While everyone is wondering what the iPhone 4G will look like, I reminisce about older Apple rumors that never came to fruition. Like the iPhone nano for instance. A smaller version of the iPhone seemed inevitable at the time, but Apple appears to be going in the opposite direction. In hindsight, it was probably the right move since a smaller touchscreen would be hell to use.

This hasn't stopped the folks in China from making their own however. The "W008-HiPhone" is literally an iPod nano phone. It clones the player itself, while adding a slide-out keypad. The phone really isn't anything special, but it's pretty cheap at $128US.

Features :

• Display : 2.2 Inch TFT; 256K color ; QVGA (240×320 pixels) resolution
• Internal Memory : 1GB, expandable to 16GB
• Audio: MP3 / WAV / AMR / AWB
• Video: 3GP / MPEG4 (AVI)
• Extras: TXT, FM Radio
• Data Transfer : USB & Bluetooth
• GPRS and WAP
• Dual - Camera : Resolution 640×480 / 320×240 / 240×400 / 160×120 / 80×60
• Network : GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz.( unlocked )

Since this player/phone isn't much to talk about feel free to use our comments section to discuss the latest Apple rumors!

via PMP Today

CeBIT 2010, the world's largest computer expo, kicks off today in Germany. Archos is of course there. showing off all kinds of tablets, netbooks, and every other convergence device under the sun. Thankfully they haven't forgotten their roots, and will be announcing a new lineup of Vision series audio players. I should note, this news comes from a press release leaked by German site PR Konstant, so Archos hasn't made these official yet. The leak contains six players, but some of them are pretty basic and weren't worth mentioning.

Archos A14VG Vision



The A14VG is a compact player with a 1.4" display, 4GB of memory, and an FM tuner. It'll retail for 35 Euros.

Archos A15VS Vision



The A15VS is one of Archos' slimmest players at 6mm's thick. It has good file support including FLAC, and APE, and will retail for 40 Euros for the 4GB model.

Archos Vision A30VC


The A30VC is just like the Archos 3 Vision from last year, but with a camera added to the back. It has a 3.0" touchscreen, and a measly 14 hours of battery life. The 8GB model will cost 90 Euros

Archos A43VB Vision


Finally, the A43VB is your average PMP device. It has a 4.3" touchscreen, 8GB of internal memory plus a microSD slot for expansion, and will retail for just 100 Euros.

There's nothing exciting here, and there's a good chance they're all rebranded players from China. The good stuff, including Archos' new Android tablets will be covered a little later.

via ArchosLounge

The player you see above looks rather boring. It's a screenless square that looks more like a battery than an actual player. But this DAP has a trick up its sleeve; it's mastered the art of paper folding. Well, it's made of plastic, but you get the idea! The "Play MP3" concept player folds into the actual control icons that it represents. For instance, if you want to play your music you fold it in half to get "▶”. If you want to fast-forward. you slide one of the pieces forward to get ” ▶▶”.



It's a really simple, yet innovative concept. It might not be the most practical player I've seen, but I'd still be first in line to get my hands on one if it ever goes on sale.

Yanko Design

(via GMP3)

Show of hands, How many of you have ever wanted to control your phone or DAP with your eyes? Yeah, me neither, but don't that tell that to Japanese communication giant NTT Docomo Their researchers have created a pair of earphones that are allow you to control your music through specific eye movements. Headphones recording eye movements? That might sound like some futuristic concept, but it actually uses a common medical technique called electrooculography. In simple terms, the process measures the electrical impulses released by your eyes when they move in certain directions, and sends this signal to a pair of electrodes placed on your skin. In this case, the earphones happen to have small electrodes built into them.

Below you'll find a video demonstration of how it works. The eye movements used for navigation are pretty simple. For instance, if you want to press play move your eyes from right to left, or if you want to increase the volume you move your eyes clockwise.


