Gizmo Zone

Pictures of new Sony Ericsson W580i Walkman phone

Sony Ericsson has announced the new Sony Ericsson W580i Walkman phone. Another model in Sony Ericsson’s ever-expanding Walkman range, the W580i is first Walkman phone to use the slider form factor. It’s a mid-range quad-band phone, with 2 megapixel camera, FM radio, 512MB of memory, and email, so offer nothing new, but it does look great, and should please those after a decent music phone.

I’ve just posted a lengthy article wondering whether Sony Ericsson is in decline, as it’s phones’ features are being left behind by its competitors, and the W580i does nothing to address that. That said, it really looks the business, so if looks and great sound-quality

are what you’re after, you could do worse.

Full details and pictures of the Sony Ericsson W580i after the jump.

Samsung F200 Music Phone

The Samsung F200 has similar design as X830. It features a 1.46-inch 220 x 128 resolution external display, support for MP3, WMA, OGG, DCF, and SMP file formats, and a 5MB of internal storage.

Samsung F200 includes a microSD slot, and you’ll also find a hold switch and headphone jack to compliment the musical abilities. No word just yet on availability and price.

Desktop LCD Flat Panel TV & DVD Player All-in-One

The Desktop LCD Flat Panel TV is no more than 3-inch thick with the DVD payer side-mounted, and includes a compact swivel base. It features a small screen measuring only 8-inch.

Other features include a remote control and AC adapter, and a SD/MMC slot for memory cards for you to view slide shows of your favorite photos.

Insignia Video MP3 Player NS-DVB4G

Insignia had finally launched the much anticipated Bluetooth-enabled video MP3 player NS-DVB4G. With this slick gadget, you will no longer require to bring you messy earphones with you wherever you go!

The 4GB internal memory holds approximately up to 1000 songs, 4000 photos, around 50 audio books or 14 movies! All this within a compact pocket sized design that weighs a mere 2.4-ounces and just over 0.6” thin!

It sports a 2.2-inch display (262K colors), microSD slot, and FM tuner with up to 20 presets; supports an impressive array of audio files which included the Ogg Vorbis format; and finally it can play MPEG4 and WMV videos at up to 30 frames per second! Furthermore, it is priced at $160 which is very competitive and reasonable among its peers.

iTower Omega Speakers For iPods

The iTower Omega comes with a quartet of speakers and a couple of subwoofers, all lined up along its body. At the top of its head lies a universal iPod dock for you to place your favorite MP3 player.

The iTower Omega is available for $300.

Sony launches €450 Blu-ray player

Sony has developed a Blu-ray disc player at a much lower price than the their first generation product. This time the Japanese firm priced it at about 40% lesser than the previous model.

The new BDP-S300 is somewhat similar to the later model BDP-S1 but the difference in price is what makes it competitive with rest of the similar products in the market. While the older model retails at $999 (around €750), the new slimmer BDP-S300 costs only $599 (around €450).

Those of us who have yet to take up sides in the “format war”, we will be treated to a much more attractive product in the BDP-S300 for its CD friendliness and Bravia Theater Sync support to additional bonuses like AVC-HD support for playback of content that employs x.v.Color (Sony’s version of the wide color space xvYCC technology).

SoundGate Concept PC Excites Musicians

SoundGate Tablet PC is UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) that is specially designed for musicians by Nicolas Gonzalez Garrido. It comes with preloaded software tools that facilitate individuals to record playing sessions, transcribe their music, write out their next single, insert tutor lessons and live playing with onscreen timing and metronome.

This delightful micro machine features a 10″ touchscreen LCD screen and a full QWERTY flip keyboard that is sufficient for writing lyrics on. It also features playback/record buttons on top and volume knobs inside. Furthermore, a special stand lets you prop the tablet in front of you for on-stage performances!

Standard I/O ports include headphones jack, RCA, USB, XLR, 6.3 mm audio jack, LAN/Magic and integrated optical drive. Special music functions include a jog-dial with two soft keys and another two buttons for choosing different effects to apply to the songs and controlling the intensity of that effect. Currently, the SoundGate is only a concept but based on its design, I can see a winner with the non-music crowd too!

Archos 704 , A real video Player

I assume most people  here will agree with this next comment: no one wants to pay $15-$20 bucks a month for crappy looking video clips that take a few minutes to load up and then playback on a tiny screen. If I’m going to watch something, I don’t want to have to squint, and I want to watch the full thing, not just some highlight reel. That’s why the Archos 704 looks so appealing, it has a nice screen, a big hardrive, and it just plays your media. Really, it doesn’t try to be a cell phone, gaming platform, or anything else you don’t want it to be.

The 704 sports a beautiful 800 x 740 7″ screen. Oh, and it’s also touch sensitive. Even those, err, bigger people, with bigger fingers can use this. Pretty much any video you throw at it can be played, however DivX and Xvid are not supported. You can chose either the 40 GB or the 80 GB version, which should be enough for a good selection of video and any pictures or music you want with you. The 704 even has wi-fi, which will allow you some basic browsing, but I imagine that’s a pretty crappy experience. What is cool though is the fact that you can access files on your home network or read mail from mobile versions of various webmail applications (I know Gmail and Yahoo! offer them). There are plenty more features packed into the Archos 704; it’s truly a multimedia powerhouse.

If you’re willing to be different, as in not use an iPod, the Archos 704 is a good choice for anyone who wants a nice, dedicated video player that has some real storage capacity. About $550.

Philips AJ300D Docking Entertainment System

As one of the most attractively designed iPod-ready clock radios we’ve yet seen - and visually favored by our U.K. editor Bob Levens - the Philips AJ300D Docking Entertainment System combines a dual-alarm, futuristic clock, an FM radio with five preset stations, and a speaker system into one reasonably priced chassis. A matching 12-button remote control is also included in the package. AJ300D promises “powerful bass” thanks to “wOOx loudspeaker technology,” and also can dock Philips’ GoGear series of music players, thanks to a series of replacement dock inserts.

The LCD screen displays time and the current date unless switched into iPod or radio mode, and can be toggled through three brightness settings - on, mid, or off.

Philips Portable DVD Player docks with iPod

Philips announces the portable DVD player, DCP850, that aims to integrate with the iPod. Dock your iPod to it and enjoy all your favourite videos on the 8.5″ widescreen LCD display. Combined with the dolby digital speakers, this can turn out to be quite a good entertainment option for those long journeys.

This DVD player plays almost all media formats DVD R/-R, CD-R/-RW, MP3, DivX and reads out movies and photos from SD cards too. The battery life is not so great however, with the specifications marking it at 2.5 hours. Charging on the move is easy though, with the AC and car adapters.

The DVD player is available for $199.99.