PMP Today

I know some people who were disappointed when they found out the Apple iPhone was black (take the poll below). They will rejoice if this rumor turned out to be fact. Coming from a Chinese forum, they don’t seem all that reliable but that doesn’t mean we cannot feast our eyes on the elegant new casing, the additional connectors and sensors - from WeiPhone.

 Loading …

[via appleinsider]

This is a video made by Sprint Instinct’s online marketing team showing how “tap for tap” Instinct’s built-in GPS is superior to getting you to your destination than iPhone’s built in Google Maps. But we all know that. What’s refreshing is seeing the slim Samsung Instinct beside the too-wide iPhone. Hm, I know karate is always popular among the tech crowd, but wouldn’t it be great if they showed Instinct getting us to a restaurant (faster and more accurately) that serves calamari?

First, let me just say this: the user interface is very impressive. You will not be able to take your eyes off the excellent VGA screen when you’re navigating. Dubbed TouchFLO 3D (which must be the HTC Manila leaked some months ago), it can seriously be considered as more appealing to consumers than iPhone’s user interface. The dashboard (see video after the break) is just awesome and HTC’s take on Coverflow is very impressive. Soon, Internet Explorer 6 will be included in the list of features of the Windows Mobile 6.1 OS of the Touch Diamond. We’ll get to judge how it stacks up against iPhone’s Safari.

It will soon be available in Europe in June through Orange and will host Orange’s mobile TV with 61 channels using its HSDPA 7.2Mbps. No price yet. More specs (from Engadget) after the break and a few videos that will sure impress.

[via cellphones, engadget, slashphone] Read the rest »

Microsoft has made the Zune a lot better in the new 2.5 firmware update. The Zune, virtually officially, is going a different direction from the Apple iPod. I will not hesitate to pronounce the Zune a non-competition of the iPod after the 2.5 firmware. The Zune Video download spotted a couple of days ago turned out to be a little better than we expected. Instead of movie downloads, which is already available in some high-end PMPs like Archos, Microsoft opted for TV shows. It may also come as a pie in the face of Steve Jobs that “The Office” will be one of the first offerings of Zune Marketplace. “The Office” was specially featured during Jobs’ keynote and now Zune users can watch it legally on their Zunes.

The Zune Card is adds more sharing to The Social. As previously announced, it will allow Zune users to sample other Zune users content. Sharing one another’s music preferences and recently played music should add to the spirit of “The Social.”

Also in the new update are gapless music, better syncing, auto paylists, meta data edit, and more. Watch the video after the break.

[via engadget, gmp3] Read the rest »

Never mind that the iPhone does not have a Chinese distributor and perhaps never will in the foreseeable future, but that does not stop some Chinese iPhone enthusiasts from conjuring up functions like Chinese handwriting recognition, which to my mind at least is a brilliant firmware upgrade. A screen shot of the interface was posted on wretch.cc. Apparently, Japanese is supported as well though that does not include handwriting recognition. What is left hanging by the screen shot is the input method. Does the Chinese iPhone user grow his fingernails long, or does Apple finally decide the iPhone could use a stylus after all.

[via engadget]

It looks like the FW8800 is one iPhone knockoff that isn’t too impressed with Steve Jobs’ first phone and went to add the missing ingredient. While Fillwinn Enterprise Holdings International Ltd. has retained the iPhone’s famous multi-touch user interface and other features like the 3.5-inch 320×480 pixel 160 ppi screen, 2.0 megapixel camera, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 and EDGE, it had to give up OS X for Windows CE 6.0 in order to add the extra feature that everybody wished iPhone had: GPS.

Besides the aforementioned details, the Fw8800 is every bit an iPhone. See for yourself after the break.

[product] Read the rest »

The EP2501 from Epoda Technology Co. Ltd is not only a watch phone, which in itself is a technological feat worthy of praise, it’s also a water-proof watch-phone. Honestly I have a bias for convergence technology that takes into account the little things like water-proofness and durability previously only found in one genre of devices (like a watch) but not in another (like a phone). The 1.45-inch screen is not much use for watching videos, which it supports in MP4 format, but what it lacks in screen size it makes up for in Wi-Fi connectivity and Skype and MSN support, which are, well, pretty awesome. The GPRS and MMS do not hurt either and a built-in 2.0 megapixel camera. Bluetooth? You got it. It’s good to know that while many full-size PMPs are stuck with Windows CE 5.0, the EP2501 is enjoying the benefits of CE 6.0.

The full specifications after the break.

[via alibaba] Read the rest »

The Amber F1 looks like a fancy lighter at the back but boasts a 2.8-inch movie-playing screen in front framed with the most desirable metal in the world. Whatever Cooper, a manufacturer we’ve never heard of before, is thinking when it decided to launch this gilded media player, we are doubly impressed that the F1 comes with gilded earphones. At least the Amber F1 does not look nearly half as tacky as this other Cooper masterpiece.

The Amber F1 plays RMVB, AVI, FLV and comes with SRS audio enhancement. Wow, it’s been a while since we last saw a PMP from China not using PlayFX.

[via zol]

Rumor - AT&T will increase its subsidy on the iPhone. Not only will it give up a significant portion of its earning for each iPhone subscription, it’s going to shave off $200 on the iPhone 3G price with no loss for Apple. That’s how desperate AT&T is in making the iPhone a true RAZR replacement. AT&T posted a $2 billion increase in profits after it launched the Apple iPhone and it makes sense that they work on their market share this year. But, then again, having the distribution rights of the iPhone and, we assume, all iterations and spin-offs of the brand, will cement their lead in the market without taking a big $200 hit.

[via tuaw]

Yuantong, known to us as Yoto, has launched the M300, an iPod Touch wannabe that boasts a RK27XX and support for AVI, DIVX, MPEG4, RM, XVID, RMVB, FLV, MP3, WMA, FLAC, APE, JPG, GIF, and BMP, which is kind of awesome, especially when it supports games as well. The 3-inch screen has WQVGA (400 × 240) resolution, which is nice too. Unfortunately, only Windows 2000 and Windows XP is compatible with the M300 and in an increasingly Vista and OS X world, this is definitely a let down. No word on how much it will cost on retail. We have no idea if it is touchscreen. Players of this sort usually have side buttons.

Specs after the break.

[via imp3] Read the rest »