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.

The GoGear Luxe comes with Bluetooth and a microphone, allowing the listener to switch between other Bluetooth devices, such as your phone with just one click. It will also display caller information if the listener is currently on a phone call, in addition to displaying music information on a LCD strip. Estimated with a 10 hour battery life, the GoGear Luxe will be available in January, costing $US89 for the 2GB version or $US99 the 4GB version.

Enjoy MP3 and WMA music on the move with the latest additions to Philips GoGear personal music players – the Raga, Spark and LUXE flash audio players. These stylish, new USB 2.0 devices provide fast and easy music and data transfer. Simply load your device with songs and plug in a pair of headphones for up to 30 hours of listening time.

The new GoGear LUXE features integrated Bluetooth® connectivity so it can switch between your favourite tunes and phone calls with a single click. The LCD strip displays track details and caller information so you never miss a beat.

Access even more music on the go with the Rhapsody™-enabled Go Gear Spark. Its 1.5-inch colour display allows for easy navigation and viewable album art.

The GoGear LUXE and Spark feature FullSound™, a digital audio algorithm patented by Philips. FullSound refines audio output by performing 10 million operations per second to analyse and re-compute the music signal before it is sent to the speaker.

[Philips at Gizmodo]

AU: This will retail for $229 locally and will be available in June.

May 20, 2008 04:00

Keep Your Phone in Your Pocket: Listen to Your Mobile-Phone Music on Logitech’s New Wireless Speakers

Logitech Introduces Pure-Fi Mobile Speaker System

FREMONT, Calif. –(Business Wire)– May. 20, 2008 To transform your low-fidelity mobile-phone audio into high-fidelity, stereophonic sound — wirelessly — Logitech (SWX:LOGN)(NASDAQ:LOGI) today announced the Logitech(R) Pure-Fi Mobile(TM) speaker system. Soon you can be listening to your favourite tunes on your mobile phone — even when your phone is in your pocket.
“Millions of people now use a mobile phone to listen to music. If you’re one of those people, now you can toss your ear buds aside and pump up the volume,” said Mark Schneider, vice president and general manager of Logitech’s audio business unit. “So when you’re at a party, at the park, or just hanging out at home, your mobile-phone music will always sound great when you use the Pure-Fi Mobile speaker system.”

If you have a mobile phone that uses Bluetooth(R) wireless technology with the Advanced Audio Distribution (A2DP) profile, you can stream stereo audio through the compact Pure-Fi Mobile speaker system — up to 33 feet away from your phone. And thanks to the 2-inch high-excursion drivers and dual 2-inch pressure drivers, your mobile-phone music will fill your home, your car or your office with articulate bass and smooth treble.

You can also use Pure-Fi Mobile as a wireless speakerphone. It features two built-in mics — one to pick up vocal nuances and the other to monitor and block unwanted background noise. And you won’t need to even pick up the phone — the call-answer and call-end controls on the top of the speakers let you accept or end calls.

When you’re ready to hit the road, toss Pure-Fi Mobile into your suitcase, backpack or car and enjoy music wherever you go. The compact, one-piece speaker system comes with a protective case that can also carry charging cables. So you don’t unexpectedly lose power, the rechargeable batteries give you approximately 12 hours of playing time as well as a battery-life indicator. Plus, if the batteries run low, just use the included power adaptor or mini-USB cable and keep on rockin’.

And if your favourite audio is on your PC, iPod(R) or other MP3 player, you can enjoy the rich sound of Pure-Fi Mobile by pairing it to your audio source via Bluetooth or by connecting it to the built-in 3.5 mm audio jack — instantly enhancing your listening experience.

Pricing and Availability

The Logitech Pure-Fi Mobile speakers are expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning in June. The suggested retail price in the U.S. is $149.99.

