While we haven’t yet been able to independently confirm the report, Samsung Hub claims that a new addition to Samsung’s Galaxy family is set to be introduced at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The device, dubbed Galaxy Player, will be an Android-powered portable media player that will take on the iPod touch. According to the report, it will essentially be a Samsung Galaxy S without the cellular connectivity, featuring a 1GHz processor, a 4-inch WVGA touchscreen display (LCD, not AMOLED), T-DMB, SoundAlive audio enhancement technology, dual cameras, HD video playback support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 and the Android 2.2 OS. Samsung Hub states that the Galaxy Player will be available in three sizes, 8 GB, 16 GB and 32 GB, though pricing and a firm release date are not yet available.

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A triple dose of good news today for those who resent Apple’s stranglehold on the PMP market. Not only is the Zune HD now on sale starting at $219.99, but Microsoft has finally come clean and admitted that in the upcoming months it plans to bombard the Zune faithful and converts alike with apps such as Twitter for Zune and Facebook for Zune, and games like Project Gotham Racing: Ferrari Edition, Vans Sk8: Pool Service and Audiosurf Tilt. Not only that, but Zune HD owners can also look forward to streaming HD video to the Xbox 360 as well as the ability to purchase and rent TV shows, movies and more. Microsoft, this is yours to mess up… Please don’t. Anyone have a shiny new Zune HD squarely in his or her sights today?

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As if anyone had doubts surrounding the legitimacy of yesterday’s Zune HD leak, today Microsoft confirmed availability for September 15th and let it be known that pre-orders for the black 16GB and platinum 32GB models are now being filled through Zune.net, Microsoft, Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart. In case you’re waiting on the other five colors that the Tegra-powered portable will be available in at launch, you’ll just have to sit tight for now. Don’t cry though — maybe we can cheer you up by letting you know that pricing is now 100 percent confirmed: $219.99 for the 16GB model and $289.99 for the 32GB model. We’ll take six of each, thank you.

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We have to admit it… We’re a little afraid. Afraid of what you might ask? Afraid that all this hype surrounding the now-reportedly confirmed Zune HD is going to be the height of excitement with regards to the device. Hype is good, hype is great, but you need something special to follow the hype in order for it to stick. Let’s take a look at the known specs:

• ~3.6-inch OLED full touchscreen
• NVIDIA Tegra powered
• 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB versions
• HDMI Connection to stream straight to your TV
• HD Radio
• Web browser
• Wi-Fi compatible, with wireless marketplace
• Released, early fall
• International release of the Zune device itself
• Home AV packs, Car packs, Charge packs

Sounds good and fun, but there’s definitely nothing so far that would (or should) draw much attention. HD radio? Mmm hmm. The Zune platform is supposedly in the midst of an overhaul which is nice but we need a wow-factor here. The average consumer is most definitely not going to pass on an iPod Touch and scoop up a Zune HD because of a high resolution display and HD radio, that’s for sure. Long story short, we hope Microsoft learned something from its experiences with the current Zune model.

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Back in December, we gave the COWON S9 our hands on review treatment shortly after its release here in the US and to paraphrase, we liked it. A lot. As far as audio quality, battery life and affordability we still haven’t found a competitive offering that can top it. One area where the S9 has been limited however, is storage. Apparently COWON got the hints as the company has just announced the availability of a new 32GB model in Korea. What’s more, the new bigger build rings up at 379,000KOR (US$286) — a substantial $113 less than the 32GB iPod Touch which, in our opinion, can’t even come close to touching the S9 where sound quality is concerned. We’re hoping the new S9 model makes its way over to the states ASAP at a similar price point because our smaller version is pretty full right now. As an aside for those of you who currently own an S9, COWON has pushed out version 2.2 of the firmware — be sure to download it and get your update on.

[Via PMP Today]

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Back in January after we learned that Zune sales and platform revenue was down $100 million under the previous quarter, we asked whether the Zune was ultimately doomed to die an unglamorous death or if Microsoft had an ace up its sleeve. Last night, Engadget posted some images that they feel, based upon some chitchat with sources, are of an upcoming touchscreen PMP known as the Zune HD. Because of the lack of anything other than a few promotional shots we’re going to have to resort to the age-old game of speculation when discussing the Zune HD, but if all of this turns out to be true we think it reasonable to expect that the Zune HD would ship with a display that approaches 720p and (based upon our measurement of the screen in the images) an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 — one of two standard aspect ratios used by mainstream films. But as we say so often in the tech blogging world, we shall see. Would a Zune HD have any chance of finding its way into your pocket or has the Zune ship already sailed for you?

