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Jun 26

Cowon C2 portable media player review

Posted in: audio, flash, handheld, media player, MediaPlayer, MP3, mp3 player, Mp3Player, Music, PMP, review, Today's Chili, video

And here you were assuming the tried-and-true PMP was dead. Au contraire. Cowon’s not giving up on its dream quite yet, but after the D2 hung around at the company’s low-end for the better part of four years, it’s an alphabetic step backwards that’s taking over as the successor. The diminutive C2 is about as simple as a PMP gets — design wise, anyway — but it’s actually capable of supporting both music and video on its 2.6-inch resistive touchpanel. And then there’s the purported 55 hours of battery life, included microSD card for expansion and the company’s world-class audio quality. Still, $135 goes a long (long!) way in the portable music industry these days — does the C2 pack enough punch to make your short list? Head on past the break to find out.

Gallery: Cowon C2 hands-on and unboxing

Continue reading Cowon C2 portable media player review

Cowon C2 portable media player review originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Jun 2011 14:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 26

Kenwood’s still making Media Kegs, announces bilingual MG-G608 for the Japanese market

Posted in: Japan, media player, MediaPlayer, mp3 player, Mp3Player, Today's Chili

We’ve been covering Kenwood’s Media Kegs since the dawn of Engadget, and though we haven’t seen one in awhile, there’s no question this line of MP3 players is still alive and kicking. The company just debuted the MG-G608 for the Japanese market with a bilingual UI, stereo Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, and one neon chassis. Otherwise, you might find its specs — namely, a small 2-inch display, lack of video playback, and a modest 8GB of storage — a bit ho-hum. To be fair, it does support microSD cards as large as 16GB, though even then, you might prefer 32GB, depending on how expansive your Hatsune Miku collection is. Japanese and English speakers alike can pick one up in Japan next month for ¥15,000 ($183).

Kenwood’s still making Media Kegs, announces bilingual MG-G608 for the Japanese market originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 10:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 30

Plex plays nice with your Honeycomb slate after app update

Posted in: Android, android market, AndroidMarket, app, honeycomb, media player, MediaPlayer, Today's Chili, video

We’ve praised Plex in the past for delivering us box-free XMBC and for it’s prodigious media streaming proficiency. Problem is, its app wasn’t optimized for the Honeycomb OS and the upsized screen real estate of Android slates — until now. With the updated code comes tablet-friendly layouts and fast-scrolling in all grid and list views so you can zip through your large local media library. It also includes direct play and internet streaming sans-transcoding (just like the recently revised iOS app) for sating those right now vid cravings. The improvements serve smaller Android devices as well, which makes the newly egalitarian app more enticing than ever before. Best of all, it’s still only five bucks.

[Thanks, Andrew]

Plex plays nice with your Honeycomb slate after app update originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 11:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 19

Philips GoGear Connect gets Gingerbread and some new threads, we go hands-on

Posted in: Android, gingerbread, hands-on, media player, MediaPlayer, MP3, mp3 player, Mp3Player, philips, PMP, Today's Chili

It’s been a while since we last saw Philip’s GoGear Connect PMP, and in the meantime it’s acquired a new look and a new flavor of Android. The new GoGear has gone from white to black, lost its trackball in favor of a capacitive touchscreen display, and exchanged the lowly Android 2.1 for Gingerbread. Like its competition from Samsung, the device also has access to the Android Market and all those apps that lesser PMPs lack. After getting some quality time with a prototype of the new device, we found the copper-colored buttons and speaker grill running along its right side to form an intriguing design, but the overall fit and finish — not to mention the lack of a backlight for the screen — demonstrated that it wasn’t quite ready for primetime. Luckily, there’s plenty of time to work out the kinks, as Philips has pegged a September debut for the 8GB and 16GB versions (at $179 and to-be-determined price points, respectively), and promised a 32GB iteration will come later. PR after the break.

Gallery: Philips GoGear Connect PMP hands-on

Continue reading Philips GoGear Connect gets Gingerbread and some new threads, we go hands-on

Philips GoGear Connect gets Gingerbread and some new threads, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 09

uSolo FX Media player review

Posted in: audio, media player, MediaPlayer, MP3, Music, review, Today's Chili, video

This is a picture of a digital media player. It doesn’t look quite like an iPod, though, does it? No hint of Zune here either, we don’t think. In fact, it looks a lot like a CDJ unit, and that’s for a reason: it acts just like a physical media-loving digital disc jockey’s unit, but without the 5-inch slot at the front. Instead, it’s got USB and SD ports up top. If you’re a DJ, you might be familiar with the rest: navigate your folders to find a song, cue it up with the jog wheel, and mix it up. DJ Tech, which started operations in the US just last year, has the uSolo FX as its flagship unit — does it compare to its competition from giants like Pioneer and Numark? Read on to find out!

Gallery: DJ Tech uSolo FX Media Player

Continue reading uSolo FX Media player review

uSolo FX Media player review originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 12:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 17

WebM components for IE9 bring further video compatibility to Windows, end to codec conflict?

