We’ve a soft-spot for Scottish radio and iPod dock manufacturer Revo; their tech at least attempts to look interesting, whether it’s through retro styling (but up to date functionality) or something more modern but no less distinctive. The company’s latest model is the Revo HERITAGE, a “contemporary reinterpretation of classic European table radio designs from the 50’s and 60’s” that packages DAB, DAB+, FM and WiFi internet radio, DLNA UPnP streaming and an iPod/iPhone dock.
Cowon’s iAudio 9 PMP now has a release date and pricing, after the slimline media player was first outed at the start of October. 8.9mm thick, the iAudio 9 will be available in 8GB and 16GB configurations, and land in Japan at least in the middle of November 2009.
There’s slim, and then there’s wafer-thin-mint skinny, and it’s obviously the latter that Cube’s new H600HDMI PMP is aspiring to. The 5-inch mediaplayer has an 800 x 480 resolution display, can cope with decoding up to 768p/30Mb media and is capable of outputting 720p/1080i video via its HDMI port, but most strikingly it’s just 6.99mm thick.
The Nokia 5230 is the Finnish firm’s attempt to cash in on the success – and shape – of the 5800 XpressMusic with a more budget-minded entry-level version, and going by gsmhelpdesk’s hands-on preview it sounds like they may be on to a winner. The 5230 gets praised for its ease of use and sound quality, happily using a standard 3.5mm headphone socket rather than anything unpleasantly proprietary.
Sonos have pushed out a new ZonePlayer in their distributed home audio system, and in doing so drops the entry price by a (relatively) high amount. The Sonos ZonePlayer S5 packages together a receiver and an amplified 5-driver speaker into a single unit, which for $399 (or €350 in Europe) undercuts the previous entry-level ZonePlayer 90 which demanded a separate set of powered speakers on top of its $349 sticker price.
Video demo after the cut
Whether you’re an iPod owner or wouldn’t be seen dead near one of Apple’s PMPs, you can’t argue the fact that the distinctive mediaplayers have had a huge impact on how rival devices are designed. That’s why we’re glad to see the Lisse Q10, a pleasingly retro PMP with a rather tactile looking control dial.
LG have announced a new home cinema system, and if you’re a fan of globular satellite speakers and have an iPod then this might be worth a look. The LG HB954SP Blu-ray HCS packs a Full HD 1080p video and 5.1 surround sound audio system into a compact, blue-tinged box, with 1,000W of audio tuned by ear-wizard Mr Mark Levinson.
Details of two new iriver PMPs have emerged, courtesy of a post on the iriver forums (currently offline), including a compact MP3 player and a WiFi-toting iPod touch rival. The iriver N20, shown here, is expected to debut imminently with a 4-line 120 x 56 OLED display and FM radio.
One of our key criticisms of the Zune HD was that Microsoft don’t offer a version of their desktop management software for Mac, thus giving Apple users another good reason to stick with the iPod. That might change, though, says Mary-Jo Foley, who has been talking to Microsoft’s director of communications for the TV, Video and Music Business, Jose Pinero. According to Pinero, Microsoft are considering porting the Zune software and services to various non-Windows platforms, one of which would be OS X.
Having seen its packaging making the rounds, it was only a matter of time until Qualcomm made their FLO TV Personal Television official. The palm-sized touchscreen mediaplayer has a 3.5-inch display and is 0.5-inches thick; FLO TV offers wireless live and time-shifted TV that up until now you’d have needed to have a compatible smartphone from Verizon or other carriers in order to view. Unfortunately, the monthly subscription fee those carriers levied is still in place: as well as the $249.99 of the FLO TV device itself, you’re looking at the equivalent of $8.99 or more for each month.
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