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Wow. Creative looks to be building up to what will either be the most exciting announcement of CES, or yet another let down from the world of portable players. According to a new email sent from Creative to those who signed up for updates on the Zii website, something massive is brewing at Creative that has over 10 years of work, 10,000 man-years and over one billion dollars behind it. That’s a pretty impressive investment, Creative. Here’s the email:

Zii is StemCell Computing

Thank you and congratulations on the early registration.
You are now part of a privileged group that will witness the life changing event of 2009. You will be invited to join a new movement that will experience revolutionary breakthroughs.

Everything you know is about to change.

Drawing our inspiration from the intelligence of Mother Nature – who through over a billion years of evolution has designed the basic building block of life: the stem cell – we have created a stem cell-like silicon that is able to grow and multiply into different solutions and ecosystems.

With an investment that spans over 10 years, over a billion dollars and over 10,000 man-years, the world is poised to experience a breakthrough that will better lives beyond our imagination.

Even in the midst of these turbulent times, you will discover incredible recession-friendly business opportunities that enable you to thrive and prosper.

To find out more about Zii and how it can change your life, visit our booth (booth #30651) at CES 2009, or go to Zii.com from 8 January 2009 for updates.

We’re not sure what else Creative could say to hype this one up short of claiming the Zii cures the common cold and rubs your feet after a long day at the office. Rest assured we’ll be paying close attention to Creative’s CES announcement and if it turns out to be a big bucket of flop, well, at least Creative’s PR firm did its job.

Well, there you have it. Microsoft’s solution to the Z2K9 issue is to let your Zune’s battery die and not plug it in until the big, bad leap year is finished with. Microsoft, do we even need to say how disappointed we are? You try to fight the MP3 juggernaut that is the iPod but your mighty warrior is brought down by a leap year? For shame.

Thanks, jemmark!

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Everything you know is about to change… That is the tag line found on a Creative teaser page tied to a brand new processor the company will be unveiling at CES next month. Dubbed Zii, the new processor comes along side a newly-trademarked phrase, “Stemcell computing,” which bears absolutely no meaning at this point in time. As such, the only thing we can say with any certainty about the upcoming announcement is that Creative does not intend to market the new chip to pro-lifers. Marcom initiatives like this often make sensational claims in an effort to build hype but we still have some big expectations as Creative fan sites claiming to know what the company is up to seem pretty excited as we get closer to the announcement, now just over a week away. The new chip is reportedly intended for use in “a variety” of upcoming products though we have no idea what those products might be or how the Zii might benefit them. So sound off in the comments – what do you guys think Creative has planned for CES and more importantly, will it even matter as far as Creative’s US market share is concerned?

[Via Newlaunches]

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Last week we showed you an unboxing of COWON’s latest Portable Media Playing creation and you had to know we’d be following it up with a full-on review. We wanted to take a little while to play with the S9 and cover every square inch of its functionality before bringing you a hands on review and now that we’ve had a few days alone with this puppy, we’re ready to dish. Hit the jump to dive in.

In this review we’ll take you through most of the important parts of the UI and pepper in some commentary along the way. The UI, by the way, is COWON’s own flash-based GUI and while it certainly isn’t the fanciest game in town but it is simple, attractive, intuitive and lightning fast. The capacitive touchscreen is very responsive as is the UI, making the S9 a real pleasure to use. Pretty much every function can be discovered quickly by even those with very basic gadgeteering abilities, but it’s still enough to be respectable amongst seasoned vets. With that, what better place to start than the home screen?

The home screen is a direct portal into each of the S9′s functions and the icons thereon are are well-sized. Settings, Utilities, a file browser can all be accessed with one click along with all of the multimedia functions. Also, the S9 boots from off to the home screen in about three seconds which is fantastic compared to competitive offerings. Along the bottom of the home screen are two groups of dots which serve only to toggle between silver icons and multicolored icons. Like us, you’ll probably stick with silver.

The settings menu gives quite obviously presents all of the configuration-related items on the device. The one thing that took us a brief while to get used to was the necessity for double-tapping to make a selection. Once you get past that however, the settings menus are quite sensible and easy to tweak.

One thing we particularly like about the UI is the zooming feature present in most sections. As amazingly crisp as the AMOLED display is on the S9, size is always an issue with portables. Many areas of the UI such as documents (as seen above) include a slider across the bottom. The far left end brings the zoom all the way out and the far right end zooms all the way in. As you can see below, the slider makes it very easy to adjust the font to the exact size that suits you.

Moving along to the bread and butter, we have the S9′s multimedia functionality. First up, images. As you can imagine, photos look great on this display. The 3.3″ AMOLED screen displays its 480 x 272 pixels in vivid detail and photos jump off the screen. The included software suite makes it easy to load photos along with the rest of your media and the accelerometer allows the device to automatically adjust the image orientation as you rotate the device. The S9 supports viewing in all directions so you can rotate it left, right or even upside down and the image will adjust accordingly. You can also find the zoom slider present beneath each photo for fast and easy zooming.