The earphones are no doubt an intuitive way of using scientific technique, but is it really practical for consumer use? Since our eyes are constantly moving. I can't imagine it would be. I think I'll just skip this one, and wait for the brain implant instead.

via MP4Nation

Today at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft unveiled their newest mobile phone platform, the Windows Phone 7 series. The name is a mouthful, and the same can be said about what it's packing. The WP7 series is a complete evolution from previous Windows Mobile platforms, adding a slick new interface with Zune and Xbox Live integration built-in.

At Microsoft's keynote earlier today, Joe Belfiore, VP of Windows Mobile, said previous WinMo OS's looked too much like a computer's interface. He felt that limited the phones ability to adapt. The Windows Phone 7 series allows for easy expandability, and provides instant live updates for your email and social networking (facebook, twitter, etc..) from your home screen.

Words can only say so much, see it in action below:


As you can see, the GUI borrows a lot from the Zune HD's interface. That'sa good thing in my book. Microsoft has been losing market share in the Smartphone sector every year so this move couldn't come soon enough. Most major carriers, and phone manufacturers seem to be on board, with the first WP7 phones coming this Holiday. We'll update you with any important info as we get it. For now, we'd like to know what you think about this new platform.

Windows Phone 7 Series

Other sources:

Engadget hands-on
Gizmodo hands-on

Thanks to all that sent this in!

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Continue Reading to read the full Press Release

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I’ll admit, when the iPad was first revealed I was pretty impressed with it. Perhaps I was swept up in the hype leading up its announcement, or it could just be Steve Jobs’ power to make anything sound amazing. Soon after, with help from some of you, I started to realize what Jobs didn’t say in his keynote. Jobs poked fun at netbooks for not being an improvement over existing products, yet in many ways, they’re more capable than the iPad. Apple could have really made a revolutionary tablet device with a fully functioning Mac OS, but instead we have a slightly revised iPhone interface that lacks the ability to multitask. I don’t know if Apple is cautious of whether the iPad will sell or not, but it certainly seems like they’re playing it safe.



Since we’re all about music here, I wanted to know how the iPad is as an MP3 player. According to Cnet, who had some hands-on time with the device, the iPad’s music browser looks like a hybrid of iTunes and a standard iPod interface.




The player doesn’t differ too much from previous iPods, but oddly enough is missing a few options that would take advantage of the iPad’s larger display. With a screen that size, it would have been cool to navigate through fully scaled album art, but sadly there doesn’t appear to be a Cover Flow mode. Another missing feature is iTunes LP. Just announced in September 09, iTunes LP allows users to get lyrics, photos, and other information for select albums on iTunes.

While those features are mostly for eye candy, I don’t really see any reason not to include them on the iPad. Hopefully these issues and others will be resolved by its release.

LINK

We don't talk about video games much since it's not really our niche, but the PSP can certainly be considered a PMP. Last year, Sony released a compact version of it called the PSP Go On paper, it didn't sound too bad; It has 16GB's of storage, a cool flip-up screen, and bluetooth support. The only problem is it costs $249, and games are only available through digital distribution. Suffice to say, the launch was complete failure and Sony will be doing a re-launch coupled with a price drop later this year.



Of course, this hasn't stopped companies from making clones of the device. Chinese manufacturer JXD has PSP cloning down to a tee. Older models like the JXD 2000 are nearly impossible to differentiate from the original. Their newest is the "V3", and it's clear they "borrowed" some elements from the PSP Go. In fact, I think this is what the Go should have looked like. Check out its features below.

JXD V3 Features:

• Capacity: 8GB plus expansion
• Display: 4.3 inch TFT LCD, (480x272 resolution)
• Video: RMVB, RM, AVI, VOB, DAT, MPG, FLV, 3GP, MP4, ASF, WMV video (max 1280x720 resolution)
• Audio: MP3, WMA, WAV, AMR, AAC, FLAC and APE
• Support Games format: GBA, GBC, GB, NES, SMD, SMC, BIN, SWF game formats, include 8-32 bit games
• Built in 5.0MP camera, support 640x480 30fps video record, DC and DV
• Other features: FM tuner/recorder.calendar, time show and stopwatch, Flash support
• TV-in and TV-out

The best part? It only costs $112.