[Logitech]

NWA-A720
• 4, 8 and 16GB
• Windows Media DRM compatible
• MP3/AAC/WMA/L-PCM audio
• h.264/MPEG4 Video
• 2.4-inch LCD
• Comes with EX-Headphones
• 36 hours of battery life

The NWA-A820 is exactly the same as the A720, but comes in a 16GB version with Bluetooth 1.3 A2DP on board. The NWZ-A820K is also exactly the same as the A820, which includes the Bluetooth 1.3 A2DP streaming, but comes with a pair of Bluetooth headphones. However, the 820K is only available in an 8GB model.

SONY UNVEILS NOISE CANCELING AND BLUETOOTH WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY ENABLED WALKMAN VIDEO MP3 PLAYERS

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 26, 2008 – Sony today unveiled three new Walkman® video MP3 models that for the first time in the United States support noise-canceling and Bluetooth® technologies.
All three NWZ-S710F, NWZ-A720 and NWZ-A820 Walkman® players also support common audio formats, including MP3s.
“Achieving the highest audio quality is one of our top priorities when designing our players,” said Steve Haber, senior vice president of the Digital Imaging and Audio Division at Sony Electronics.
High-Quality Audio and Video
The new Walkman® video players offer great video resolution and brightness, along with high-quality sound and an extended battery life. They come with Sony’s EX series in-ear-buds with 13.5 mm drivers that passively block out ambient noise and help create a better listener experience.
Sony’s clear audio technologies are also included and significantly improve sound quality when playing back digital music files. They fill in the high tones that can be lost during file compression, enhance the bass, minimize distortion and maintain a consistent channel signal.
The devices have a standard user interface that makes it easy to enjoy songs, videos or pictures. For exceptional image quality, the video players have a large Quarter Video Graphics Array (QVGA) LCD screen that displays video at 30 frames per second. QVGA is a display mode for small screens in which the resolution is 320 pixels vertically by 240 pixels horizontally.
The battery life is up to 33 hours of music playback for NWZ-S710F models and up to 36 hours for NWZ-A720 and NWZ-A820 models. The battery life is also up to nine-and-a-half hours of video playback for the NWZ-S710F model and up to 10 hours for the NWZ-A720 and NWZ-A820 models.
Integrated Noise-Canceling Walkman® Players
For business travelers or families who want to keep the volume down and the audio quality high, Sony has created the NWZ-S710F series of noise canceling Walkman® players.
These Walkman® players have a built-in noise-canceling system that can reduce up to 75 percent of the ambient noise. Five clear audio technologies are built into the device to create sound clarity that maintains the same quality of the original source.
Because the system diminishes intrusive noise, listeners can avoid turning up the volume. Travelers can turn on the noise canceling feature and get peace and quiet even without listening to music.
The compact and lightweight NWZ-S710 players have a 1.8-inch QVGA (320 by 240 pixels) LCD screen (measured diagonally). They include an FM tuner with 30 presets that make it convenient to listen to the radio on the go.
With or Without Wires
The NWZ-A720 series has a bigger 2.4-inch QVGA (320 by 240 pixels) LCD screen (measured diagonally). Incorporating the design ethos of both the previous A and S Series Walkman® players, these models have a slim body and a sleek industrial design.
With the same look and feature set as the NWZ-A720 series, the NWZ-A820 and NWZ-A820K series adds Bluetooth® technology. This technology eliminates the inconvenience of wires while streaming tunes from the MP3 device to headphones or other devices with Bluetooth® technology. It also makes it easier to listen to music virtually anywhere, anytime: in the living room, bedroom, office or even outdoors.
These Walkman® players have a 2.4-inch QVGA (320 by 240 pixels) LCD screen (measured diagonally). For NWZ-A820 and NWZ-A820K series, users can manually delete videos directly from the devices’ internal memory without connecting to a PC.
For fitness enthusiasts, the NWZ-A820K Walkman® player comes bundled with both the EX-series earbuds and the DR-BT21G Bluetooth® wireless technology enabled headphones. With a wireless behind-the-neck style, the DR-BT21G stereo Bluetooth® headset has built-in remote control features that play, pause and forward tracks. Fully charged, this headset offers hours of listening to music, watching videos or hands-free talking while connected to a compatible cell phone.
These devices use Bluetooth® Stereo technology with Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) to deliver high-quality sound. The Walkman® players support multiple digital music devices and accessories, including headphones, headsets and speakers with Bluetooth® technology.
Consumers can check whether their Sony device is compatible by visiting www.sony.com/bluetoothstereo.
Sony’s Open Platform Means More Choice
The Walkman® players support an open platform, providing more choices for downloading and managing music and video collections online. The devices support security-enhanced Windows Media Audio (WMA), as well as non-secure AAC, linear PCM and MP3 music formats, plus JPEG files for photos, in addition to the AVC (H.264/AVC) Baseline Profile and MPEG-4 video codecs.
The Walkman® video players store up to 3,800 songs on the 16GB models, 1,850 songs on the 8GB models and 925 songs on the 4GB models, for songs an average of four minutes in length at 128kbps in the MP3 format.
All of the new players are compatible with most subscription music services. The new players are Certified for Windows Vista, meaning they have passed a series of compatibility tests including Plays For Sure verification.
To help manage digital music libraries, the new Sony Walkman® video players come with Microsoft Windows Media Player 11. This familiar interface makes transferring music very intuitive.
Pricing and Availability
The NWZ-S710F series of Walkman® noise canceling video MP3 players come in two different capacities and three colors:
• The NWZ-S716F player has approximately 4GB of internal storage; comes in silver, red and black and will cost about $150.
• The NWZ-S718F player has approximately 8GB of internal storage; comes in black and will cost about $200.

