Mighty Gadget Blog: The latest technology news & reviews in 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.

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.

We spoke here a just over a month ago about Philips latest entry into affordable PMP territory to rival the iPod Nano with the GoGear Muse. Now we have their answer to the iPod Touch, the GoGear Connect, an Android powered PMP.

Although only a prototype has been shown the specs speak for themselves for what could be a great little number if you’re looking to avoid the Apple’s dominant hardware. Sporting a 320x480 capacitive touchscreen, Philips have said it will be running Android 2.1. Other gubbins include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, micro-SD slot and GPS. It will also have a camera on the rear side of the PMP but no details yet as to what MP it will be. The Connect will be available in 8, 16, 32 and 64GB storage sizes.

Although it’s prototype seems to be on show now, it isn’t believed to be launched until IFA in September by which time its competitors, ie Apple may already have new hardware out and available by then.

Quite possibly the best thing i’ve heard this year and if it’s true i may actually wet myself. The Zune is Microsoft’s answer to the iPod. Despite the Americans getting every version we here in the UK seem to keep missing out on the PMP. Now it’s rumoured(quite strongly) that Microsoft will be bringing out a phone equivalent and hopefully this will be revealed at Mobile World Congress in a fortnight.

NVIDIA have supposedly confirmed that they will be attending the the Congress with Microsoft (reports come from MuyComputer). Now NVIDIA make the TEGRA chip which powers the latest Zune HD. Also it is believed that Windows Mobile 7 will be launched at the congress too so it certainly looks promising.

Taking into account what the Zune HD does you’ll be looking at a very good phone, depending on Windows Mobile 7 software being good, but should pack a lot of features better than what any current iPhone could achieve. The UI of the Zune HD is easy to use and will look great on the low power, sharp OLED capacitive touchscreen (Multitouch oooo yeah!). Powered by the TEGRA chip HD content and multitasking will be done effortlessly and can be shipped to your TV via its HDMI out. If it’s planning on going into the gaming world like the iPhone, Zune is already a part of Xbox Live and that would mean a very large market of gaming enthusiasts with access to content and massive multiplayer functions.

Will keep you all updated if and when i learn more.

Apple iPad maybe stealing all the headlines as usual but let us just remember there are other tablets out there worthy of getting a shout, Apple isn’t the be all and end all when it comes to tech. I’ve had an Archos 605 for the past 18 months and it still gets used regularly, they make a mean gadget.

Anyway last week the specs on the soon-to-be Archos 7 Android tablet got the leak. If the recent Archos 5 wasn’t quite enough for you then the 7 is it’s big brother. With a 7” 800 x 480 screen what makes Archos greater than an iPod touch or maybe the new iPad is the sheer amount of filetypes it plays is much greater. MP4, WMV, AVI, and FLAC. Plus one up already is the ability to download FLV(thats flash to you and me) files and playback those too.(see image for Full Specs)

The Date has been set for the end of March(iPad release ouch!!!)  but should be priced at a very reasonable £150.

click on for the full specs!!

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