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PMP (personal media players) are becoming increasingly popular for their versatility and array of features, but less so for their often over exuberant price tag.  So when the new Mintpad from mintpass was unveiled (after a long enough delay for us to wonder where it had gone) for a reported price of around $160 people were instantly interested.

Not only does the price tag attract attention, but the interesting shape and design also draws eyes. Looking like a modern electronic version of a Post-it, it it operated by stylus which instantly creates attractions and problems.  But beside that, on the physical side it is incredibly competitive, with a small sleek design that looks suspiciously like a blend between the Nintendo DS and a square Apple iPod Touch.

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The portable audio market has boomed in the last few years, and its in now thoroughly convoluted with ‘style,‘ ‘good value’ and cheap rip-offs. So it would appear that the only to make an impact on this sector would be to either have a very cheap player, a very big drive or a unique design, and it is the latter that Philips has tried to utilize.

And to be fair its not that bad. With their most recent ‘Go Gear’ design they have gone for a square design which does look very sleek, mainly due to its 128 x 64 resolution OLED display with a ‘mirror finish’, which upon a touch shows you the track information.  They are fairly small, at just 41 x 41 x 15mm (which makes it another gadget easy to lose) but delivers a full sound thanks to the Philips FullSound technology which it includes. According to Philips, FullSound tweaks the dynamics, bass, treble and stereo imaging of highly compressed MP3 to revert the sound quality back to (or near enough to) where it was before it was compressed, which should give a high quality sound.

As with most MP3 player nowadays they support MP3 and WMA files, a battery life of 20 hours and (according to Phillips) a good quality set of earphones. 
The players support WMA and MP3 files, battery life is rated at 20 hours and Philips says they come with a decent set of cans. The SA2845 (4GB+FM) and SA2825 (2GB+FM) cost £45 and £35 respectively, and the non-FM SA2840 (4GB) and SA2820 (2GB) cost £40 and £30. They are not cheap, but its look like a good quality stylish MP3 player.

Via [Gizmodo]

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