Philips’ Luxe MP3 Player, that Jawbone-shaped device that doubles as a bluetooth headset, is coming to the U.S. following its Singapore launch, thankfully with a colour option that doesn’t include a tacky jewelled face.
Logitech’s Pure-Fi Mobile will apparently “transform your low-fidelity mobile-phone audio into high-fidelity, stereophonic sound.” You leave your mobile phone in your pocket while streaming music over Bluetooth to the speaker module, using A2DP protocol for higher-fidelity sound. With four speakers it should be able to pump out an appreciable volume, and it also has dual mics (one for ambient cancellation, one voice) so works as a speakerphone too. There’s also a standard line-in jack for lower-tech connectivity and its rechargeable batteries will give 12 hours of tunes, with USB power as backup if that’s not enough. Available June for US$149.99. Full press release below.
AU: This will retail for $229 locally and will be available in June.
According to Zune Insider, the Red Zune 80 is starting to show up in retail stores after a stint at Zune Originals. The colour must be hot, hot, hot! [Zune Insider]
On paper, the Samsung YP-S2 is just another shuffle-beater, a 1GB player for US$39. But in person, it’s the most stylish of its class, in five colours, including those below and a white with faux marble grain. (Sadly Samsung didn’t have that one on hand.) It charges via a removable USB dongle that plugs right into the 35mm headphone jack, saving space—just don’t lose the extra piece. It’s not fully see-through, like Sony’s similar OLED-screen MP3 players, but it does have a glowing multicoloured LED that is supposed to indicate status. As you can see in the gallery, it’s not totally fingerprint-proof, but US$39 doesn’t guarantee perfection. [Samsung]
The Mickey MP3 player that we’ve shown you when it was only available in Korea, and again when it was gold-plated, is finally making its way to the US today, with one slight caveat: “This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer, or birth defects or other reproductive harm.” That’s right, the same Mickey Mouse you loved in childhood could be adding extra limbs on your own children. Then again, it’s only US$70, stores 1GB, and has 9 hours of playback time, so, pick your battles. [product page]
It may be a decent little clip-on MP3 player. There’s no LCD, but it’s priced cheap—US$40 for 1GB and US$55 for 2GB. It comes in 9 (mouth watering?) colours including strawberry, mocha, carrot, aqua, sweet pink, vanilla, lavender, mint and ice blue. Still, we can’t shake the nagging sensation that the Floral Titi will never be sold in the US. Of course, if it ever is, we know certain connoisseurs out there would surely grab hold of a Titi—our guess is that the more eager customers may even want two. [Aving]
Sony’s NWZ-A720, A820 and A820K Walkman players all look alike, but the 8-series has added Bluetooth to sweeten the deal. It’s quite similar to their NW-A829 and NW-A828 brothers that were announced in Japan, in fact. And yes, they have noise cancellation.
Apple’s just dropped the price of the iPod shuffle to $65 from $89.
