Do you think that wearing 3D Glasses to watch TV is silly? Well, how about ditching the discomfort of wearing over-sized plastic 3D shades but watching the third dimension over a 4.8-inch media player, eh? No, we’re not kidding. Want more proof? make sure to check out Cowon’s latest 3D PMP revelation – the world’s first official device ever to support non-glasses 3D visualizer in portable players. 3D on-the-go, can you believe it? Of course you gonna get an HDMI output with it, and up to 64GB to store your high-def videos, but most importantly (at least for some of you), it has WiFi within, and its battery can deliver up to 10 hours of continuous video playback. Sweet!  Interested? You may want to start saving the pennies for this high-end number; we’re adamant it won’t be cheap. In fact, it’s gonna cost you (when it gets out in south Korea on December 10th) KRW499,000 (around $430) for the 32GB flavor or KRW589,000 (around $510) for the 64GB version.

[Cowon]

With all the Galaxy Tab hype going on, there also seems to be a renewed interest in tablets of other types. And when we say “others” we don’t mean just Android-powered devices, but also Windows 7 ones. Same as the 10.1-inch E-Note H1000B tablet that LG has recently launched. Designed specifically for Korean market, this 14.5mm thick slab – we truly hope to see on our side of the map – is said to have Intel’s 1.6GHz Atom Z530 processor inside, tucked with 1GB of memory, 16GB of SSD storage, WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity, a 4-cell battery, dual USB 2.0 ports, and  a single slot for regular SD cards. Price, if you’re asking, is at a whopping 961,000 Korean won, or in other words around 850 bucks.

[via Akihabaranews]

While some folks strangely cling to the belief that PMPs have gone obsolete, others hold on to the idea there is still a lot of untapped potential with this specific department. Well, mainly strong names like Cowon, that has recently launched a brand new player of its own. And it’s been pre-named for your convenience as Cowon X7, so if you’re planning on getting one, mind you it’d cost 339,000 KRW in local currency or about $304 in US silver coins. The 4.3-inch player which was designed explicitly to consume audio and video content will pack 160GB of storage and is allegedly capable of playing up to 10 hours of video playback or 103(!) hours when switched to audio mode. Besides that it will also include a Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, and is said to deliver a very wide range of codecs support. Availability wise, the South Korean users will probably be able to get one immediately, but Western fanboys will likely have to wait just a little bit more.

Update: While still unavailable Stateside, the new 4.3-inch Cowon X7 player has apparently begun to show up in some European countries. With a built-in bluetooth connectivity on board but NO WiFi at all (shame), the 480 x 272 screen resolution PMP will run you in France for €299 (120GB) or €329 (160GB). Wanna see more? Check out Le Journal du Geek hands-on cover before you buy your own.

[via Akihabara News]

We’re not ruling out the possibility of a 3D tablet device coming out to the most trendy and rapidly burgeoning pond – We really don’t! But the sad thing about this latest 3D technology is that it’s the one technology that is probably incapable of displaying good video quality and showing it properly to the people who are asking to watch – especially when it comes to one of those small and portable media machines, you might wanna own. Having said that, Korea’s i-Station would love to show you its next 7-inch (800×480) Z3D 3D slate box which apparently includes an Android 2.1 platform and enables 3D content viewing along both 802.11b/g WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.0 support. It offers either 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, paired with a local DMB-TV tuner, FM radio, 5000mAh of battery pack and either piano black or pearl white flavors to pick at your choice. If you’re interested, start counting KRW600,000 or about $500, when this thing comes out in Asia somewhere around November and not a single day before.

[via AVING News]

Korean audio giant Cowon has just relaunched its good ‘ol V5 media player, this time in the form of a V5W PMP. And while most specs remain the same – a 4.8-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen, running Windows CE 6.0 with one HDMI output, one USB 2.0 slot and 16/32/64GB storage capacities at your choice -  that little “W” letter tabbed to the name, apparently represents the new WiFi connection capabilities the company has added to its frame. Regretfully, both price and availability are yet to be determined at this stage, but just to give you a sense of direction, you guys should be ready to spend somewhere around 250 bucks if you want the V5W so bad.

[Cowon]

With the growing prosperity of netbook devices from one side, and rapid increase in tablet consuming from the other, one should be questioning himself/herself  if there’s enough room for any type of media player to fit today’s market. Korean company Viliv, still thinks positively regarding this matter, and rolls out its latest Prime P3 PMP, which packs a 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen on top, and dual booting platform, running both Android 2.1 and Windows CE 6.0 for the OS. The new player also packs up to 32GB of internal storage, while CPU wise you get the 800 MHz ARM Cortex flavor, capable handling your entire 720p content, stutter free. Other than that, for a non-disclosure price or availability, you get a built-in accelerometer, paired with WiFi connectivity, TV out and microSD slot expansion – all offered in variant of colors to choose from. a quick video demo is right after the break.