From photos we move right over to the video player. Again… AMOLED! Videos are a joy to watch and and 30 fps playback makes for a smooth viewing experience. The S9 supports AVI and WMV, as well as SMI subtitles in case Kung Fu is your thing. Also of note – thanks to the beauty of OLED displays, COWON rates the S9 with 11 straight hours of video playback on a single charge. We didn’t try to watch 11 consecutive hours but judging by the battery performance we’ve seen, we don’t doubt it. Below are a couple of shots of video playback and as you can see, tilting the device will automatically rotate the picture in any direction.

Next on the list, and the function we’ve been waiting for the entire review to cover, is the music player. The S9 supports a variety of formats including MP3, WMA, OGG and WAV, as well as LDB 1.0 and 2.0 lyrics and ID3 V1 / ID3 V2.2/2.3/2.4 tags. Visually, the player is so-so. In landscape mode all you get is a row of album art along with the zoom slider beneath it. In portrait mode, the player displays the album art of the current track along with controls and a slider that can be used to shuttle. In the bottom right corner is a flip button that will swap play controls for options to bookmark the current track or add it as a favorite, toggle repeat mode or adjust EQ settings. There is also a “quick list” above the flip button that pops open a small visual representation of the current, prior and next tracks. Beyond the touchscreen controls, playback can also be controlled with a centrally located play/pause hardware button on the top of the device, flanked by rewind/fast-forward and volume up/down buttons. These buttons can be used in various other modes as well.

It should be noted at this point that the audio quality on the S9 is incredible. No, seriously. It tops Apple’s iPod line hands down – we were pretty taken aback by it in fact. We tested the S9 with Apple’s iPhone headphones, a pair of noise isolating Shure buds and a pair of AKG studio cans. Each was better than the next. Though we haven’t had a chance yet to pair it up with a set of stereo Bluetooth headphones, we would certainly expect similar performance. We played with the EQ settings a bit and while there are plenty of user-configurable options, we found the rock preset to be just right for most types of music. With the AKGs plugged in and the volume cranked up to 33 out of 40, we were in music heaven – though a while longer at that level and we might have gone deaf. Oh, and it’s rated at 55 continuous hours of music playback… Mmmm, OLED.

In terms of pricing, COWON set a good price point for the currently-available 16GB model, $239.99, but we would have liked to see the 8GB come in a bit lower than $199.99 as it will be priced when shipments begin hitting the States. $239.99 puts the 16GB a healthy $60 below the similarly-sized iPod Touch while the 8GB model only affords a $30 savings over the 8GB iPod Touch. These prices also put the S9 well above the Zune, with 8GB and 16GB models coming in at $139 and $179 respectively, though we would hardly put the user experience of the Zune on par with the S9. All in all, the major question in debating between the S9 and an iPod Touch – beyond price – would come down to to a trade off: Do you want a connected PMP with a web browser, mail and apps, or would you rather have pure media player with superior audio quality, smaller size and a ridiculously long-lasting battery? Either answer is perfectly acceptable but in the age of the smartphone, many people already have their browsing and app-related needs covered pretty well. If that’s the case for you, then you may want to give the S9 a thorough consideration the next time you’re in the market for a PMP.

COWON S9 distributor product page

Well look at what the cat dragged in! COWON’s sexy new S9 found its way over to BGR HQ and we decided to go ahead and unbox it for you – you know, holiday spirit and all. The mock ups of the S9 make the device look insanely attractive and truth be told, in person it doesn’t disappoint. So while we take some time to check the unit out and put our thoughts together, head on over to the unboxing gallery and feast your eyes on the latest and greatest from COWON.

Click on over to our COWON S9 unboxing gallery!

After information on the new Zunes was leaked this past week, Microsoft decided to play its hand before Apple and officially release the details on the upcoming new Zunes. Hardware changes are somewhat ho-hum but software changes are something just short of fantastic (for a Zune at least). Let’s start with the hardware. As we previously mentioned, the new Zunes will get some additional storage space with capacities being boosted to 120GB for the hard drive model and 16Gb for the flash model. The 120GB will take the place of the current 80GB model and will keep the same price point of $249. The 16GB model will come in at $199 and both new models will sport a glossy black finish. Lets not forget about the current 8GB model. It will see some flashy blue coloring (as shown in the above photo). Add in a $30 price drop bringing the new price down to $149, and you have a nice little player on your hands. Now onto that software, hit the jump to read about the software changes and to see some Qik video of the new Zune in action.

