Zii Trinity mobile platform packs 1080p punch, looking for OEM love

Ready to start lusting after a new smartphone? If Creative has its way, you’ll soon be enjoying Full HD video on a 3.5 / 4G device, with built-in WiFi, 5 megapixel autofocus camera, accelerated 3D graphics, and mini-HDMI and Composite video outputs. The newly announced 3.1-inch, multitouch-capable Zii Trinity has been designed by Creative subsidiary Ziilabs, and will be licensed out to clients who’ll be able to customize a Zii-optimized Android install and Plaszma interface. As if we haven’t got enough smartphone ecosystems knocking about already, this also marks the introduction of ZiiLife, which aims to be both a content delivery and productivity suite. Powered by the ARM-based ZMS-05 or ZMS-08, the new handset actually seems destined to perform plenty of KIRF and grey market duties, judging by Creative’s “strategic partnerships” with Chinese manufacturers, but that might be no bad thing as, according to Gartner, the grey market is booming right now.

Zii Trinity mobile platform packs 1080p punch, looking for OEM love originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung R0 not-so-boldly goes where most PMPs have gone before it

Samsung‘s certainly got the portable media player design down to a cold, cold science. There isn’t much in the way of artistic license here, so let’s get on with the specs, shall we? 2.6-inch TFT LCD, microSD slot, FM radio, second-language acquisition programs, text / photo viewer, and video codec support including DivX, XviD, and H.264. Your color choices, with the appropriately inappropriate adjectives, are Indie Black, Techno Silver, and Rap Pink. Korean-only, this little guy will line shelves at KRW139,000 (US $120) with 4GB internal memory, and KRW179,000 (US $155) for 8GB.

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Samsung R0 not-so-boldly goes where most PMPs have gone before it originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hallods F43 MP4 player packs a 4.3-inch 720p screen, outed in Japan

Looks like the wait for a real HD PMP is finally over: Hallods of Japan has just released their F43 MP4 player featuring a 4.3-inch 1280×720 screen, easily beating other sub-5-inch, 480p screens found on big names like the Archos 5 and Viewsonic’s VPD400. Under that sharp screen is 8GB of internal storage and a hot-swappable microSD slot, along with a battery life of about four hours and ten hours for video and music, respectively. Like many PMPs out there the F43 supports videos encoded in MPEG4, FLV, RMVB and DivX-WVGA. Sure, there’s the ironic lack of HDMI output, but for ¥16,800 ($188) this is still a pretty good deal. Let’s just hope Hallods will send them over to the US soon.

[Via i4u]

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Hallods F43 MP4 player packs a 4.3-inch 720p screen, outed in Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Viewsonic officially launches VPD400 MovieBook media player

Viewsonic was showing this one off way back in July alongside a slew of other gear, but it’s just now gotten fully official with its VPD400 MovieBook media player, which is apparently available right away for $129.99. That will get you a 4.3-inch 800 x 480 display, 8GB of internal memory, a micro SD card slot for more, an AV out port for some bigger screen viewing (not HDMI, it seems), and a promised 12 hours of battery life for audio and six for video — not to mention your choice of black, pink or white color options. Not too shabby, just don’t go expecting anything fancy like WiFI or a touchscreen.

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Viewsonic officially launches VPD400 MovieBook media player originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Creative’s ZEN X-Fi2 touchscreen PMP now on sale

Candidly speaking, we can’t honestly envision too many of you fine folks running out and purchasing one of Creative’s new ZEN X-Fi2 portable media players given the availability of such robust alternatives. That said, we’d be remiss of our duties if we didn’t point out that the PMP which shocked us at IFA is now on sale directly from Creative. $129.99 buys you an 8GB model, while $179.99 nets you 16GB and $229.99 provides 32GB. We know — that 3-inch LCD and integrated FM tuner look good from afar, but remember kids, it’s all about the UI.