LINK

(via GMP3)

Let's rewind back to January 2007. The iPhone was just announced to the public, who gave it a fairly tepid reception . Many liked the cool multi-touch interface, but weren't too fond of its bland design and hefty price tag. Analysts and other mobile phone manufacturers scoffed at Apple for believing they could gain any significant amount of marketshare. And of course there was the legal battle with Cisco over the actual name of the device. Sounds familiar? The initial reaction to the iPad clearly has many parallels to the iPhone's launch. We all know how well the latter turned out for Apple, but we'll have to wait and see how successful they'll be with their tablet.

Besides pointing out the lessons learned from the iPhone, I brought this up for another reason. Shortly after the iPhone became official, Meizu's CEO J.Wong released some new renderings of thei "miniOne" aka the M8. It was undoubtedly an iPhone clone, which became even more apparent in the years leading up to its release. So with the iPad now official, many people at the official Meizu forums thought history would be repeating itself again. Fans created renders of a supposed "mPad" like the one you see above. J. Wong eventually stepped in and said the following (translated from Chinese): " Stop the photoshop work. I do not have the slightest interest in creating a big MP4! Not enough to lose face". Considering how long it took them to release the M8, that's probably a good idea. Still, Chinese companies have certainly stepped up the quality of their PMP's in the past few years, so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the inevitable "ChiPads" that get released over there.

Meizu Forums

via Cloned in China

After months, if not years of speculating, Apple has officially announced their first tablet device. Many names have been rumored, including the iSlate, and iTablet, but Apple has gone with the 'iPad". I'm not too fond of the name personally as it too similar to the iPod. I'm sure females have an entirely different reason to not like it. But who cares about the name, it's all about functionality. The iPad appears to take the best qualities of existing mobile devices and wraps it into a super sleek package.

Apple iPad Features

• Capacity: 16, 32, or 64GB
• Display: 9.7" LED-backlit widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology (1024 x 768 resolution)
• Processor: 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power SOC
• Connectivity: 802.11n WiFi (and 3G for cellular models), Bluetooth
• Full App store support
• Audio/Video: MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, H.264 (up to 720P), MPEG-4
• Battery Life: 10 hours, A month of standby time
• Dimensions: 9.56" x 7.47" x 0.5"
• Pricing: $499, $599, and $699 respectively, plus $130 more for 3G models
• Data Plan: 14.99 a month for 250mb of data, or $29.99/month for unlimited data
• Availablity: Coming in two months

If someone asked me to summarize the iPad in five words or less I'd tell them "it's a giant iPhone". While It uses a similar OS, and supports all of the same apps, chalking it up as a supersized iPhone wouldn't be a fair assessment. Graphical designers will appreciate the multitouch IPS display. Ebook readers will love the new iBooks app (and support for the epub format). Even browsing the web looks better than doing so on a netbook or mobile phone. I'm not sure I'd call the iPad a revolutionary device, but it's certainly an evolution in mobile computing in many respects.

Check out the Official Demo:



Apple iPad Product Page

Microsoft has just released Zune Software version 4.2 for the PC. No official details about the update were released, but here's what I've gathered from around the web:

Zune Software Update 4.2

• Xvid Support - The Software can now see Xvid, Divx, and AVI videos. Transcoding is still required to get these videos on to the Zune HD however (full support coming this Spring apparently)
• Playlist icons have changed from Pink to Black
• The Software appears to be much faster
• More integration with Windows 7 (it automatically monitors its libraries, etc..)

The players have also received an update (version 3.5) to coincide with this. I'm sure the update does a lot more, so if you discover anything new, let us know!

Download Zune Software Update 4.2 HERE

Sources:
ABi
engadget