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.
We have talked about the Teclast T51 audiophile grade PMP before when the product was first announced. The T51 has now been reviewed by b4tech.com and found to have a few issues.
The Archos 5 Android Internet Tablet saga continues, with sales of the 5-inch PMP still partly frozen on Amazon while the company has also pushed out a new firmware update. Amazon put the Archos 5 160GB on hold earlier this week after unspecified complaints from buyers; now the 500GB model has come into stock with the retailer, but shows no such sales-freeze. According to ArchosFans, meanwhile, there’s a new, stable firmware – version 1.1.01 – that addresses many early complaints from owners.
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.
Knock-off consoles are always good for a cheap, moderately cheerful laugh, and so we’re surprised its taken the Chinese cloners this long to come up with a decent PSP Go copy. The PXP-2000 “borrows” the distinctive stylings of Sony’s latest handheld, but throws in a camera good for stills and 3GP video capture, an FM radio and NES/Famicom emulator.
Having gone up for pre-order midway through September, certain models of Archos 5 Android Internet Tablet are now listed as in-stock and ready for delivery by Amazon. The 160GB hard-drive version, together with the 32GB flash model, are both shipping now; however the remaining versions – of which Amazon only list the 500GB tablet – are still only available for preorder.
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.
Cowon have outed their latest PMP, the iAudio 9, complete with a 2-inch QVGA display and voice-recorder functionality. While it may not have the outright style of some rival devices, one thing Cowon have always impressed with is codec support and the iAudio 9 is looking like it’ll be no different.
We’ve been keeping an eye on the ODROID Android-based portable entertainment device over the past few months, and today our source at the company let us know that the developer version is going up for pre-order from today. Priced at the equivalent of around $320, and with deliveries expected to begin from November 5th, the ODROID developer edition has the same 833MHz Samsung S5PC100 processor as in the iPhone 3GS, 512MB of RAM and a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen.
SlashGear Japan
