Mighty Gadget Blog: The latest technology news & reviews in the UK

Update: Wow, we have been impressed with the number of entries! We have now closed the competition and picked a winner by using random.org to select a comment number.

The winner is : Roisin Nuttall

Argos is offering a Mighty Gadget reader the chance to win an 8GB iPod Touch, worth £149.99.

Arguably, one of the best MP3 players on the market this is an opportunity not to be missed. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post.

Please use your real name and give a valid email address and only enter the competition once.

All comments are moderated and we reserve the right to accept or deny any comments made. Once your comment has been accepted you will be eligible to win the iPod Touch.

We will be opening the competition to anyone within the EU and we will announce the winner next Friday (20/08/2010).

This prize has been supplied courtesy of Argos, who provide a wide range of MP3 players, such as the iPod Touch and iPod Nano. Please note Argos only deliver to the UK

There’s obviously a lot of mp3 players out there after the top dog spot that Apple selfishly keep with their pricier players so how can the other big players mix it up. Sony’s new Walkman E450 matches the specs of the iPod Nano but what does it do to further itself from the Cupertino music box.

Firstly it’s cheaper, always a bonus and always a good selling point. Starting from £70 it comes in three adequate sizes 4GB, 8GB and 16GB. Housing a 2” sharp QVGA screen it’s certainly on the smaller side and is only slightly thicker than the current generation Nano. Playback wise it’ll play all your usual suspects of mp3 and AAC file formats with a supposed battery life of up to 50 hours.

What makes it stand aside from the iPod though is its Karaoke mode. Providing you’re hooked up with the .lrc lyric file with your music files, the lyrics will actually appear on your screen. Not only that it takes it to the next level and the player can actually knock off the singing in the track allowing you to essentially Karaoke over it without distorting the track.

Available in an assortment of colours this PMP should be on our shores come September.

iRiver has been a leader in the mp3 player market since they first began and always stood out from Apple and Creative by having  a slightly better imagination department when it came to looks. The new T8 seems to buck the trend however and iRiver are obviously looking at a simplistic player to offer the market with a basic USB dongle shaped player.

Although not quite as small and thin as its market leader the iPod shuffle at least this one has a screen but still keeps it more than small enough for your pocket without being too noticeable. It’ll playback most of your favourite file formats MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, OGG and FLAC, comes in two sizes 2GB and 4GB and its obviously connected by the USB sticking out of it, no need for extra wires etc. Now our info didn’t state what colours it might come in but knowing the way the market is and what iRiver usually produce, expect an array of assorted colours to choose from.

No exact date or price to report however it should be available sooner rather than later.

Sony also announced this little gym friendly Walkman the W250 designed to take the full force of gym sweat(ewww) by being splash proof and rinse proof.

Like last-years W-series releases, the W250 has that all in one wireless design where the body clips together in the middle when not in use and when in use the walkman splits and each half sits in your ear. Now obviously if you’re a fitness fanatic, the W250 doesn’t require pockets or a silly armband to use, it just sits in your ears and can be used completely hands free. Inside it’s packing 2GB of storage and charges super fast, 3 minutes of charge will give you 90 mins of playback.

Other good things about it include the dock that comes with, that both allows you to charge the walkman and add songs to the library whilst it’s plugged in. The main emphasis of this walkman though is its splashproof, sweat and a quick rinse will be fine just don’t take it swimming or submerse it in the bath. Due out next month unfortunately we don’t have any price but it’ll probably be in Ipod Shuffle territory.

The Sony Walkman A845 was first spotted last year and was believed to be coming our way in January. Well it has been released today and certainly looks up there to compete with the iPod touch especially if you’re an audiophile looking for a higher quality of sound that Sony can deliver.

With a 2.8” OLED screen, there’s your brighter and clearer visuals. The A845 comes with 16GB of internal storage, ample room for your music collection and videos. Also at a mere 7.2mm the body is ultra-thin. Sony also claims the battery life will last a fantastic 29 hours on a full charge for audio use and also an impressive 9 hours for video use.