[Viliv via I4U News]

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The Pine Trail procession seems to go even further, with LG to join the marchers by uncovering two Atom N450 netbooks, X140 and X200, both to run Windows 7 Starter onboard. The X140 is claimed to include basic specs like 1GB of RAM, a 10.1 1024×600 display, a 160GB hard drive, WiFi, Bluetooth, optional 3G modem and a 6 cell battery, while the more advanced version, X200 will presumably house a more updated components such as Intel’s GMA 3150 graphics, 2GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive, Bluetooth, 802.11n Wi-Fi and a 10.1-inch display, this time with 1366 x 768 HD resolution support. Availability and prices are still undetermined, but suppose to surface at the CeBIT show, next week.

Update: We’ve added a CES 2010 X200 hands-on video, courtesy of NetbookNews. Check it out after the break.

[via Electronista]

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It’s Samsung’s turn to officially come out and introduce its latest Pine Trail Atom N450 lineup (although we’ve already seen the N220 across the pond) which includes the N210, N220, N150 and NB30 netbooks – all to include Intel’s Atom N450 processor, together with a a 10.1-inch anti-reflective display and a very unique mark-and-scratch resistant casing , to protect your netbook from dirt and smudges. Other than that, what makes this new series so special is the battery life, that somehow manages to surprise with long working life for every single charge. The N210 and 220 versions are claimed to reach 12 hours of “connected mobility”, while the NB30 will get you up to 11 hours and the N150 “only” 8.5 hours. Three out of the four netbooks don’t have an integrated hinge at the far end of the chassis, but the N150 does have one. As the NB30 is the only machine that includes HDD protection sensor and a water-resistive coat (up to 50cc) – just in case, you know. PR announcement after the break.

Update1: We’ve added a quick unboxing video of Samsung’s New NB30 netbook with Atom N450 inside. Check it out after the break.

Update2: Samsung’s 10.1-inch N150 is now offered for $379 (and that same specs) in myriad colors including Flamingo Pink, Bermuda Blue and Caribbean Yellow. See for yourself half past the break.

[via Newswire]

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Korean company Viliv, that already proved us it can release great MIDs and UMPCs, jumps on the PMP bandwagon with the latest HD5 which suppose to make an official appearance at CES 2010 in just few days. Until then, from the sparse details we found, it seems the HD5 player will pack a 5-inch touchscreen display (800 x 480 resolution), hiding underneath 8, 16, or 32GB of storage, SDHC expansion, a DMB/DAB tuner and an HDMI port that can upscale your video library up to 1080p. This slick 13mm device will presumably run Windows CE inside, but don’t count on it at this point. Stay tuned.

Update: We’ve added a quick hands-on video coming straight from CES 2010, courtesy of engadget. Check it out after the break.

[via gmp3]

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Despite market flotation, we keep seeing more and more entry-level players surface up in the wild, targeting non-deep pockets, at the time where branded ones are out of their reach.  This way or another, some manufacturers, like Korean iRiver, occasionally offer both. From one hand we have a pricey touchscreen media player such as the P7, which costs hundreds of dollars, and from the other, the E30, that represents the slim and light lineup. The late, that enters into Chinese markets these days, packs a 1.8-inch display and either 4GB ($59) or 8GB ( $79.99) capacities to choose from. Besides that it sports a 52 hours battery and runs almost every known format, available around.

Update: Amazon now has it, up for order both in 4GB and 8GB storage capacities.

[via gmp3]

Korean manufacturer SAFA has rolled out a new mp3 player, SAFA XING LED, cramming both audio and style in one  small device. The Xing LED, which comes with 27 LED lights that can be tweaked with various icons at your choice or used for playing simple enjoyable games like Rock, Paper, Scissors or Dice, packs a 12 hours battery, paired with a G-sensor mode, one USB connector, a mono speaker lump and 4-directions touch keys. Price and availability are yet to be released while storage capacity is still under examine – well, nothing that’d stop us announcing the XING as our new fashion accessory.

