The report by Asher Moses has a GfK source claim that the handheld sold less than 1000, although Michael Ephraim, Playstation Australia’s head honcho, reckons the number is slightly over 1000. But given the price of the device – especially when the PSP-3000 is still on sale – I don’t think anyone, let alone Sony, would be too surprised by those numbers. Throw in EB Games‘ refusal to stock the console, and that makes the whole thing an even harder sell.

[SMH]

This latest entry attempts to camouflage the portable as some kind of Christmas decoration. The buttons glow, lights flash, yada yada yada you paid a $US250 premium and then put a bunch of holes in it.

Sorry for all the negativity. I guess I was just holding out hope that the “PSPGo Mod” Google Alert that popped up in my inbox today was the one where someone finally hacked this thing with better wifi so it could download a file in less than a hour. [Acid Mods - Thanks, Wouter]

Although considering the new colours won’t hit shelves until September 24, I guess if you do rush down the shops today, you’re an even bigger fool. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, I guess…

David at Kotaku yesterday got confirmation from Sony that they were planning on selling the PSPGo from October 1 for a RRP of $449. That’s just $50 less than the new PS3 Slim. The PSP-3000 will remain on sale for $299. Even with the loss of UMD and the inclusion of inbuilt flash memory, there’s no way the new hardware is worth a $150 premium.

Sony, I really want to help you here. I love my old PSP. But if you really want to take on Nintendo and get yourself out of this horrid spiral of self loathing, you’ll need to help yourself first…

[Kotaku]

When asked about the launch plans for the PSP Go!, Ephraim responded:

“Because of the fluctuation in the exchange rate, we’ve decided to hold off on our announcement until closer to launch date. We will probably make that announcement [soon] so we can start working with retailers and preorders and those things. You are definitely going to see a premium price on the PSP Go! as it was announced in Europe and the US.”

But exactly how much of a premium is still unknown. David floated a $400 price point, and Ephraim hit back with the “we want to bring it in as cheap as we can, that’s always our objective” response.

In any case, expect to be paying more than $300, which is the current price for the PSP-3000. Ouch.

[Kotaku]

The other thing worth noting is that that 100,000 figure represents units actually sold through to customers, not just purchased by retailers and sitting in a warehouse somewhere. So out there in Australia gadget land, 100,000 of you are playing with your DSi… Tell me, is it everything you hoped it to be?

With the DS Lite, for comparison’s sake, the AC adaptor had a different proprietary connector, which was a nuisance if you lost it and happened to still have your original DS adaptor handy.

For the PSP Go, there’s this picture, which shows the range of accessories that mate exclusively with the new handheld’s multi-use port. The old PSP used a mini-USB port. You get the picture.

Well, strike that, actually. With a little prodding and stretching, the pouch could definitely work for both models. [Joystiq]

There were a couple hints leading up to this. There was the patent for a mystery device that could browse the web and play back music—but also had a touchscreen. There was the rebranding of the Mylo into an Internet Device, which was strange to us at the time.

But why is Sony using the Mylo body to make a flash-based PSP that won’t replace the PSP 3000? I have no idea. Maybe they felt bad for the only very lightly-used machines and molds they had for the Mylo and wanted to give them a purpose? [PSP Go]

All this leakage stems from the June issue of Qore, which is a bit of a slip-up on Sony’s part. The Go looks to keep the single analogue joystick, though the overall design is quite a bit more playful and, well, circular than previous iterations of the PSP. Notice we didn’t say “attractive”: the circle section that houses the start and select buttons especially has kind of a late-90s feel to it, but we’ll have to see how it looks in the hand. It should be packing Bluetooth and a memory card slot (probably MemoryStick, grah) in addition to the 16GB of internal memory.

Also lining up with the previous rumours is that the new PSP Go will not replace the PSP 3000, but instead try to live peacefully with the older device on store shelves. And that hefty 16GB of storage space makes sense considering what we’ve heard about possible digital game rentals and a music store. [Gaming Console Network (site currently down) via PlayStation Forums via Engadget]

Outside of that, the 550 and 550t (the latter adds topographic US maps) appear to be the same GPS device that users have come to expect from earlier Oregon models. Obviously, it would be nice if a mobile phone was part of the package here, but keep in mind that this is intended to be a more robust GPS device for people mountain biking, climbing, hiking and otherwise travelling in the rugged wilderness—not those trying to find the nearest Starbucks.

Picture perfect: Garmin® Oregon® 550 with built-in camera
offers touchscreen GPS for all seasons, all reasons

OLATHE, Kan./May 7, 2009/Business Wire – Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), the global leader in satellite navigation, today announced the Oregon 550 and Oregon 550t touchscreen handheld GPS devices, integrating a 3.2 megapixel digital camera, which creates geotagged images, and a 3-axis compass into the popular series of intuitive touchscreen handhelds. The waterproof Oregon 550’s easy-to-use interface and versatile features make it the ideal solution for customers looking for a multipurpose GPS device.

