Samsung have surprised me with the recently announced docking station for there infamous P2 PMP. The little station adds 4 new abilities to the player which include Wi-Fi, MicroSD, FM transmitter, and even a built in speaker. Not much else is known, but expect more when CES comes our way. If the WiFi and MicroSD are implemented properly, this could make the P2 a very kick arse product.
More info at AnythingButiPod.
Update: The Dock is so damn fake, and people keep reminding me. It would have been nice, but it seems a no go.
I want one. It is a gadget to lust for, to dream of, to leave your whining wife for. The Nokia N810 was official non-rumor yesterday, but today we have all the dirty, dirty details of what it hides under its sleek plastic face.
To start, it does definitely have a GPS inbuilt. It also has the same 4.3-inch display as its predecessor (WVGA with 65,000 colours) , expect it is 20% brighter. Other features include a 2GB internal storage, WiFi (802.11b/g), Bluetooth (2.0+ EDR), 400MHz OMAP 2420 CPU, 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM, integrated frontal camera, ambient light sensor, mini USB 2.0, hardware lock switch and did I mention the complete QWERTY keyboard? It natively plays back video: 3GP, AVI, H.263, H.264, MP4, ASF, WMV, MPEG-1/4, Real video; audio: MP3, WMA, AAC, AMR, AWB, M4A, MP2, Real audio, WAV (it is a Symbian, so it can also install 3rd party apps to play other codec’s).
The battery life will hit around 4 hours for movies, internet access, etc; 10 hours music only, up to 2 weeks totally idle time and 5 days active standby (whatever that means). It will weigh 7.97 ounces and measure in at 5 x 2.83 x 0.55-inches. It is supposedly set for a November release and could hit around the $US479 mark. For a GPS, PMP, DAP, PDA and many possible other things, it is a really sweet deal.
On a side note, the guys over at Engadget got a hands on with the N810, and liked the device except for the keyboard. Maybe it is a good time to buy those now obsolete N800’s?
F0r more info, click over to the Engadget Blog.
Bad news people. The Zune 4 and Zune 8 flashed based PMP players will not feature video out capabilities as first expected. Apparently the only Zune 2.0 that will feature the ‘DVD quality output’ will be the Zune 80. I guess it may be another reason to buy the 3rd gen iPod instead.
For more info, click over to the Engadget Blog.
So the big news today is that Microsoft have refreshed there series of Zune players, and now bring the series up to 2.0 (or firmware 2.1). The Zune range has now grown huge with now a choice of 4 different players, and even more colours.
The original Zune will stay in the series, but for a first, will get the new firmware and new features and get a name change to Zune 30. The other 3 Zunes are all new and all feature a new way to navigate, called a Zune pad. The Zune pad is basically a four way touch-sensitive d-pad.
The first two of the remaining 3 are flash based players, with the only difference between them being is a 4GB (titled Zune 4 and will sell for $US150) or 8GB (titled Zune 8 and will sell for $US200) option. They both feature a 1.8-inch screen, WiFi and will measure 41.4 x 91.5 x 8.5mm. Both will be available in pink, green, black, and red.
The remaining Zune is titled the “Zune 80″, which as you could guess it is a 80GB HDD based player. It features a very nice big 3.2-inches QVGA screen, “premium” headphones, WiFi and will measure 61.1 x 108.2 x 12.9mm. It is only available in black (for now) and will retail for $US250.
Coming with the Zunes is also a rehash of the firmware, which changes the GUI and a few features to boot. New features include native video codecs for h.264 and MPEG-4, sync video from your Media Center PC, WiFi sync to host computer, Podcasts, 3 day play limit on shared music now removed (still 3 plays though) and the Zune Store is going DRM-free. Now time to list the things missing, which are no wireless music store,no 16GB flash model, no Bluetooth and no memory card slot. I will have to hold judgement until I see the battery lives of the players. Expect an update in November when they ship.
For more info, click over to the Engadget Website.