Posted in: Google, Internet Explorer, media player, MediaPlayer, Microsoft, preview, Today's Chili, video, Windows

We’ve been reporting on the drama over Google’s WebM ever since Microsoft compared the video format to Esperanto earlier this year, but despite a war of words, Google and Microsoft seem to be playing nice as of late. What originally appeared to be a mere WebM plug-in for IE9, has turned out to be a full set of components for the Microsoft Media Foundation (MF) API, which means even more compatibility within Windows. Because the components are installed directly to the operating system, you’ll be able to watch WebM videos in other programs that support MF, such as Windows Media Player 12 for Windows 7. We suppose this could be the signal for some sort of a truce over disputed video formats, but, really, what’s the fun in that?

WebM components for IE9 bring further video compatibility to Windows, end to codec conflict? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 16

Samsung Galaxy Player 4 and 5 to arrive in the US this spring

Posted in: galaxy, GalaxyS, launch, media player, MediaPlayer, official, release, samsung, tablet, Today's Chili

Remember the Galaxy Player (or Galaxy S WiFi) we saw back at MWC? Sure you do, it basically strips out the 3G and calling functionality of a Galaxy S phone and leaves you with a Android 2.2 media player or shrunken tablet. Well, it looks like both the 4-inch Galaxy Player 4 and the 5-inch Galaxy Player 5 will be headed to the US this spring. Samsung’s demoing the players here at its NYC Spring Product Showcase today, although it isn’t talking exact timing or pricing. Either way, it looks like this Android 2.2 player (it’s upgradable to 2.3, by the way) with full Market access will be headed stateside sometime soon. We’ve got the full specs after the break and we’ll be trying to dig up more details here — stay tuned.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Player 4 and 5 to arrive in the US this spring

Samsung Galaxy Player 4 and 5 to arrive in the US this spring originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 11:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 19

Archos Arnova is ready to exterminate your clock radio, your Squeezebox too

Posted in: archos, media player, MediaPlayer, Today's Chili

The consumer electronics company with the phlegmatic name has just dropped its latest device on us, and for once it isn’t a tablet or some form of PMP. It’s the Archos Arnova, a fancy clock radio, with a 3.5-inch touchscreen in the middle plus the ability to connect to 12,000 streaming radio stations and 1,500 “web TV” channels too. If that’s not enough you can play media directly from an SD card or pull it over your local network via uPNP. Why, you can even view pictures on there, if you don’t mind squinting. What you can’t do is know how much money to save or when you’ll need to save it by if you’re looking to buy one, as Archos hasn’t seen fit to tell us that just yet.

Gallery: Archos Arnova

[Thanks, Joshua]

Archos Arnova is ready to exterminate your clock radio, your Squeezebox too originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 23:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 16

Plex Media Center App comes to Android, Windows server available

Posted in: Android, android market, AndroidMarket, app, Google, media player, MediaPlayer, streaming, Today's Chili, Windows

Everyone’s other favorite spinoff from the XBMC family tree has some major news this week, as Plex has released a Media Center app for Android that mirrors most of the functions already available for iOS devices. Available now on the Android Market for $4.99, it brings local and streaming media to the phone over WiFi, or 3G from a Mac (and now, Windows PC) running the server software, but users will have to wait a few weeks for an upgrade adding remote functions (or use any of the 3rd party apps already on the Market.) With plugins for apps like Netflix, Hulu and BBC iPlayer it’s a formidable competitor in the mediastreamer market out of the gate; throw in support for PCs plus integration into LG’s 2011 HDTVs and Blu-ray players and we’re ready to pick Plex as the platform to keep an eye on this year. Check out the details in the press release after the break, we’ll toss in a link to the Windows server once we find it / it’s posted. (Update: The link is down there but it’s still delivering a dmg instead of an exe, we’ve been told it should be up later this afternoon. Thanks, Chris!)

Gallery: Plex Media Center for Android

Continue reading Plex Media Center App comes to Android, Windows server available

Plex Media Center App comes to Android, Windows server available originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Android Market, Plex Blog, Media Server for Windows | Email this | Comments

Feb 14

Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 preview (video)

Posted in: Android, froyo, impressions, media player, MediaPlayer, mwc, mwc 2011, Mwc2011, preview, samsung, tablet, Today's Chili, video

Well, would you look at what we found chilling at Samsung’s booth here at MWC? Yep, it’s that Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 we heard about just the other day, and it’s one interesting tablet / media player hybrid. We’d be inclined to call this thing a Streak 5 or Acer 4.8 Iconia competitor, but it doesn’t have a trace of cellular or 3G connectivity. We were, however, able to confirm what it does have — it packs a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, a 800 x 480-resolution display, a 5 megapixel camera with a flash, and a 2500mAH battery. On the software front, it runs Android 2.2 (although it will be upgradable to Gingerbread) and TouchWiz. Oh, and it has the full suite of Google applications (YouTube, Gmail, Google Chat, etc.) and access to the Market.

So, what’s it like? Well, it looks like an enlarged Galaxy Player (or what is now known as the Galaxy S WiFi 4.0), which really means it looks like Galaxy S smartphone and the Galaxy Tab mashup. The white slippery back clearly looks like our Sprint Galaxy Tab, but the thinner design and rounded edges remind us of a Vibrant or Fascinate. It’s really a very “Samsung” device, and we don’t mean that in a bad way — the plastic build feels pretty solid and the screen seemed very high quality. As for performance, it seemed fairly quick and a preloaded video played rather smoothly. We wish we had more information on when this one was going to land stateside, but a rep on hand would only tell us that it will be hitting Korea this month and other countries soon. Check the break for a short hands-on look at this guy and the galleries below for some close up shots.

Gallery: Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 hands-on