Hasta La Gadget!

For all its success, the iPod touch has few dedicated media player competitors capable of matching its big-touchscreen, WiFi, and voluminous App Store. Until today. Philips just went official with its GoGear Connect featuring the full suite of Google Mobile applications pre-installed with access to the Android Market for pretty much everything else. Spec-wize we’re looking at a 3.2-inch display, WiFi, sound isolating earphones, built-in camera, and microSD slot. Sorry, no mention of the Android OS version though we’ve seen it listed at retailers with 2.1. Syncing your music is done over Bluetooth or a USB tether to your PC with Philips’ Songbird providing the software assist. The MP4 player also supports Maps and location-based services — presumably accomplished with the help of Skyhook and not via a GPS radio (though the Philips post is tagged “GPS”). Look for the GoGear Connect to land in Western Europe, China, and yes, the US, starting in late October with the price pegged at €249 (about $315) for the 16GB model.

Update: Philips got back to us with additional specs: on-board GPS and compass; 480 x 320 pixel LCD display; and support for .mp3, .wma, .m4a (AAC), .ogg, and .flac audio; .wmv, .mp4 (MPEG4 and H264 up to 720p), .avi (MPEG4 up to 720p) video; and JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF images. Oh, and it’s definitely Andriod 2.1.

Philips GoGear Connect is a legitimate Android-based iPod touch competitor (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First came the onslaught of Android-based phones, and then came the rush of Android-powered tablet PCs. Now, we can all brace for the third major coming of Google’s mobile OS, as this PMP marks the second from Archos alone in the last week. Hot on the heels of the Archos 32 comes the Archos 28 Minidroid, a diminutive 2.8-inch (presumed, anyway) portable media player with inbuilt WiFi, Android onboard, a 3.5mm headphones jack, USB connectivity, an integrated microphone and a touch-sensitive array of front panel controls. Beyond that, the FCC’s database ain’t telling us much, but we suspect we’ll hear more as IFA approaches.

[Thanks, Steve]

Archos 28 Minidroid PMP surfaces at FCC: yet another Android-based PMP originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, we’ve two main issues here. One, who in their right mind would pay $219.99 for a device that still requires a dedicated stereo in order to play back the internet radio streams that Grace Digital’s Tuner Wireless Radio & Media Player delivers? And secondly, who would want to put up with Grace Digital’s thoroughly lackluster UI? If you can’t grok the grumbling, the aforementioned company now has a slender new component it’d love to stick on your shelf, with the device shown above able to stream WiFi radio content from 30,000 stations, Pandora, iheartradio, Sirius, Live365, MP3tunes and a smattering of other sources. It can be wired up via Ethernet or used over 802.11g, with composite, Toslink and coaxial digital audio outputs around back. There’s a 4-line backlit LCD for displaying not nearly enough metadata at once, and there’s even a remote thrown in for those looking to build out their collection. It’s available now if you’re feeling the itch, though we’d suggest you get that checked out before blindly indulging.

Continue reading Grace Digital’s Tuner Wireless Radio & Media Player adds internet radio to existing stereos

Grace Digital’s Tuner Wireless Radio & Media Player adds internet radio to existing stereos originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yes, it’s just a hard drive that plays 1080p content, but this one can connect to your PS3; according to some machine translated Japanese, Marshal’s new “Media Joker” can also act as an external hard drive for your Sony game console or a Toshiba REGZA TV. While you won’t be able to install games on the up-to-2TB hard drive that you’ll provide yourself, the black box can notably play Blu-ray ISOs — though that, the company carefully cautions, will surely void your warranty. The case admirably provides most all ports you could want, including component, composite, both flavors of S/PDIF, HDMI 1.3, LAN, an SD card slot and a pair of USB sockets, and supports a host of audiovisual formats, the full list available at the more coverage link. Find it retailing for ¥16,800 (about $184) this Saturday in some neon-lit corner of Japan.

Marshal’s new media drive is no laughing matter, plays Blu-ray and DVD ISOs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Jun 2010 04:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Peruse the Android Market this morrow and you might come across a hot new addition from the folks at DoubleTwist. That’s right, the iTunes-aping desktop sync manager has gone native on the Android platform and early feedback on its media player implementation has been positive. The free music and video player app does that whole seamless thing quite well, apparently, interfacing directly with your Windows or Mac computerino and porting over relevant playlists, ratings and media. A widget and other features are coming soon, though you’ll likely have to pay for them, given the “free for a limited time” note on the download page. Better get it while the gettin’s good.

DoubleTwist adds some polish to Android with new media player app originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 05:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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