Technience » CES

iRiver E100, Yet Another iRiver DAP

Daniel Georges — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 07:51:40 +0000

The CES was a big show for iRiver, releasing many products, and surprising a lot of people. The latest surprise is the E100. Built in speakers, large 2.4-inch screen and a interesting control system that takes up around a 3rd of the devices face make up the E100.
The disappointing parts are the storage size of a measly 4GB and the inability to play video files. That could all be changed in later revisions of the device and with firmware upgrades but why skimp on the initial release? Simple design, easy controls and clean design could make it a interesting device to look out for in the coming months.

For more info, click over to the PMPToday Blog.

The UMPC News Round Up, That Was Bound To Happen

Daniel Georges — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:43:08 +0000

It is CES time, and as I previously predicted, there is a lot of UMPC news. The new articles that I noticed the most today are based around the Kohjinsha SR8KP06, Asus R50a, Lenovo MID, Aigo MID and WiBro MID. For the people who don’t know, and so I don’t have to go through it later, MID stands for Mobile Internet Device.

-Kohjisha has been making UMPC’s for a while now, but have only recently made the worlds first to contain a DVD drive. Though the price premium goes up a few hundred, the luxury of using it as a portable DVD player may just account for it. For the whole article, jump to the Mobility Site.

-The Asus R50a is a feature monster to behold. It features Intel Silverthorne 1.33 Ghz, 1 Gb RAM, 5.6-inch 1024 x 600 touch screen, 1.8-inch 32GB SSD, HSDPA, Wifi, Bluetooth and GPS. It also has the dual camera configuration for video conferencing (0.3MP) and taking pictures (2MP). Asus have also somehow managed to add 3 X USB ports and a MicroSD slot. The whole thing weighs 520 grams and measures up at a tiny 199mm 97mm x 28.4 mm. The price is unknown, but god will it be high. For more info, click over to the Mobility Site.

-The Lenovo MID is more of a boring device, but its advantage may be the price. It runs on the Intel platform, and features a spiffy looking Linux OS. For More info, click over to the Engadget Blog.

-The Aigo is a nicer looking device, taking cues from the current array of top selling devices (iPhone and EeePC). It also runs a very iPhoneriffic GUI, which big shiny buttons. Like the Lenovo it runs a Linux OS, but this device has the added advantage of a slide out QWERTY keyboard, making it a direct competitor with the much loved Nokia N810. For more info, click over to the Engadget Blog.

-I left the best for last with a very interesting device by Digifriends WiBro. Their MID is very basic to start off with, but with the option to add a magnitude of devices, ranging from keyboards and gamepads to docking stations and hard drives. If it was done properly, this device would have endless options and with help from some 3rd party companies, could have a massive list of useful and fun addons. Unlike the other devices, this one runs Vista. For more info, click over to the Engadget Blog.

That’s it for this round up, but I will try and keep you up to date with all the upcoming UMPC and MID news, because I just know there will be bucket loads more.

iRivers Takes Wing To The UMPC

Daniel Georges — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:31:05 +0000

It is CES time, and surely you will get a million tech articles talking about all the upcoming devices. This time it seems to be the big year for UMPC’s, with many companies upgrading and releasing brand new models. iRiver, who aren’t really known for making notebooks or computers, have dived into the UMPC market, with a device simply called the Wing.
Not a whole lot is known about the cute little device, but it is definitely not the gaming hand-held it was going to be once upon a time. Instead it is a tiny little UMPC, with a a touchscreen, 4GB of flash memory (need more then that buddy), WiFi and runs Windows CE Pro (could be a good and bad thing).
This little device tells you a lot from the picture. Firstly, people will compare it straight away to the EeePC, because it is white and a UMPC (I still live by the fact that the EeePC isn’t a UMPC). The device suggests it is more focused on being much smaller then the EeePC, with a thumb board instead of the classic high button QWERTY. iRiver might be onto something if they can get it to the market at a good enough price. Will keep you updated as more information flies in.

For more info, click over to the Gizmodo Blog.

Cowon A3 Coming Soon

Daniel Georges — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 12:34:47 +0000

The Cowon A3 has been talked about for a while, with people getting a sneak peak of it back at the CES in January. If you don’t remember, the thing that make it stand out is the use of the DaVinci Chipset, which should give it the ability to punch out some pretty hot graphics.
Other then the cool chipset, the A3 will be able to playback DivX, FLAC, OGG, and a wide variety of lossless audio formats. It will feature HD TV-Out with an impressive resolution of 1280 x 720. It will be able to play and record FM stations, plus use the USB-Host to copy the photo’s off your camera. The screen on the player is also impressive with it being a sweet 4-inch widescreen with a resolution of 800 x 480.
I am impressed with the A3 information all round, and though it can’t surf the internet like the Archos players, it does do multimedia damn well. It is set for a November 14th release with a 30GB for $US387 and a 60GB for $US465. Can’t wait to see what the reviews have to say about this one.

For more info, click over to the Engadget Blog.