Here’s a British manufacturer that thinks it can be one of the big boys in a very quick time. Armed with a 3.2-inch touchscreen and a pretty decent video codec support–Xvid, H263, AVI, MPEG-4, MP4–and a price tag of just under $160 (£104.99) for the 16GB and $136 for the 8GB, the Sonix7 Media Pro should be a more pragmatic purchase than the iPod Nano. Well, theoretically. Interestingly, the makers says the Sonix7 can play videos for 20 hours and only an additional 10 hours on battery life playing audio. Well, we have to learn more about this (their product site reminds me of those Internet pyramid schemes).

Features of the Sonix7 Media Pro

• 3.2-inch touchscreen
• no information on screen resolution
• MP4, Xvid, H263, AVI, MPEG-4
• MP3, MP2, MP1, WMA, WAV, AAC, MIDI
• 8/ 16GB
• 20 hours of video and 30 hours of audio
• Made in the U.K. Seriously, it’s not outsourced but designed and manufactured in the U.K.

They also have a cheaper non-touchscreen Media Box, selling for $77, and a Media Special Edition (chrome with mirror finish), which is 5 pounds pricier than the Media Box Pro. All three share the same chassis design. Prices nominate the Sonix Media Pro to our cheap electronics and cheap MP3 players categories.

[site via engadget]