The NWZ-A720 series of Walkman® video MP3 players come in three different capacities and two colors:
• The NWZ-A726 player has approximately 4GB of internal storage; comes in black and pink; and costs about $150.
• The NWZ-A728 player has approximately 8GB of internal storage; comes in black and pink and costs about $200.
• The NWZ-A729 player has approximately 16GB of internal storage, comes in black, and costs about $300.

The NWZ-A820 and NWZ-A820K series of Walkman® Bluetooth® wireless technology enabled video players will initially be available in the following configurations:
• The NWZ-A828K comes in black, has approximately 8GB of internal storage, and costs about $270.
• The NWZ-A829 comes in black has approximately 16GB of internal storage, and costs about $320.

Presales have begun for the new Walkman® models online at www.sonystyle.com/walkman and at Sony Style stores. The players will be available in March across the country at military base exchanges and at authorized dealers nationwide.

The Price: US$319 for 30GB, $349 for 60GB on Amazon

The Verdict: Just as great as the Q5W. The A3’s got a 800×480 display which is fantastically watchable, and supports just about every codec anyone would imagine throwing at it: DivX 3.11/4/5/6, XviD, MPEG-4 SP/ASP, WMV 9/8/7, H.264 MP, M-JPEG, MPEG 1/2 for video, MPEG1 Layer 1/2/3, WMA, FLAC, OGG Vorbis, OGG FLAC, APPLELossless, AAC/AAC+, AC3, True Audio, Monkey Audio, MusePack, WavPack, G.726, PCM for audio.

The video player is smooth (load times are a second or two), but navigation is a little wonky with the 4-way stick taking the place of a directional pad. It’s not too bad, but occasional down-clicks for selecting something didn’t get registered, or got registered as an up click instead.

Photo viewing is also sweet on the bright and ample display, and the transition time between photos is negligible. The only problem comes from the navigation stick and trying to cleanly press down on it without moving the stick in another direction as well.

Music support: great. Document (text reader) support: great. What’s even cooler about the A3, that only some of you will use, is its recording feature. You can record Mobile TV (if you’re not in the US or Australia), FM radio, microphone audio, or audio/video from an external source, such as your analog TV. These all worked as advertised, but like Archos units with DVR recording, it’s unlikely that most people will be using the A3 for recording and consuming media, but mostly the latter. In the end, we can’t give this full points because of the navigation system and the slightly sluggish UI, but if you’re a rabid consumer of downloaded video, the Cowon A3 is extremely portable and has format support that can’t be beat. [Amazon]