“As everyone looks for ways to do more with less, Oregon 550 and Oregon 550t can be the one GPS device you turn to for all of your activities, in any climate, on any terrain, at any time of year,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “Easy enough for beginners to master, Oregon will guide you in your adventures, capture the highlights and bring them back home.”

There’s no need to tote a separate camera in your pack or pocket as Oregon 550’s 3.2 megapixel autofocus digital camera with 4x digital zoom automatically geotags each photo with the location of where it was taken, allowing you to mark, remember and navigate back to that exact spot in the future. With this waterproof digital camera, you can take and view pictures in landscape or portrait orientation, and 850 MB of internal memory offers ample storage. These pictures can then be printed or stored and shared online, making every trip even more memorable. Once your Oregon 550 is connected via USB, you can use my.Garmin.com to detect Oregon’s photos, simplify the selection and uploading processes and then store those photos on Picasa, a popular online photo sharing community for friends and families around the world.

The built-in 3-axis compass and enhanced sunlight-readable touchscreen are two other key additions to the Oregon 550 and Oregon 550t (which features preloaded 100K topo maps for the entire U.S. in state-of-the-art 3D elevation perspective). The 3-axis tilt-compensated electronic compass shows your heading even when you’re standing still, without holding it level. And Oregon’s glove-friendly, colour 3-inch touchscreen display is brighter and easier than ever to read and use in all conditions, responsive to the touch of your finger, yet resistant to the forces of nature. Weighing only 6.8 ounces, the Oregon 550 and Oregon 550t come with two precharged AA NiMH batteries. These batteries provide up to 16 hours of life on a single charge and don’t lose energy when not in use. The included battery charger saves you money and reduces waste as batteries get recharged and reused. Also in the box is a carabiner clip and USB cable for high-speed USB connections. A microSD card slot provides even more storage for photos, mapping and memory and allows you to view pictures from other devices with Oregon’s picture viewer.

Highlighting its versatility, Oregon lets you customise five profiles – automotive, marine, recreation, fitness or geocaching – making the most useful features the easiest to access through shortcuts.

On the trail: With its high-sensitivity, WAAS-enabled GPS receiver and HotFix™ satellite prediction, Oregon 550 locates your position quickly and precisely and maintains its GPS location even in heavy cover and deep canyons. And you can store up to 2,000 waypoints, 200 routes, 5,000 geocaches and a tracklog of up to 10,000 points and 200 saved tracks. On the mountain: The built-in barometric altimeter tracks changes in pressure to pinpoint your precise altitude, and you can keep an eye on changing weather conditions by plotting pressure over time. On vacation: Explore with confidence, thanks to the detailed U.S. topographic maps preloaded in the 550t or the worldwide shaded relief basemap in the 550. On a mission: The simple-to-use touchscreen interface makes it easy to navigate efficiently and tackle your task quickly. In a group: With Oregon 550, you can share your waypoints, tracks, routes and geocaches wirelessly other Oregon and Colorado users. Out geocaching: Go paperless with Oregon, which can store up to 5,000 caches, by quickly downloading cache information from Geocaching.com. Oregon stores and displays key information such as location, terrain, difficulty, hints and description, so that you don’t have to tote printouts with you. (And lucky geocachers may even stumble upon a limited-edition Oregon geocoin.)

And Oregon does the work of several devices, just by adding various accessories to suit your activity or optional MapSource® microSD cards preloaded with detailed maps.

On the road: Optional City Navigator mapping provides detailed street maps, millions of preloaded points of interest and onscreen turn-by-turn directions to your destination, and an optional Auto Nav kit adds a suction mount and car charger. On a hunt or on a hike: Using a separate TOPO U.S. 24K DVD or microSD card brings you the highest level of topographic detail available, with maps comparable to 1:24,000 scale USGS maps, featuring terrain contours, topo elevations, summits, routable roads and trails, parks, coastlines, rivers, lakes and geographical points. On the water: Add BlueChart® g2 maps, which provide everything you need for a great day on the water, including depth contours, navaids and harbors. On the run or on a bike: Ideal for a trail workout, the lightweight Oregon is compatible with Garmin’s heart-rate monitors and speed/cadence sensors, and an optional handlebar mount makes it easy to track your speed, distance, elevation and location.

And wherever you are, whatever you’re doing and whomever you’re with, you’ll always have Oregon 550’s built-in camera to capture the moment, record the location and share the memories.

[Garmin]