionality are included, as are eight EQ settings.

[via global sources]