Creative also claims that there has been some improvement to the audio recording quality, which was a weak point of the prior generations. Other feature additions include:

* Improved quality of video in low light or brightly lit conditions with manual exposure adjustments
* External stereo microphone support for better audio recording
* Headphone output for private listening
* Motion Detection Mode enables users to program the camera to begin recording as soon as motion is detected
* Out-of-the box Mac and PC compatibility
* Still Photo Capture Mode

The camcorder will be available mid-December for $US180 (and in a whopping five colours). Since that gives you plenty of time to shop, check out our pocket camcorder comparison guide before making a buying decision. [Creative via epiZENter via Engadget]

We don’t know the expected price range yet. Could a company like Creative really undersell the likes of Intel or Nvidia?

That question aside and despite Creative specifically ruling out putting it into smartphones, chips like the ZMS-08 will definitely bring higher performance to lower-power devices and seem worth at least a bit of excitement. [Engadget]

Creative is also talking with publishers, a la Apple, although in their case the talks are primarily in Singapore, where they already have a number of e-learning initiatives.

Images were unavailable, although Engadget did manage to snag a source who snapped a blurry pic of the Creative UI reveal (pictured) earlier today. There will be a touchscreen, which would make this slate/tablet markedly different than an ebook like the Kindle, although somewhat similar to the Nook. That’s all for now. [Epizenter via Engadget]

Not to put too fine a point on it, but yeah, we’re talking about the iPod touch model: It’s about platforms. That run apps. That people can develop awesome little programs for. In other words, a good PMP won’t just have great codec support and be able to push HD video, it’ll get you on Twitter or Facebook or tell you what’s good to eat nearby.

Not convinced? Check out the new Archos 5, which dumps the old OS for Android. Or the Creative Zii, also allegedly launching with Android. If you’re in the second tier, grabbing a popular app-friendly platform is not a bad way to compete.

Apple itself noted that old-school iPods were on a death march—so the company added a video camera to the nano, to keep it alive for a generation or two more. True, Sony’s X-Series appears to be keeping on keeping on, but it feels like an anachronism, albeit with a nice screen—no extendibility, and a horrible internet browser.

The argument really comes down to the Zune HD, launching this week. It finds itself in an awkward position, essentially because of the effective limbo Microsoft’s mobile OS is in—in other words you can’t easily develop apps for both Zune HD and Windows Mobile, which Zune’s Brian Seitz basically admitted to the Seattle Times: “What we didn’t want to do was build two parallel app store experiences that didn’t work together.”

So there’s no open app store, but in the meantime, Microsoft’s providing the apps with a handful of chosen developers, so we’re stuck with games, and soon a Twitter and Facebook app. But what is clear is that Zune is a platform that people can develop for. And it seems inevitable that’ll be common with the next version of Windows Mobile, or the mysterious project Pink, if that is something else—at least, if Microsoft’s actually serious about the Zune having a future.

In other words, it’s startlingly clear now that the traditional PMP is history, replaced by PMPs powered by mobile platforms. They’re smartphones without the “phone,” and even lacking that major element, they’re surprisingly valuable, more pocket computer—with internet and apps—than glorified video player.

Aside from the slightly larger, finger-friendly screen, the X-Fi 2 supposedly adds improvements to sound quality, which are down to the murky machinations of Creative’s X-Fi sound optimisation system, as well as TV-out, which is particularly useful considering the player’s generous video codec support. The rest of the specs are more or less unchanged: There’s an FM radio, built-in mic, a microSD expansion slot, syncable calendar, task list, contacts and RSS reader apps. It actually looks like the player has lost a feature since v1 too, since the prior model’s Wi-Fi access is nowhere to be found. Not that it ever did much, but still.

Anyway, price! It’s pretty low, considering what you get: $US230 for the 32GB model $US180 for the 16GB and $US130 for the 8GB. The highest price point seems like a dig at the iPod Touch, and it could be a clever one: The two players offer completely different things, and if you want to do more than play music and videos, the iPod is the clear choice. On the other hand, if that’s all you want to do, a 32GB touchscreen PMP makes a respectable case. It’s available for preorder now, and should ship within a few weeks. [Creative]

AU: The deal isn’t as great for us. Creative Australia is selling the 32GB model for AU$318.14 and the 16GB model for AU$254.50. And these prices are exclusive of GST. The 8GB model doesn’t appear as an option (right now). [Product Page] _-EH

AU: Creative Australia is currently selling the 8GB Vado HD on its website at a reduced price of $363.59 + GST (normally $454.50 + GST). [Product Page] _-EH

The hardware itself doesn’t seem much changed; the Vado HD will still be available in a $US200 8GB version and will be joined by a new 4GB version priced at $US180. There’ll also be two new colours, but the big news is really the software. The two new Vado HDs are available for pre-order today from Creative (though they don’t seem to be up on the site quite yet), and the software should be released early this month. [Creative]

The headset will actually feature customisable ear cup “Glyphs” to identify your faction along with programmable LEDs so your mum can better appreciate the Horde’s power as it burns a bright red into her eyes.

With a promised focus on comfort, the Mac and PC wireless headset will stream uncompressed audio while a (surely cheaper) wired headset will manage the same feat with a cord. And while the specs sound nice (pun intended), the headsets seem to lack true surround sound capabilities. So hopefully they’ll be priced accordingly. [Creative via Fareastgizmos]

Like Creative’s introduction video before it, CNET’s hands-on is more about seeing the hardware than showing off new features—this is the same Android we’ve been using since last year, after all. There’s a lot of interesting stuff going on inside the Egg—720p video playback support by means of on in-house chip, promises of long battery life, the expandable storage potential—but most of this isn’t apparent in a short demo like this.

