Creative has been plugging away with its line of Zen PMPs for a while now and has made its latest creation official. The new Zen X-Fi 2 has a big 3-inch touch screen and packs in X-Fi technology for better sound. Creative will offer the PMP in 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities.
Android is a venerable Operating System, whether you prefer to use it or not, and it’s popping up on all sorts of peripherals. One of the good ones coming down the pipe line, is Creative’s Zii Egg. We’re still excited about this thing, even if there isn’t even the faintest of words about an official, consumer-based release for the device yet. But, if you’re a developer, then you can start to get excited, because Creative is starting to release its first shipment.
Creative have announced their Zii EGG developer platform, the test hardware for coders to get to grips with their freshly “Plaszma” branded Stemcell Computing system. The Zii EGG runs Google’s Android OS on top of Creative’s ZMS-05 chipset, and promises not only WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and a 3.5-inch 320 x 480 10-point multitouch display, but 1080p video output, HD playback and OpenGL ES support.
Video demo after the cut
Creative announced a brand new audio player today that adds an entry-level offering to their line up called the ZEN MX. This player is in keeping with the company’s current ZEN line up, but offers a few changes that are worth noting.
Cambridge Soundworks – a subsidiary of Creative – have announced the MovieWorks HD, a docking station for the Apple iPod range that can output high-definition video and digital audio to a connected HDTV or audio system. The MovieWorks HD also has an integrated X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity chip onboard, together with Creative’s X-Fi Crystallize and X-Fi CMSS-3D technology, and connects via HDMI.
Creative are preparing to launch a new processing chip at CES 2009, Zii, which the company is advertising as using “Stemcell Computing”. Announced via a teaser webpage, Zii is believed to be a different type of product to the company’s X-Fi audio processing chip, and will find its way into a variety of upcoming products.
I remember back in the day when the name Fatal1ty was just first being heard around the internets. This was some kid that was making a real name for himself in the professional gaming world by dominating in Quake III Arena, and going on to win (or place very well) in dozens of professional tournaments. Nowadays you don’t hear much about his victories, but you do see gaming products with is stamp of approval on them. The latest such products is the Creative Fatal1ty X-Fi USB Headest.
First, this headset is not going to improve your fragging skills, I don’t care who has their name stamped on it. However, I can bet that this guy has spent more time gaming with a headset on than most of us, so he probably knows what he’s talking about.
Creative’s Zen X-Fi certainly has the spec-sheet to take on Apple’s PMP range, but until now we weren’t sure it followed through with the usability. Jenn over at Pocketables has been playing with what must be one of the first out of the shipping crates, and while she likes the PMP it does seem to fall short of Creative’s “the sound of perfection” marketing hyperbole.
Creative made things official with the Zen X-Fi PMP earlier this week in Singapore, confirming that the music and video capable player would be hitting shelves there imminently. Now, courtesy of Buy.com, we have US pricing, and it turns out the figures are pretty close to like-for-like conversions.
Creative have finally brought their new PMP, the Zen X-Fi, blinking into the sunlight. The WiFi enabled media player had already been spotted surfing the FCC, but Creative’s Singapore division has officially announced the new Zen. Among its talents are wireless streaming and content sync from a PC, together with instant messaging via the onboard Yahoo! and MSN clients.
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