Tag Archives: Mp3Player

Sony unveils 2012 Walkman range: Android 4.0 F series and refreshed entry-level E series (eyes-on)

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Sony unveils refreshed Walkman range Android 40 F series and entrylevel E series eyeson

The Walkman F800 is Sony's latest PMP; a 3.5-inch Android media player that replaces the company's middling Z series. Perhaps the most intriguing point is that the new media player will arrive with Android 4.0 from the start, alongside the usual raft of WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity options. Storage choices range from 8GB, through to 16GB and 32GB, with 4.5 hours of video playback apparently possible on the handhelds. It's the new flagship media player for Sony, and will launch in Europe priced at around £210 ($279).

The noise-cancelling E series (and an even-more-bare-bones version) has also been refreshed. The hardware hasn't changed that much, aside from a larger 2-inch LCD screen, but there's a whole raft of new patterns and colors. The petit slabs will arrive alongside a new dock that will run off the PMP's own battery, augmenting the existing built-in speaker. If you liked the E series, but need something a little more wireless, then the just-announced Bluetooth-toting Walkman S770BT may hit the spot. Aside from that addition, the device otherwise lists the same specifications as the E series. Sony tells us that all three Walkman families will be available in Europe starting today -- and we managed to handle both the new noise-cancelling E474 (£80, or around $80) and the F800 last week. Unfortunately, we were only able feel around the device, as unfortunately neither were powered up. The F series feels a lot like a solidly-built smart phone, with a matte black finish -- the device arrives in just the single color option. Meanwhile, the E series attacks the rainbow, with a range of patterns. These feel predictably lighter, and should slip into pockets very easily. Take a closer look at the PMP pair in the galleries below.

Gallery: Sony Walkman refresh 2012

Continue reading Sony unveils 2012 Walkman range: Android 4.0 F series and refreshed entry-level E series (eyes-on)

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Sony unveils 2012 Walkman range: Android 4.0 F series and refreshed entry-level E series (eyes-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 07:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola discounts the MOTOACTV $100, hopes you’re still in bikini slim-down mode

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Motorola discounts the MOTOACTV $100, hopes you're still in bikini slimdown mode

Still in the middle of your seasonal weight loss regimen? Well, if you're in the market for a new fitness wearable, Motorola has dropped the price on its MOTOACTV to $149.99 for the 8GB model, $199.99 for the 16GB version and $299.99 for the Multi-Sport Edition. Need a quick refresher? You can expect to keep track of your running, biking, golfing and other sporty exploits alongside GPS, MP3 playback, heart rate monitor and Bluetooth. You'll also be able to brag about those progress updates with your Facebook and Twitter mates alongside the $100 price cut. Ready to commit? Hit that source link below to do just that.

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Motorola discounts the MOTOACTV $100, hopes you're still in bikini slim-down mode originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 16:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple opens iTunes Store in Hong Kong, Taiwan and 10 other Asia-Pacific territories

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Apple opens iTunes Store in Hong Kong, Taiwan and 10 other AsiaPacific countries

Many Apple fans on the opposite side of the Pacific from Cupertino haven't had much of a choice to shop from iTunes, even though they've had the App Store for some time. There's now a much better sense of balance: Apple just flicked the switch on the iTunes Store for music and movies in a dozen countries and territories across the Asia-Pacific region. The company singles out our own Richard Lai's Hong Kong as well as Singapore and Taiwan, but we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam are also getting the media catalogs, which include local content along with the international hits. It's a full catch-up as well, with iTunes in the Cloud re-downloads and iTunes Match subscriptions available in every new country. If you're a huge Andy Lau fan but wanted his albums from the most iPhone-friendly store possible, the wait is over.

Apple opens iTunes Store in Hong Kong, Taiwan and 10 other Asia-Pacific territories originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 19:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Galaxy Player 4.2 review: Android media player that needs more of a voice

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Samsung Galaxy Player 42 review

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It wasn't all that long ago that one of the pinnacles of the gadget world was the PMP. How many gigs has yours got? Mine plays FLAC. Whoa, iPod video! These are sentences that are largely consigned to the digital mists of time. Now that your phone, watch and pretty much any other gadget can fill the shoes of the media player, its days among gadget nobility are numbered, and its rank slipping ever lower. There will always be a corner of the gadget realm for them but it's more of a country cottage, compared to the sprawling manor of yesteryear.

Why all the nostalgia? Samsung's Galaxy Player 4.2 is the latest descendent of the Android media player lineage, and the company's rightful heir to its PMP kingdom. As you can see, a full-fat media player in 2012 wears a very different uniform than its forefathers, and definitely fights a different battle. Can what is essentially a phone-without-a-phone, hold its territory and prevent the mobile bandits from scaling the walls? We spend some time with it in the trenches to find out.

Gallery: Samsung Galaxy Player 4.2 review

Samsung Galaxy Player 4.2 review

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Player 4.2 review: Android media player that needs more of a voice

Samsung Galaxy Player 4.2 review: Android media player that needs more of a voice originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mouth-based bling MP3 player puts your tunes on retainer

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It's time to give your pockets a rest. Take a cue from Parsons student Aisen Chacin and stick your MP3 player where it belongs: in your mouth. The catchily-named Play-a-Grill combines bone-conducting music playback with a classic bit of bling-based technology. This "attempt to provide an unusual display and interface in comparison to typical audio/visual stimulation and digit based control panel" utilizes an iPod Shuffle knockoff, which sits in the roof of the wearer's mouth for some good, old fashioned tongue control over music playback. At the moment, the player looks to be more art project than consumer product (complete with a Nelly-quoting paper), but perhaps this is the iPod killer everyone's been searching for all along.