What we’re left with is an attractive piece of hardware that is just begging to live out its destiny as the first mainstream Android PMP, but which Creative can’t seem to make up its mind about, at least publicly. The Zii really looks like a consumer products, from its styling to its specs, and I’d love or Creative to take it to market, or to sell the design to someone else to do the same. But even though it seems obvious that such a product would represent the first real competitor to the iPod Touch, their line, still, is that this is for developers. Click through for video. [CNET Asia]

Being seeded to developers as part of a $US399 SDK (final units are expected to ship in bulk at $US199), the Zii Egg Plaszma is an Android-friendly “handheld computer” that’s like an iPod touch beefed up with more than a few popular requests.

You navigate the platform through a 3.5″ 320×480, 10-point capacitive multitouch screen. From there, you can access the rear facing HD video camera, front facing live chat VGA camera, 32GB of integrated storage with SDHC card expansion, Flash Lite support, GPS, Wi-Fi and, oh right, it’s powerful enough to output 1080P video.

Of course, its greatest assets, the option for the open Android OS (the company offers its own Plaszma OS but that’s a bit less exciting), means that the hardware begins to resemble a smartphone without the phone. And I’m surprised on a daily basis that anyone is still buying big iPods that can’t make phone calls. [ZiiLabs via GeekyGadgets]

The Price: $US150 for starter kit with SB Wireless and one receiver; $US130 for the GigaWorks T20W wireless speakers

The Verdict: I like wireless streaming, but I hate headaches that come from wireless devices that try to do too much. Sonos alone meets my satisfaction when it comes to an insanely micro-manageable whole-house audio system. But if you just want to send audio from point A to point B (and points C, D and E) without running a bunch of wires, Creative’s newest take on it makes sense.

What you get in the starter kit is a dongle for your Mac or PC, and a single receiver with 35mm or RCA stereo jacks. You can buy additional receivers, or you can buy speakers with the receiver built right in. The sound is great—I don’t hear any weird digital compression. Range-wise, I was able to carry it throughout the house without losing more than a momentary blip of connectivity, so you shouldn’t have a problems in (or out of) a normal-sized house.

I wouldn’t call this a “smart” distributed audio system. It’s pretty blunt force. All the hardware comes pre-paired (hence the need for a dongle at the PC end, despite the use of Wi-Fi), and it basically streams USB audio—whatever’s playing on your computer—to points around the house. You can configure and control up to four “zones” using software for the Mac or PC, or you can just use “broadcast” mode to send the same audio to every point. There’s a remote control for the receiver, but it’s limited to play and pause of iTunes.

The Inevitable Comparison to AirPort Express:
From a cost perspective, comparing this to AirPort Express is a little murky: AirPort Express costs $US99 a piece, requires an audio system but no dongle for your computer. If you wanted to have three of them around your house, at different music or home theatre systems, you’d pay $US300. You’d need those audio systems, and even then, you probably wouldn’t want to plug one in outside.

With the same computers and music libraries, Creative gives you a few more options. It’s not cheaper, up front: You’re out $US150 for the dongle and first receiver. Adding two more receiver modules at $US70 a piece gets you close to that $US300 mark. But you can have 4 zones, and even more receivers in “broadcast” mode, so the more you add, the cheaper it could get overall. (Apple doesn’t guarantee AirTunes reception to more than three Express units.) I think Creative should lower the price of receivers to $US50 each, to get competitive, but let’s face it, I have no idea what that would do to their profit margins, if there are any.

It’s really the speaker and the iPod dock that make this thing different from the AirPort Express. Buy the speakers for $US130—in a bundle with the dongle for $US200 even—and you have a standalone audio receiver that you can take outside when you’re BBQin’ and a really nice pair of computer speakers that you can use wirelessly or directly plugged in.

Forget your computer and the SB dongle entirely, and pair the $US130 wireless speakers or $US70 receivers with the $US250 Cambridge SoundWorks MovieWorks HD, which doesn’t just have HDMI out for videos, but an integrated wireless interface that works just fine with these accessories.

The Caveats:
Despite having “iTunes” in the name, it sends all your computer’s audio to the speakers or receiver. That means that you can be chilling to your iTunes when suddenly the annoying sound of an IM breaks your reverie. (It also means you can play audio from other programs—say, a movie in VLC—it’s not all bad.)

It doesn’t output audio at a fixed line level, but at whatever volumes your computer and iTunes are set at. If the system volume is cranked, you could experience distortion. It’s not a defect, it just means you have to pull down one or the other (or both) volumes to 2/3 strength, then turn up the sound at the receiver end.

I said the hardware comes pre-paired, and for the most part, it works right out of the box. If it doesn’t, I find holding down the “connect” button on the side of the dongle for like 5 seconds really helps. The one major conflict is that the dongle and the MovieWorks HD are not exactly friends. They both do the same thing, so having both is not necessary (but not verboten either). If you do, you may find yourself mashing that “connect” button a lot. [SoundBlaster Wireless, GigaWorks T20W Speakers; Cambridge SoundWorks MovieWorks HD]

In Brief:

Easy to set up

Lots of options, including powered speakers with built-in wireless receiver

Excellent sound quality, even streaming from one side of the house to another

Starter configuration is not cheaper than AirPort Express

Occasional device pairing issues, when using multiple Creative X-Fi accessories

Since it’s all just USB audio out, you may have to play with system volume settings to avoid distortion