Microsoft also announced a new firmware update which will begin rolling out on September 16th. The firmware will be extended to all Zune users so no need to buy a new player just to get some cool new features. They’re not even going to charge for it – way to go Microsoft! You made a lot of Zune lovers happy and a lot of iPod owners jealous with that decision. So what does this new firmware bring to the table?

First and foremost, you get a new “Buy From FM” feature that integrates the WiFi with the built-in FM radio. Like the song you hear on the radio? With a few clicks you can purchase and download it to your Zune. Nice concept but we wonder if we will use it. How many of us even listen to FM radio anymore? Next up, you will get “anywhere, everywhere” wireless access to the Zune Marketplace where you can download or stream your music to your player. We know that ubiquitous access to an online marketplace is not unique to the Zune but it is a much needed and much anticipated upgrade. Lastly, the new Zune firmware expands the game collection found on the Zune. Texas Hold Em and Hextic will be included with plans for expansion that hopefully (pure speculation here) will include some user-generated games and some of those titles on the Xbox Arcade marketplace. You can see a teaser of the included games in the video above. The video is courtesy of the folks at Zunluv who have put together a nice multimedia collection of many of the new features in action. So we get some expanded storage, some new colors, and some nifty new features for the Zune, it all sounds great for us Windows users. Mac users need not apply as no mac support for you. Don’t feel badly, you got your turn already today.

[Via Zunerama and Zunluv]

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Some folks on the AppleInsider forums are engaged in a heated debate over this blurry photo of an alleged iPod nano 4g. The leaked photo shows a bright orange nano in plastic retail packaging that bears quite a striking resemblance to the nano images leaked by Kevin Rose a few weeks back. Notice anything unusual about this leaked photo? Something like the offset dock connector and tall plastic packaging that screams “iPod nano 2G” and “I photoshopped this pix last night at 3AM”! In our own Photoshop hack, we rotated Rose’s leaked picture and put it side by side with this new photo. Judge for yourself. Is this a sneak photo of the iPod goodness to come or another crude Photoshop fake?

[Via Engadget]

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There are several things we know for sure when it comes to the impending launch of Microsoft’s revised Zune:

1. It has already been approved by the FCC.
2. There will be a 16 GB and a 120 GB version.
3. It will look exactly like the current Zune.
4. People will make fun of it.

It’s ok Zune fans, stick to you guns and defend your underdog player. Not everyone has to go with the grain and rock an iPod of course. Besides, you can always shout Zune Pass as a defense and then act high and mighty when an iPod owner retorts with “BitTorrent”. But wait! It looks like there actually might be some new features to help the Zune get a leg up on Apple’s dominant player. From CNET’s Matt Rosoff:

I can’t say much, but I’ve seen what Microsoft’s planning, and befitting its status as a software plus services company, the real advances aren’t going to be in the Zune hardware, but in the Zune software and associated services.

Cryptic as that may be, CNET does have a historical closeness to Microsoft in many regards so Zuners might just be able to rejoice. After all, Microsoft has to get someone excited about its gear. When all is said and done however, hardware is hardware. Software can make or break a device and Apple’s iPod Classic line is hardly feature-rich in that department. So stay strong Zune fans – more info is undoubtedly coming soon.

UPDATE: It looks like we can put a price tag on the 120 GB model thanks to a slight miscue from B&H. $250 it is, maintaining the price point on the 80 GB model it will replace.

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Sony has just let the cat out of the bag and unveiled its latest Portable Audio Player lines dubbed B-Series, E-Series and S-Series. From bottom to top Sony has focused on functionality, form and affordability with its new portable players and we can’t say it failed in any of the aforementioned categories. That said, what about storage fellas? Sony’s new players top out at 8 GB which, for many, just doesn’t cut it these days. For users willing to sacrifice storage space for versatility and style however, these puppies may be right up your alley. The high end S-Series line touts features like active noise cancellation, Sony’s SensMe Channels and up to 40 hours of playback while the low end B-Series includes FM radio and a low entry price of $45. What about the B-Series? Well, no one talks about the middle child. From the press release:

The S-series of Walkman noise canceling video MP3 players come in two different storage capacities in black:

• The NWZ-S736F has approximately 4GB of internal storage and will cost about $150.
• The NWZ-S738F has approximately 8GB of internal storage and will cost about $180.

The E-series of Walkman video MP3 players will be available in the following configurations:

• The NWZ-E436F comes in black, red, pink, blue, has approximately 4GB of internal storage and costs about $100.
• The NWZ-E438F comes in black, red, pink, has approximately 8GB of internal storage, and costs about $140.

The B-series of Walkman MP3 players come in two different capacities and four colors:

• The NWZ-B133F player has approximately 1GB of internal storage; comes in black, red and blue and will cost about $45.
• The NWZ-B135F player has approximately 2GB of internal storage; comes in black, red and pink and will cost about $60.

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