[Thanks, Tyler]

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Creative’s ZEN X-Fi2 touchscreen PMP now on sale originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ViewSonic’s VMP70 media player does 1080p for less than a hundie

ViewSonic's VMP70 media player does 1080p for less than a hundie

The WD TV is still more or less the king of the tiny media player boxes, but now Viewsonic is getting into the game at a lower price point — and minus the whole network compatibility bit. The VMP70 is a “direct connect” media device, so it will play content from your choice of USB-compatible storage, pumping it at up to 1080p to your display over HDMI or component cables, also sporting composite for lower-def fare. It packs an S/PDIF port to get clean audio, and supports a slew of formats including the usual suspects (DivX,Xvid,H.264) along with some slightly less usual ones (RM/RMVB, DTS, OGG). It’s all available for an MSRP of $129.99, but order now and you’ll get special holiday pricing of $98.99. Operators are standing by… somewhere… probably.

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ViewSonic’s VMP70 media player does 1080p for less than a hundie originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cowon iAudio 9 and iAudio E2 media players make the scene stateside

Cowon-heads of the world, you are in for a treat today. It looks like not one but two of the company’s snack-sized media players are finally hitting the big time. First off, the iAudio 9 PMP is due to hit the states within a week. Available in 8GB and 16GB denominations, for some reason the domestic version will be available only in black. Aside from supporting the usual compliment of media files (MP3, FLAC, Ogg, WAV, APE, WME, XviD, and WMV videos) this guy sports composite video out. Get your hands on the 8GB version for $129, or go wild with 16GB for $169. If video isn’t your bag, the enigmatic iAudio E2 (all 2.5-inches of it) is also available. Sporting a bevy of EQ presets, 4GB of storage and a not entirely terrible 11.5 hours of battery life, this is the keychain you’ve always wanted — but never wanted to pay $65 for. Additional glamor shots after the break.

[Via Electronista]

Read – Cowon prices iAudio 9 for US
Read – iAudio E2 now available, still confusing

Continue reading Cowon iAudio 9 and iAudio E2 media players make the scene stateside

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Cowon iAudio 9 and iAudio E2 media players make the scene stateside originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Patriot’s $130 Box Office 1080p media player streams on the cheap

Eying a Popcorn Hour device, are you? We know Patriot isn’t exactly the first name you think of when pondering your next media streamer, but the $129.99 price tag affixed to the black box shown above definitely piqued our interest. Like most of its rivals, this one features a 2.5-inch HDD slot (though you’ll need to bring your own drive, obviously), a trio of USB sockets, 10/100 Ethernet for content streaming, UPnP support, a rather decent file support list and a bundled remote. There’s also an optional USB WiFi adapter for those not keen on running 80 feet of Ethernet cabling through their den, and while the GUI won’t revolutionize your life, it certainly ain’t bad given the low barrier to entry. Too bad it’s still stuck in that painful-to-watch “pre-order” stage, huh?

[Via thegadgetsite]

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Patriot’s $130 Box Office 1080p media player streams on the cheap originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gemei’s 4.3-inch HD8800 PMP does 1080p out, other cool things for $122

It’s been a hot minute since we’ve seen a compelling new media player from the labs of Gemei, but the HD8800 ain’t half bad. Offering up a 4.3-inch display with an 800 x 480 resolution, this touchscreen-based PMP packs 8GB of internal memory, a battery good for five hours of movie playback (or ten hours with audio), USB 2.0 connectivity, 3.5 millimeter headphone jack and support for more formats than you’ll ever use. Oh, and then there’s that handy video out feature, which can supposedly shoot out content at up to 1080p via HDMI. It’s yours right now for a buck-twenty-two, but only heaven knows if that “JESSICA” wallpaper is changeable.

[Via PMP Today]

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Gemei’s 4.3-inch HD8800 PMP does 1080p out, other cool things for $122 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Oct 2009 03:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS ships $100 O!Play HDP-R1 HD media streamer

Hey, you — yeah, you. Remember that O!Play HDP-R1 media player that ASUS teased us with back in June? Remember how you dedicated a calender to it so you could count down the days ’til its arrival? Time to stop all that madness, as said box is finally on sale and shipping right now within the US of A. For the surprisingly reasonable price of $99.99, users can utilize this very device to stream and play back an array of formats with 1080p resolution support. Heck, there’s even an eSATA and Ethernet port there, just waiting for your love. So, will you show it? Or is life still worth living knowing what you’ve neglected?

[Via Slashgear]

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ASUS ships $100 O!Play HDP-R1 HD media streamer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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