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.

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.

The Muse is Philips fairly decent but average current PMP doing what your average PMPs do, but it looks like it’s getting an upgrade to try and make it a little less average and to compete with the Zune HD(obviously STILL not out in the UK so there’s a market hole that needs filling)

The new and improved Muse will certainly look nicer with its polished silver finish and lack of frame that the current model has. Housed in the Muse is a nice and bright 3.2” touchscreen with all your general options of MP3/MP4 playback etc. What makes it a Zune competitor is the fact it has HDMI out to offer playback on your telly. It comes with 16GB of storage and also houses an SD slot.

Launch date should be soon(I’ve read April) and will retail at around £90 - £100.

A lot of new phones and PMPs are claiming to be HD or can output 720p but this is the first to actually have a 720p 4.3”screen.

We’ve looked at the Zune HD and the Archos 5 in the past, both very good PMPs that can output 720p to your TV. The F43 itself has a 4.3” screen with a resolution of 1280x720 and has HD video support so you can watch sharper, clearer videos on the go.

It has 8GB of internal storage(not much for HD) but this can be extended via microSD. The F43 will play MP4, FLV, H.263, AVI and DivX files so its covering most bases but it lacks the “apps” ability of the other top PMPs.

Only available in Japan at the moment we’re unsure as to when it will or if it will be released over here. However our friends at Akihabara have said you’ll be able to pick one up from importer GeekStuff4U.

The aluminium bodied E200 has been officially given the green light by the IRiver website. The new PMP will be available in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB but has microSD so can be beefed up by an extra 8GB.

Similar in size to a nano and the obvious storage size comparison, we’re guessing it will get a similar price tag if not less as Apple always seem to be that little bit more.

Specs : -

• 320 x 240 2.8-inch LED display
• MP3, WMA, FLAC, OGG, ASF Audio support
• MPEG-4, WMV, XviD, RM and RMVB Video Support
• JPEG, PNG, BMP and GIF Image Support
• FM tuner
• 1W Built in Speaker