Continue reading Mouth-based bling MP3 player puts your tunes on retainer

Mouth-based bling MP3 player puts your tunes on retainer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Jun 2012 04:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Purported fifth-gen iPod touch panel slips out, shows a tall 4.1-inch screen that’s possibly iPhone-bound

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Purported fifth-gen iPod touch panel slips out, show a tall 4.1-inch screen that's possibly iPhone-bound

It's been a long, long time since Apple undertook a significant redesign of the iPod touch, which hasn't been looked at since 2010 and received just a splash of white last year. A possible front panel part leak we've just seen could overturn all that -- and hint at the 2012 iPhone's direction in the process. If we go by the claims of MacRumors' supplier friends, the media player would be growing up, but not out, with a taller 4.1-inch screen. We're skeptical, as the white part (black on the inside) seems almost too good to be true -- we haven't seen anything similar elsewhere in the unofficial parts market. Still, having heard murmurs of larger iPhone screens and knowing Apple's own tendency to base the iPod touch on whatever iPhone flavor is new this year, we could be looking at iPhones and iPods growing for the first time since 2007. There's also some as yet unconfirmed next-gen iPhone parts included by the source, although we'd hesitate to call them smoking guns unless they're put together in Apple-like form later in the year.

Purported fifth-gen iPod touch panel slips out, shows a tall 4.1-inch screen that's possibly iPhone-bound originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 May 2012 14:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ex-Microsoftie Robbie Bach: I wouldn’t have made Zune MP3 players, we were just ‘chasing Apple’

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Robbie Bach

It took some time after Robbie Bach left Microsoft for the Zune device line to wind to a close, but that hasn't stopped the former music (and gaming) executive from suggesting that it should have been ramped down much, much sooner. While discussing the best way to get a startup company humming at a Northwest Entrepreneur Network event, Bach mentioned his view that Microsoft should never have started down the MP3 player path to start with and should have instead gone service-only. The Zune was a too-little-too-late reaction to the iPod, according to him, and the option to squirt your songs apparently wasn't enough of a lure:

"We just weren't brave enough, honestly, and we ended up chasing Apple with a product that actually wasn't a bad product, but it was still a chasing product, and there wasn't a reason for somebody to say, oh, I have to go out and get that thing."

We've had some affection for the Zune in the past, but there's no denying that it faced an uphill battle from the start. Sales leveled off almost immediately, and the damage was primarily to smaller competitors like Creative and SanDisk that couldn't throw their weight around the way Microsoft did.

Ex-Microsoftie Robbie Bach: I wouldn't have made Zune MP3 players, we were just 'chasing Apple' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 May 2012 21:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bowers & Wilkins kicks out P3 headphones, brings upscale sound to the commoners (update)

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Were you eying Bowers & Wilkins' P5 headphones, but put off by the initial $300 (now $250) sticker price and not so inclined to the in-ear C5? Someone at the company heard you, as we're now getting the P3 for a more affordable $200. What changes when you pocket the extra cash? You'll get aluminum and other hallmarks of buying the British outlet's audiophile gear, but the cost trimming brings a special "ultra-light acoustic fabric" instead of sheepskin leather and a more portable folding design instead of the pivoting earcups found on the P5. Bowers & Wilkins is light on performance details, but it promises that the design will be comfortable for long listening sessions, and there are both universal and Apple-friendly in-line remotes to make your phone calls and skip tracks. Black- and white-hued versions of the P3 should be hitting American shops in June.

Update: Ah, some things in this life are just too good to be true. In this case, a B&W representative has just informed us that the stated $250 price point for the P5 headphones was an error within the press release. They are indeed still $300.

Continue reading Bowers & Wilkins kicks out P3 headphones, brings upscale sound to the commoners (update)

Bowers & Wilkins kicks out P3 headphones, brings upscale sound to the commoners (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 May 2012 20:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cowon Plenue Z2: US pricing, availability and hands-on impressions

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cowon plenue z2
Just mention the company's name, and a pair of things come to mind: world-beating sound quality, and above-average prices. Such is life when you're Cowon, which has informed us that its Plenue Z2 portable media player will be shipping to the US of A in May. Based on details shared to us from a Cowon spokesperson, "early May" is the targeted release window, which makes sense given the unit's FCC debut back in December of 2011. We've learned that it'll ship in 16GB (white only) and 32GB (black only) sizes, with prices set for $279.99 and $319.99 in order of mention. As for specs? Glad you asked. Rather than relying on one of Cowon's proprietary operating systems, the Z2 will ship with Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread), while measuring 62.8- x 116.5- x 11.8-millimeters, weighing 116 grams and boasting a 3.7-inch (800 x 480) capacitive touchpanel.

On the audio side, you'll get a typical 20Hz to 20,000Hz frequency range, 29mW + 29mW maximum outlet and a 95dB signal-to-noise ratio. There's also an HDMI output, a microSD expansion slot, built-in FM radio tuner, 802.11b/g/n WiFi module, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and an internal microphone. The outfit claims that this guy can last some 22 hours when playing back music alone, while video junkies will see 8.5 hours of their favorite Family Guy clips before needing a rejuvenation session. Not surprisingly, the Z2 also supports a smorgasbord of file formats, including AVI, WMV, ASF, MP4, MKV, MPG, DAT, 3GP -- tired yet? -- DivX, XviD, H.264, WMA, OGG, PMC and FLAC. We managed to grab hold of a unit prior to its launch here in the States; head on past the break to hear our take.

Gallery: Cowon Plenue Z2 hands-on and unboxing

Continue reading Cowon Plenue Z2: US pricing, availability and hands-on impressions

Cowon Plenue Z2: US pricing, availability and hands-on impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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