The touchscreen Samsung YP-R0 has now made it to Korean retail stores. As we noticed before, this PMP doesn’t really stand out. Samsung has had some nice Yepp PMPs, and for a time we have even put them side by side with the iPod Touch for comparison. Not anymore. I’m sure the UI is pretty solid on this one, too–this is Samsung. The construction can be trusted as well, but  compared to advances made by rivals Archos and COWON, Samsung has allowed itself to stagnate, as far as their PMPs are concerned. It’s $120 in Korea for the 4GB and $155 for the 8GB.

[via engadget]

“There are some pessimistic views over the marketability and profitability of the devices. Except for some ‘Apple maniacs,’ chances are low that the handsets will penetrate into the minds of general customers,” an official at SK Telecom said, Monday.

LG and Samsung have smartphones that are technologically competitive with the iPhone and selling at significantly lower prices. The Korean iPhone at KT will be priced between 750,000 won (about $642) and 850,000 won (about $727). The Telecoms regulator in the country has given the go signal for the iPhone. The iPhone has also been exempt to use its own mapping software. Korean law states that mobiles should use local software and technology for GPS and maps.

[sources: reuters, koreatimes]

A new touchscreen smartphone has been introduced in Korea. remember folks, both the Koreans and Japanese are well ahead of the rest of the world in mobile technology, so this new line of mobiles are pretty exciting. The W Phone will be distributed by subsidiary SK Telecom and will fetch an equivalent of $518 per unit.

The first model is SK-700 and will be equipped with a 3-inch capacitive touchscreen, 3 MP camera and a VGA camera, Bluetooth, GPS and T-DMB. It will have HSDPA/ HSUPA 3.5G connectivity. This will be a social networking phone and provide quick access to popular sites like Naver, Cyworld, T-Story, and Textcube.

[sources: moveplayer, joongang, telecomskorea] Video follows.

The XING LED MP3 player measures 40 x 40 x 12mm, plays 12 hours of music and is equipped with 27 LED dots. No price yet has been announced.

[safa via moveplayer]

The Walkman A840 is Sony’s thinnest ever and with the introduction of the 64GB Walkman A847, it’s about to change the way we see flash MP3 players. This is the sleekest in 3 decades of Walkman experience, so it’s quite the historic Sony PMP. The Walkman A840 is only 7.2mm thin and boasts a 2.8-inch OLED screen.

The series will be available as: A845 (16GB), A846 (32GB) and the A847 (64GB). The Walkman A847 will be competing with a cheaper iPod Touch 64GB. It’s obvious this Walkman series will not be doing too well in today’s market. If you think otherwise, simply put your thoughts into words below at the comments area.

[via moveplayer]

This is probably one of the most uninteresting annoucnement this month. The MPIO V7 is a 3-inch touchscreen PMP with haptics and shake control. It is available in 4GB for 129,000 won ($112) and 8GB for 159,000 won ($138). It’s not the most featured Korean PMP but the price more than makes up for what you’d be missing (take a look at the MPIO V10). Another notable feature is the FM transmitter for your car.

[via moveplayer]

This is by far the most incredible PMP design we’ve seen this year, and it’s not a concept folks. The MyRacer Lisse Q10 is an official announcement. This is even better than the MyRacer Lisse T10–incredible that it manages to look futuristic while actually being a little of a throwback.  No date of availability yet or pricing but it is in production. The specs include: 3-inch touchscreen, FM tuner and TV out. I’m sure that shaded panel on the right of the screen is meant for something useful. The Lisse Q10 plays MPEG4, H.264, DivX, XviD, RM/RMVB, MP4, 3GP, MPG, WMV, MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, OGG, FLAC. It’s also an e-Book and audio recorder. There’s an 8GB internal memory and a microSD card slot that takes 32GB max.

[via itechnews]

The MyRacer Lisse Q10 is available in colors; see below:

We know that iriver is one of the best PMP makers in the world, but will it succeed in the PND/ GPS market? The mini version of the iRiver NV has been upgraded via firmware to be mounted on your bike as a personal navigator. Equipped with a 3.5-inch touchscreen that takes input from a gloved hand it measures stats like ride time, speed, distance and calories burnt. Battery lasts two and a half hours with music turned on also. The GPS functionality has a POI (points of interests) functionality that helps you find a stopover like coffee shops or supermarket. Available in Korea.

[via navigadget]

Not the most exciting PMP news, but it’s worth mentioning. The MP Navi “Eye Touch” PMP is a 4.3-inch touchscreen player with oh-so typical, even Chinesy looks. We don’t hear WiFi or GPS built-in but we’re pretty sure it’s a very solidly built device. It also at the fairly low price of $114 or its Korean Won equivalent. Not much more details has been announced.

[via engadget]

When we reported on Difital-Cube’s iStation T3 PMP, we’ve predicted the multimedia device will eat up iPod Touch sales. It wasn’t to be and the company thinks a change of hardware design will do it (definitely not an iPhone clone). It’s still a 4.3-inch (480 x 272) touchscreen PMP but no mention of fancy HD support, though it has HDMI output. Other features includes WiFi, Bluetooth and support for MPEG 1/2/4, DivX, XviD, WMV, H.264, SMI, MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC +, OGG, FLAC, APE, WAV, PCM, JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF. No pricing or date of availability yet.

[via journaldugeek]