Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Cambridge Audio just announced today in Denver that they too will be joining the ever popular Blu-ray club by coming out with their version of Blu-ray technology, the 640BD, in Spring 2009.  The player is meant to complement the Azur range of AV receivers, and from the spec sheet/release, it looks like it isn’t too shabbily put together.

The 640BD will have a full set of analog video outputs, full HDMI 1.3 output (which will include bitstream output of all the latest Dolby/DTS tracks), S/PDIF, Ethernet, Toslink and a set of separate, dedicated 7.1/stereo analog outputs. And no...they haven’t put a price tag on this baby yet.

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Those who are into not so expensive and not so complicated MP3 players would be glad to know that Samsung has updated its budget-friendly Yepp U3 with the new Yepp U4 MP3 player. Like it’s predecessor, the YP-U4 is an ultra-compact media device that works right out of the box with simple features such as a 4-line OLED display, DNSe 2.0 and a USB port.

The YP-U4 mp3 player will be available in glossy black case with either crystal rose, purple navy or blue ocean color variants. As this was announced by Samsung Korea, no word yet as to when, or if this player will be available internationally. Likewise, pricing information is still unavailable but basing on the price of the Yepp U3, we’re expecting a price of not more than $200 for the YP-U4.

Via [I4U] Read [Samsung Korea

The iriver D5 multimedia e-dictionary has made it to the US market and is now available at the iriver online store. Available in either a 2GB or 4GB model, the D5 is available in black or white and retails for $299 and $349 respectively.

For those prices, you’ll get features that include a 3-inch 480 x 272 TFT display, 52-key QWERTY keyboard, digital audio support, playback support for AVI video, digital photo support for JPG, GIF and BMP files, a text viewer, FM radio and voice recorder. As for the dictionaries, the D5 offers English-English, Korean-English, Korean-Japanese and Korean-Chinese.

The D5’s price may seem a bit on the expensive side, but if electronic dictionary is your kind of gadget, you might find it reasonable since you’ll get the portable media features as well.

Product [iriver] Via [Pocketables]

Sony has started shipping its weird egg-shaped music device, the Rolly in the United States. Released in Japan back in September 2007, the Rolly packs two integrated speakers which are capable of producing surround sound. It boasts 2GB of flash memory, Bluetooth, ATRAC and MP3 music file format support as well USB connectivity.

But aside from these features, what makes Rolly innovative or should we say a novelty item is the fact that it was designed to move to the beat of the music that it plays, thanks to its built-in robotic technology. It comes with pre-programmed choreography for three songs, “Also Sprach Zarathustra”, Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” and Earth Wind and Fire’s “Boogie Wonderland.” In addition to this features, the Rolly also comes with 700 colors which light up to the music beat.

If this new Sony music player sounds interesting to you, it currently retails for $400 at all Sony Style retail stores.

Via [I4U News]

Assuming that the Microsoft Zune will most likely never see the light of a Korean day and knowing that Koreans are longing for it, Samsung has taken the lead and announced its Zune-like MP3 player - the Art Noveau version of its Yepp T10.

Available only for the Korean market, this new iteration of the T10 boasts of 4GB internal memory, a specialized GUI to match its art noveau design, a 2-inch QVGA screen, Bluetooth 2.0, DNSe 2.0 technology, double bass, improved equalizer, FM radio and Samsung Media Studio.

Like we said, this classy MP3 player is currently available only in Korea. It would have been great if Samsung will market this internationally as it comes in a very affordable price of around $139 US.

Via [Akihabara News]

The Zvue Spirit, the latest MP3 player to show its face, and quite a face it has. It certainly lives up to its Spirit name, with the red, white and blue flag design, not to mention its star shaped control pad. The Zvue Spirit will retail for $36 and be available beginning July 4, 2008. Aside from its patriotic outer shell, the Zvue Spirit is a pretty basic player that offers 1GB of storage and can play MP3, WMA and WAV files. The Spirit also comes with “fifteen great rock/pop/country songs creates a fun, patriotic, listening experience.”

Product [Zvue] Via [anythingbutipod]

Finally here’s something that actually does what it advertises. Ubanana’s uCan - a waterproof MP3 player that you can actually wear in up to 10 feet deep water. But the best thing about this uber-cool looking gadget is the fact that all the essential parts that you normally get from a normal MP3 player are actually integrated within the gadget itself. Yes folks, that means no dangling wires that connect the earphones to the body of the MP3 player, its all integrated into the player itself.

The uCan has 1GB of memory which can store around 250 MP3 or 500 WMA files and gives out up to 15 hours of battery life. But we wouldn’t advise you to go diving into the open sea and stay under water for 15 hours just to enjoy using the uCan MP3 player, your supply of oxygen might not last that long. You can snag the uCan for $150 once it hits the stores sometime in July 2008.

Product [Ubanana] Via [Switched]

Creative has unveiled their latest MP3 player, the MuVo T200, which is overall just a run-of-the-mill player. The T200 comes with 2GB or 4GB of storage space and can play MP3, WMA and WAV files. The player has a USB thumb drive style to it, complete with an end cap that removes to expose the USB port, the player can also be used to store and transfer files.

In addition to the basic music player along with thumb drive functionality, the T200 features a small 128 x 32 pixel color LCD, FM radio, voice recorder and works from a built-in rechargeable Li-ion battery that offers up to 9-hours of playback.

The 2GB model is available in black, white or pink and the 4GB model comes in black or white. The MuVo T200 is currently available and retails for $99 and $149 respectively.

Product [Creative] Via [akihabara news]

If you’ve ever wanted to bring your collection of digital files with you wherever you go, the Mvix MVU-2500U portable media player might be the answer to your needs. ThMVU-2500U uses 2.5-inch PATA / IDE hard drives with support for up to 250GB, which is actually more than enough to contain 100 DVD quality movies. Mvix is touting their new media decoder as a perfect media device for people on the move, giving them the ability to bring their entire collection of HD-quality movies.

The MVU-2500U measure in at 5 x 3 x 0.5-inches and works like an external USB 2.0 hard drive when connected to a PC. The MVU2500U can store digital video in 480p, 720p and 1080i standards, as well as support files encoded in MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, DVD, DivX, Xvid, BivX, and VCD in both NTSC and PAL systems. As an added convenience, the media decoder comes with an IR remote control. The Mvix MVU-2500U will be available in the US beginning this month.

Product [MvixUSA] Read [PR Web]

LG has released a new portable media player in Europe called LG T80. Being a touchscreen PMP, you would expect LG to make the T80 to come up with an iPhone clone again with the T80. Thankfully, the PMP is nowhere near the iPhone in terms of looks or design.

The LG T80 boasts of a 3-inch 420 x 240 touchscreen display with 260k colors. Since it’s a PMP, it is but natural that the LG T80 supports various media formats, and it actually does – MPEG, MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV, ASF, JPEG, and TXT. It also has an FM Tuner, a mic and a DVD-T (TNT) tuner. Most importantly, the LG T80 plays 5.5 hours of video and 2 hours of live TV viewing.

The LG T80 is available now in Europe for around $473. No word yet whether the LG T80 will see the light of day in the U.S. market. We do hope so.

Via [PMP Today]