[via Safa]

We’ve already seen some of Myracer’s stuff in the past, but hands down, their latest Lisse Q10 PMP is one of a kind. Basically, you get everything that any other media player will give these days, including a 3-inch 400 x 240 touchscreen, 8GB flash drive, an FM tuner, an e-book reader, a mic, one TV output and microSD slot expansion. Different from others, this one comes with a stunning stylish retro design, featuring a rounded dial nub on front and three colors to choose from (black, silver or gold). Codecs wise, it will support most common formats, such as MPEG4, H.264, DivX, XviD, RM/RMVB, MP4, 3GP, MPG, WMV video, MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, OGG, FLAC audio and JPEG, BMP, GIF image files – but alas! price and dates still remain a secret. Stay tuned, more to come.

[via itechnews]

Hope you’re not confusing with Cowon’s S9, which is more of a PMP rather than an mp3 player. Anyway, we’re glad to see the Koreans keeping up with the good media-players launching pace, while this time it’s the iAudio 9, which apparently packs a 2-inch LCD screen, along with a built-in microphone, an FM tuner, TV output, an integrated speaker and lots of media codecs to play, including AVI, WMV, XViD, ASF and many more. Regretfully, we’re still missing storage capacities and pricing details, but as you know we’re all over it to bring’em on.

Update1: While Western debut may  look vague at the moment, Asian release is much clearer, as Cowon’s iAudio 9 is expected to see light, in Japan, on mid-November, priced at 14,800 yen (around $160) for the 8GB model, and 17,800 yen (around $195) for the 16GB model.Stay tuned.

Update2: The guys at Le Journal Du Geek were lucky enough to put their hands on a Cowon 9 mp3 player, few weeks before its European start, which suppose to give you, for merely €180 ($265), a 16GB of internal storage, a 2-inch screen display, integrated mic, built-in FM radio, wide range of codecs support and a pocketable sized black/silver body design. Hit the break for one more footage, or click this spot for the entire collection.

Update3: Looks like Cowon’s iAudio 9 is finally up on sale in the US, with prices starting at $129 for the 8GB version and climbing up to $169 for the 16GB one.

[gmp3]

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It’s not a real player these days without a full fledged touchscreen panel hovering the entire media device from bottom to top, and South Korean Digital Cube is one company that seems to realize it pretty well with its latest i-Station Emerald E9 PMP, which practically boasts a resistive 3-inch display, clean of buttons on top. In Apple’s well-received iPod Touch tradition, the new Emerald device packs a built-in accelerometer for landscape view, along with other typical features, including an FM tuner, a mic, a video output, 7EQ, an e-book reader, and flash storage drives, sized at 4GB ($115) or 8GB ($132) capacities at your choice. Formats support looks pretty extensive, no matter what color you get to choose – either black or white – neither of them will cross western lines, soon.

[i-Station]

We already know Viliv and the highly rated MIDs and UMPCs it makes, but even though, the Koreans won’t settle with scarce line of products and apparently these days, are showing off at IDF 2009, their new portable series which seems to include the S10, which looks like a new 10-inches tablet netbook device that technically packs 1,366 x 768 resistive swivel touchscreen, but also Intel’s Atom 1.33GHz or 2.0GHz processors (the 2.0GHz CPU isn’t available yet) and Windows 7 OS, the premium version. Besides that, Viliv lets you choose between 32 or 64GB SSDs (at 70MBps read rates), together with an optional 3G WWAN, 1GB of RAM, a 10 hours battery that runs at one single charge and a built-in webcam, probably a 1.3 megapixels one. Still no word when or where this White/Black hues unit suppose to go live (more likely around Q4 09), but starting price is claimed to stand at $500. Hands on video – for your eyes only – is right after the break.

Update1: Apparently, Viliv’s S10 tablet netbook just turned official. The 10.1 inch multitouch swivel screen, known as the Blade, integrates 4G mobile WiMAX and 3G HSPA connectivity inside. In addition, viliv has also launched the 4.8-inch clamshell MID, N5 which packs 3G and WiFi as well. PR after the break.

Update2: We’ve added a short hands-on video of the Viliv N5, coming straight from CES 2010, courtesy of engadget. Check it out after the jump.

Update3: Viliv’s S10 is now up for pre-order at Dynamism, starting at $699, which appears to be a lot, considering you get a resistive touchscreen.

Update4: We’ve added yet another unboxing and hands-on video, courtesy of Chippy from UMPCPortal who got his hands on the new Viliv S10 that seems to boast a nice resistive multi-touch display and optional 3G connection onboard. Check it out after the break.