What makes this better you ask? Well the A845 is packing some of Sony’s expert tech, the S-Master Digital Amplifier. Now if you’re clued  up on Sony gear you’ll know that this is what they’re putting in some of their top dog Hi-Fi’s and Home Cinema units which will deliver what Sony will  say “rich, lifelike, ultra-low distortion sound”.  Available from today it’s priced at £159.99.

We see a lot of PMPs heading to the market but are most of them any good? Creative in my mind were always top dog before Apple took over and the popularity stealing iPod broke the mainstream. Since Creative have lagged behind and haven’t seemed to push its boundaries into making an iPod conqueror. Sadly it looks like that will continue. BUT!! If you’re looking for a cheaper alternative to an iPod with the same functions, decent build quality and functionality Creative don’t disappoint.

Firstly there’s the Creative Zen X-Fi Style, the top dog of the bunch. Packing a small and disappointing 320x240 2.4” screen, the X-Fi Style obviously won’t win anybody over there but (again a big but) what it lacks in screen size it produces in other functions. With TV out it solves the problem of squinty eye video watching and with FLAC support those audiophiles amongst us can dabble into lossless sound quality. The battery life of the X-Fi is also top drawer, looking at 25 hours of music playback and 5 hours for video. Also with an FM Radio Tuner, the X-Fi will be available in 8, 16 or 32GB capacities the prices will be £69.99, £99.99 and £139.99 respectively.

Next is the Zen Style 300 and 100. Available in 4, 8 and 16GB these are the scaled down versions. Both with minute 1.8” screens the 300 has an FM radio tuner and a built-in speaker however the 100 model won’t have these. Again though its the battery life that’s impressive……..32 hours!!! The price though is also a good point, starting as low as £34.99 for the lowest spec to £79.99 for the largest capacity 300 model. All 3 models will be available from Wednesday 14th.

Cowon a South Korean Electronics company is releasing its lovely AMOLED screened PMP in Britain to put it in competition with the iPod nano sector. The PMP was only made official on South Korea a month ago so its a little shocking that its been decided so quickly its coming to us in Blighty, we normally have to wait till last

The PMP has a super slim 10mm thick brushed metal body which houses a 3.3” AMOLED screen. Like most new PMPs its packed with new features such as an FM Radio, TV tuner, Bluetooth, Flash player, voice recorder and a TV-out socket. You can count on the J3 having great sound-quality as its previous PMP the S9 was great plus it has full compatibility with MP3, WAV WMA, OGG, FLAC, APE audio, AVI, WMV, ASF, DivX, XviD. It will also have an accelerometer inside too but details as to “what for?” are slim, we’re hoping for some iPod touch/phone type features and/or games. The battery should last for 64 hours of 64 hours of music play and a staggering 11hrs of video play.

Available in 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB no pricing details as yet but hopefully the J3 will be with us soon.

The world of the SatNav has come in leaps and bounds over the past few years and its hard not to know a car owner who hasn’t got one and now with the increase in well “smartness” of smartphones (most now have free GPS Navigation software) where next for the SatNav. Well it appears this is it.

The Mio Moov V780 is a massive 7” in size and has a capacitive WVGA display. A little excessive you might say for a SatNav but this is also disguising itself as a PMP/netbook. Packing Wi-Fi and optional HSPDA and WiMax for online use, it also has an external TV aerial to catch TV on the move. It also has DivX, MP4 and H.263/264 support allowing video playback obviously for when the SatNav is not needed and the kids are restless in the back of the car. What is odd id the HDMI out which can playback its stored video content at 720p on a flatscreen. Unless you’ve recently been on “Pimp My Ride” i can’t see most average folk having a HDTV in their car.

Going back to its connectivity, the Mio Moov will also have a keyboard dock and as it runs Windows CE, you can access Exchange and GMail to get your email on the move, not recommended whilst driving but I’m sure your passenger can or if you’ve stopped at the services. Expected to debut at CeBit this week, more news on release and price will be available then.