[via umpcportal]

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Korean company UMID didn’t have much of a success when first launched its 4.8-inches M1 mini netbook version, a few months ago. But now, after finally fixing up some of the main issues that turned its first round somehow repelled, a new edition, which carries the name “M2″ has risen up from the dark, and is now ready to be rolled out somewhere towards the end of the year, for a much cheaper price of $499 (instead of $765). First thing you’ll notice is the screen, that apparently flips out and turns widely open on the M2 (thanks to the new hinge), compared to its very angle-limited predecessor. This fact will help new M2 users hold the unit comfortably in their hands and type the keyboard in a more convenient way than previously done. Other thing you might be noticing, is the real USB port that was hooked to UMID’s M2 revamped chassis, which doesn’t necessarily require any dongles to connect. Besides that, the company has also integrated an optical mouse, that seats on front of the M2 bezel frame, while both left-right buttons were placed to the left. As for internal specs, you get to choose between 1.2 or 1.6GHz Intel Atom processors, which will presumably operate under the much expected Windows 7 OS and a larger 1GB of RAM. Other than that, UMID will probably stick to most of the parts, included in M1, but that’s for us to find out in the coming months. Until then, checkout Chippy’s recent introduction video right after the break.

Update: Turns out UMID M2 is now known as Onkyo BX, but besides the re-branding process nothing substantial has really changed. It still has that Intel 1.2GHz Atom Z515 processor, along a 4.8-inch 1024 x 600 LCD, a 32GB SSD and 512MB of memory. Design remains the same as well, so does the price – ¥64,800, or $730. One more image after the jump.

[Via jkkmobile]

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Despite Microsoft’s Zune HD event, which takes place this coming Tuesday, things look just as usual around DigitalCube’s  Korean headquarters, as the company officially debuts with iSTATION S3 PMP that “surprisingly” sports a 3.5-inch 800 x 480 AMOLED display, which packs underneath an HDMI output and a strong battery, running around 20 hours of audio and up to 8 hours of video. Other than that, the new S3 supports most common files while storage wise, is being offered in 8/16/32GB capacities. Prices and dates of release are yet to be determined. Be sure we’re here to get’em right away.

[via Aving]

Samsung has been very active lately within the media players market, and even when we were thinking we’ve seen them all, the South Korean giant has given us yet another prove  it ain’t going to halt any production. In fact, not only the company has never stopped, it was actually shifting gear and going official with another PMP player, this time the Samsung YP-R1, which is scheduled to go live at the Berlin IFA trade show, next month, for a starting price of $180. Specs wise, the new player will presumably pack a 2.6-inch 400 x 260 touchscreen, while the TouchWiz interface will give you the freedom to enjoy any audio/video files anywhere, and the BeatDJ feature will enable users adding their own voice and sound effects to their favorite songs. Besides that, the 8.9 millimeter-thick player will eventually come with a choice of 8GB or 16GB memory capacities, while Samsung’s DNSe 3.0 digital sound engine is about to be the first to support DivX format. Regretfully, no other details, nor video previews were popping up at this point, so stay tuned for more updates to come.

Update: US release is officially set to April 2010, with prices standing at $149.99 (8GB) and $179.99 (16GB), while colors wise, you get to choose between Black or Silver.

[via Newswire]

With strong and powerful audio brands like Cowon, iRiver or Samsung, it’s probably hard for unknown Asian companies to get their 15 minutes of fame in such an overcrowded market of dominant media players. But brands and popularity aside, sometimes you pay a lot more for much less and today, when recession keeps knocking our windows (or bank accounts), maybe it’s time for other names to make their debut. And, one of the companies that recently decided to go out with a new player is Atree, that has rolled out the J100 machine, which boasts a 3-inch touchscreen, together with a microSD expansion, DMB digital TV tuner, 4GB of internal flash storage and even an e-dictionary support. Formats wise, the J100 is compatible with MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC and APE lossless audio files while video playback will presumably run any AVI, DivX, Xvid and WMV footage. Hence, if you happen to visit the southern part of the country and find it attractive having an “anything but iPod” DAP in your pocket, you should start counting 198,000 KRW (about $158), the price it costs.

[Atree]

Korean giant LG announces another X-Note netbook edition, this time it’s the Mini X130, which apparently looks pretty much similar to previous versions, only with a 9-cell battery that can deliver up to 12 hours of working hours and up to 7 and a half hours of video playback – very cool, isn’t it? And while price tag stands on 789,000 Won ($639), you might consider getting one either in Black, White, or Pink colors, the company offers. Battery aside, the new X130 boasts the usual specs, including a 10-inch 1024 x 600 display, along with a 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor, 160GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, 802.11 b / g / n WiFi connectivity, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR support, and the standard Windows XP OS onboard. Not sure when this thing is about to make a US appearance, but be sure it will. Meanwhile, hit the link at the bottom, there’s a short video to watch.

[LG]